More handpicked essays just for you.
Victor frankenstein character analysis essay
Relationship between Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost
Relationship between Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Victor frankenstein character analysis essay
The characters mentioned in Milton’s Paradise Lost provides an insight for the readers to connect with the downfall of Victor and his monster in Frankenstein. The relationship between God, the creator, and Adam in Paradise Lost is being mirrored in Frankenstein with Victor playing the role of God and the monster as Adam. Even when the monster first met Victor, he refered himself as Adam and said “why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turn from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the resemblance” (Shelley 119). The monster despises his appearance as he compares himself to Adam, the beautiful image of God’s creation. He sees …show more content…
This byproduct is a result of Victor’s greed for knowledge and his ultimate hidden intention to be like God. In the story, it stated that the monster’s hatred of his creator was so great that he took revenge on Victor and his family. Likewise in Paradise Lost, the fall of Adam and Eve was also due to their pursue of wisdom and their desire to be like God, thus they lost their happiness under the protection of God. Another consideration constitutes to the fall of Adam and Eve was due to the temptation of Satan mentioned in Paradise Lost causing both humans to sin. In the same manner, the society in Frankenstein is like Satan influencing the thoughts of the monster in believing himself as worthless and rejected. Society caused the monster descents and rebels into evil as he described to his creator: “Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (Shelley 87). In this scenario the judgement presented by the society based on appearance is truly toxic to the monster’s confidence and self-worth. Regardless of his inner self, he is seen as an ugly monster and therefore rejected by
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, illustrates the Romantic idea of the sublime naturalworld as an emotional experience for the characters of the novel. Within the text, Shelleyutilizes an allusion to the John Milton’s biblical story, Paradise Lost, to make a parallel betweenthe characters. Within the passage, the monster compares himself, as well as his creator, Victor,to the characters Adam and Satan. He comes to realize that he is more similar to Satan;ultimately, leading him to his reign of terror and the revenge he wishes to impose on Victor. Themonster realizes that he is similar to Adam in Paradise Lost in that they both do not want to bealone. The monster also realizes that there is good in the world that is deeply contrasted with
The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farfetched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein.
He toils endlessly in alchemy, spending years alone, tinkering. However, once the Creature is brought to life, Frankenstein is no longer proud of his creation. In fact, he’s appalled by what he’s made and as a result, Frankenstein lives in a perpetual state of unease as the Creature kills those that he loves and terrorizes him. Victor has realized the consequences of playing god. There is irony in Frankenstein’s development, as realized in Victor’s desire to destroy his creation. Frankenstein had spent so much effort to be above human, but his efforts caused him immediate regret and a lifetime of suffering. Victor, if he had known the consequences of what he’s done, would have likely not been driven by his desire to become better than
It should be first noted that Frankenstein almost directly references itself to Genesis, via Paradise Lost. The monster compares himself to Adam and Satan. "Like Adam, I [...] Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition" (Frankenstein, Ch15, pg94) And Victor was like god, as the monster's creator. However, Victor acts as a foil to god, treating his creation differently. While god "blessed" his creations (Genesis 1:28), Victor abandons his monster immediately after creation, referring to it as a "demoniacal corpse" (Frankenstein, Ch5, pg36). These set up the comparison between Genesis and Frankenstein.
Humankind is unable to see that in the beginning, the creature is innately good. Also, society’s ability to make a judgement without substantial amounts of knowledge drove the creature further towards self destruction. For instance, when the creature saves a little girl from drowning, he does not receive the praises that would normally be expected. Instead, the creature is shot, and “inflamed by pain, [he] vow[s] eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 143). When the creature first gains awareness, it is not yet corrupted by the ills that society forces on him. However, society is making the generalization that ugly is equivalent to evil, which causes the creature to see himself as evil. Rosemary Jackson acknowledges that “naming the double [creature] is impossible for Frankenstein and society since it is themselves in alienated form, an image of themselves before they acquired names”(Jackson). In other words, the creature is an outsider because its name is unknown to society. Society not giving the creature a name, but referring to him as a “monster, ugly wretch [and] an ogre” it is telling the creature that he is wicked because they are associating his appearance with things that society sees as evil (Shelley 144). Thus, the creature realizes that he must be malicious because he does not have a name to define
Free will is an inherited ability everyone obtains from birth. This ability allows humans or any living being the freedom to act on their own behalf without being influenced or forced by an external medium. However, this fragile, yet powerful capability is susceptible of being misused that may result in unsavory consequences to the one at fault. In Paradise Lost and Frankenstein, both texts feature powerful figures who bequeathed the characters in focus, the freedom to do whatever they desire in their lives. Satan and Adam and Eve from Paradise Lost, and the monster from Frankenstein are given their free will from their creators, all encounter unique scenarios and obstacles in their respective texts however, have distinctions in how they handle
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
Frankenstein wasn’t an evil mad man, but a selfish, irresponsible one. He cared solely about himself to the point where he allowed his creation to murder his family and his friends and his fiancé. By the time Victor decided to be responsible, it was too late. Responsibility isn’t easy, and maybe it wouldn’t have caused different outcomes for Victor and maybe it was luck that kept the man and the boy alive. But in the end, when the man died, his son was able to go on. When Victor passed on, his creation goes off into the frozen wasteland to end his life. The responsibility of one person doesn’t just solely affect them, but also has an impact, either positive or negative, on those around them. Responsibility in The Road led to survival and to life while the lack of it in Frankenstein led to death, destruction, and a hard lesson
In Frankenstein, Victor’s monster suffers much loneliness and pain at the hands of every human he meets, as he tries to be human like them. First, he is abandoned by his creator, the one person that should have accepted, helped, and guided him through the confusing world he found himself in. Next, he is shunned wherever he goes, often attacked and injured. Still, throughout these trials, the creature remains hopeful that he can eventually be accepted, and entertains virtuous and moral thoughts. However, when the creature takes another crushing blow, as a family he had thought to be very noble and honorable abandons him as well, his hopes are dashed. The monster then takes revenge on Victor, killing many of his loved ones, and on the humans who have hurt him. While exacting his revenge, the monster often feels guilty for his actions and tries to be better, but is then angered and provoked into committing more wrongdoings, feeling self-pity all the while. Finally, after Victor’s death, the monster returns to mourn the death of his creator, a death he directly caused, and speaks about his misery and shame. During his soliloquy, the monster shows that he has become a human being because he suffers from an inner conflict, in his case, between guilt and a need for sympathy and pity, as all humans do.
When the monster dwells on the fact that he has no friends, money, and property because of the way he looks he claims, “I was besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man”(Shelley 102). With the monster’s emotion toward his first encounters, he struggles with accepting who he is because he feels the hatred from others. The words “deformed and loathsome” express the disgusted and discomfort that clouds the thoughts of each human during their first encounter. He recognizes his differences in comparison to others and begins to become self-conscious when he attempts to come out into the community. In the same aspect, humans today feel the same way when they look different than the ones around them.
He created a life, and then spontaneously he quickly decided to run away from his creation. Victor’s actions after creating what he created were really irresponsible, and did not correctly took care of the circumstance’s he put himself in. The creation was never actually evil, but he felt abandoned by what could had been called his father. Frankenstein, the monster, was only a seeker for companionship. He strongly desired to feel loved, rather than abandoned. Society’s evil behavior toward the monster is what altered the monster’s conduct and followed to how he acted.
As creators of another creature, God and Victor Frankenstein are very similar, in that they both lose part of their "family," and they let the war between them and their creations go on too long. Victor says, " I collected bones from charnel houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame." This shows that he creates the monster out of corpses, just as God creates Satan. Furthermore, Victor is disgusted with his own creation, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." Victor rejects the monster, similar to God's disgust with Satan's pride. The monster wreaks havoc on the Victor's life, "; I called myself the murderer of William, of Justine, and of Clerval," leaving him with a burden of guilt, just as God loses his angels to Satan, Victor loses his family and friends to the monster. Victor at some point feels even more guilt because he didn't destroy the monster earlier. If God could so easily order the fallen angels to be pushed out of Heaven, why did he let the war go on for three days? This truly is remarkable, two novels of different time periods, with characters of startling resemblance.
All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course, the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s life starts with great potential. He comes from a decently wealthy family whose lack of love towards each other never existed. He is given everything he needs for a great future, and his academics seem to be convalescing.
In "Paradise Lost", God creates man; in Shelly's story, Victor Frankenstein creates monster. Early in Shelly's book, we find that Victor has found out how to generate life "upon lifeless matter" (27), akin to God's creation of man from dust: "he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man, / Dust of the ground" (Milton 189). Victor's representation of himself as a father relates well to Milton's illustration of God as the "Almighty Father" (65) and even the monster relates his existence to adam, "Like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence" (Shelly 74). Lastly, as Adam and Eve fell in Paradise Lost when they ate from the tree of knowledge, the monster "falls"--"but sorrow only increased with knowledge" (Shelly 69). The ...
A monster can be characterized by an extreme deviation from the normal standards of society including an internal or external wickedness. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Creature, his appearance overwhelms those who lay eyes upon him. A mere glance can send a villager running for the hills. It was not until the Creature caught a glance of his own reflection that he understood why villagers were so afraid of him. The realization of his ghastly appearance began the monster’s journey into hopelessness. In Peter Brooks’ article he writes, “Self recognition as the ‘filthy type’ completes the mirror stage of the Monsters development.” (Brooks 377). Seeing oneself as ugly and slovenly can cast shadows on even the most compassionate of hearts.