Hunter Bond
Mrs. Schroder
English IV Honors
4 December, 2016
Rise and Fall of Power: Frankenstein Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein exposes some of the harsh natures of human characteristics in this gothic novel through a genius, Frankenstein, and his hideous creation, Frankenstein’s monster. These two most important characters of the novel try to obtain power over one another and power is one of those harsh natures and is one of the strongest drives of human desire. Doctor Victor Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster have altering positions of power as the novel progresses and their power is measured through knowledge, hostility, threats, and even death. Forms of power can exist in many ways other than cliché strength and ruling.
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Doctor Victor Frankenstein has been through some rough times up to this point after receiving word about how his brother, William Frankenstein, has been murdered and convinced himself that the monster was the murdered. Although the monster did commit the crime, Justine Moritz, a young girl adopted who was adopted into the Frankenstein household, was blamed for the murder. After hearing this shocking information, Victor Frankenstein decides to travel to lift up his spirits, from the valley of Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix in France to Glacier Montanvert. At the top of the glacier, he views a creature travelling at high speeds, leaping over rocks and climbing its way towards Frankenstein’s position. Frankenstein reveals the monster’s current status through an unwanted visit at one of the most melancholy and depressing points in his life and issues futile attacks towards the monster after understanding what the grotesque figure was in the distance. The monster, clearly much more athletic than Frankenstein, dodges his flurry of outrage and attacks. At this point in the novel, it is clear the monster exhibits power in the form of athletic performance and physical skill. An eloquent voice echoes from the monster and it describes the past which it has endured since the …show more content…
Towards the end of the novel, it appears the monster has more power over Frankenstein because of this neverending chase that they both have put themselves through. The intelligent Frankenstein, who once had more power over his own creation, is now following the monster’s wish for Frankenstein to follow it. This mindless chase will only end until one of them is dead, so whoever is victorious holds more power over the
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is a novel narrated by Robert Walton about Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates. Frankenstein grew up surrounding himself with what he loved most, science. He attended Ingolstadt University where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy, but being involved in academics was not enough for him. Frankenstein wanted to discover things, but did not think about the potential outcomes that could come with this decision. Frankenstein was astonished by the human frame and all living creatures, so he built the Monster out of various human and animal parts (Shelley, 52). At the time Frankenstein thought this creation was a great discovery, but as time went on the Monster turned out to be terrifying to anyone he came in contact with. So, taking his anger out on Frankenstein, the Monster causes chaos in a lot of people’s lives and the continuing battle goes on between the Monster and Frankenstein. Throughout this novel, it is hard to perceive who is pursuing whom as well as who ends up worse off until the book comes to a close.
The monster tells Frankenstein of the wretchedness of the world and how it was not meant for a being such as himself. At the end of his insightful tale the creature demands a companion of the same hideous features but of the opposite gender to become his. Victor only has the choice to make the monster or suffer a lifetime of horror his creation would bring upon him. Which the creator ultimately agrees to make the female monster to save the lives of his family but gains a conscious that fills with guilt of all the destruction he has created and creating. When the monster comes to collect the female he tears her apart and the monster vows to destroy all Victor holds dear. The monster’s emotional sense is consumed with rage against Victor, murdering Frankenstein’s best friend. Though when the monster’s framing ways do not work to lead to Victor being executed, he then murders Frankenstein’s wife on their wedding night. This tragedy is the last for Victor’s father who becomes ill with grief and quickly passes within a few days, leaving Victor with nothing but his own regret. Shelley doesn’t give the audience the monsters side of the story but hints that the remainder of his journey consisted of being a shadow to that of his creator. It is at the graves of the Frankenstein family when the creature makes an appearance in the solemn and
Frankenstein is actually about the friendship of the soul. Without this basic need the body either withers away and dies or turns to another source, like murder or drink, to fill the hole. Both fatalities can be seen in the story, with Victor's friendship and the monster's anger. Neither one fills the gap in their soul, but eventually consumes them until they die.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
Power is defined as a person’s ability to alter another human being’s life, as seen in different narratives throughout literature; whether it be something as large as the giving and taking life, or as small as placing an idea in someone’s head, and furthermore, taking responsibility for those actions. However, the common theme is that the most powerful people in the world are those who give life, and do what they can to ensure their offspring stay healthy, happy, and alive. People who make a long-lasting impact on other’s lives.
In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, Knowledge is power for Victor Frankenstein. Mary Shelly explains that Dr. Frankenstein’s hunger for the knowledge to create life out of death only leads to Victor’s unfortunate monster. The consequences that Victor Frankenstein experiences from creating a creature from his own madness leads to his death as well as the creature. Mary Shelly explains in her novel Frankenstein that Victor’s need to study life and how it is created is dangerous; furthermore, the abomination that the doctor creates should have never been created; however, the monster that Victor creates is his own monstrosity.
Education is a tool to advance an individual and a society; however, education can become a means to gain power when knowledge is used to exercise control over another. In Frankenstein, knowledge becomes the downfall of both Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. The novel explores the consequent power struggle between Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the dichotomy of good and evil, and the contrast between intellectual and physical power. Finding themselves in mirroring journeys, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster are locked in a struggle for dominance. Through these two characters, Mary Shelley explores the consequences of an egotistical mindset and of using knowledge to exercise power over others.
Victor Frankenstein serves as an instrument of suffering of others and contributes to the tragic vision as a whole in this novel. He hurts those surrounding him by his selfish character and his own creation plots against his master due to the lack of happiness and love. The audience should learn from Frankenstein’s tragic life and character to always remain humble. We should never try to take superiority that is not granted to us because like victor we shall suffer and perish. He had the opportunity to make a difference in his life and take responsibility as a creator but his selfishness caused him to die alone just like what he had feared.
Victor Frankenstein experiences a great childhood life in Switzerland, Victor Frankenstein experiences a perfect childhood in Switzerland; surrounded by a loving family and accompanied by his cousin Elizabeth. Victor is interested in all of the books he reads about science. After the death of his mother, his first murderous experience was when he attended the University of Germany where he applied his newfound knowledge and created a human being, (the monster) of enormous size and strength. When his creation is made and awakes Frankenstein, is so horrified by his creation that he falls into an illness, lasting for months. While he is sick, the creature leads himself into the woods and purposely does what his brainpower tells him to do. Frankenstein returns home when learning that his brother had been murdered and Justine a friend Frankenstein is falsely executed. Having been hated, refused, and feared by every human being he meets, so he decides he wants to change. He asks Frankenstein to create him a female buddy but he never wantsto exchange bread with humanity ...
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise.
...Frankenstein and the creature. The situations that each character experience are lessons about how seeking prohibited intelligence comes with extreme consequences. Frankenstein is a Gothic novel which means it involves the supernatural; however, because it contains religious qualities it is more appealing to the common people’s idea of knowledge. Mary Shelley achieves her goal of informing the audience that man should not seek or possess the level of knowledge that God acquires. One should learn from the situations present in the novel because life comes with an enormous amount of knowledge; going after the unknown is an act of rebellion against God.
“Allure, Authority, and Psychoanalysis” discusses the unconscious wishes, effects, conflicts, anxieties, and fantasies within “Frankenstein.” The absence of strong female characters in “Frankenstein” suggests the idea of Victor’s desire to create life without the female. This desire possibly stems from Victor’s attempt to compensate for the lack of a penis or, similarly, from the fear of female sexuality. Victor’s strong desire for maternal love is transferred to Elizabeth, the orphan taken into the Frankenstein family. This idea is then reincarnated in the form of a monster which leads to the conclusion that Mary Shelley felt like an abandoned child who is reflected in the rage of the monster.
Mary Shelley’s world renowned book, “Frankenstein”, is a narrative of how Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant chemist, succeeds in creating a living being. Although Frankenstein’s creation is benevolent to begin with, he soon turns murderous after being mistreated by humans. His anger turns towards Frankenstein, as he was the one who brought him into the world that shuns him. The Monster then spends the rest of the story trying to make his creator’s life as miserable as his own. This novel is an excellent example of the Gothic Romantic style of literature, as it features some core Gothic Romantic elements such as remote and desolate settings, a metonymy of gloom and horror, and women in distress.
Phillip Pullman explores power, rejection and revenge in Frankenstein by using characterisation, point of view, and conflict. The audience have their ideas, values and beliefs challenged because they may have different views as to who the protagonist and the antagonist are. Power and characterisation are utilised to show how power can make someone delusional and not think straight, this causes the characters to change throughout the play. Rejection and point of view help show the story from the perspective of the antagonist. Revenge and conflict help make the audience question who is the real protagonist and who is the real antagonist. Power, rejection, and revenge are used to make the play have more depth and make it more interesting for the audience.