Frankenstein is a lonely creature isolated from society because of his looks. His request for a mate for Victor to create is a reasonable request. I believe that it is a reasonable request because it would give him someone in the world with whom he could bond and relate to this is something that everyone needs. The request for a mate would help Frankenstein feel less isolated and give him someone that could be a friend. In the book Frankenstein goes through so many hardships alone because of how he looks. His goal though this though seems to be that he wants companionship which if another was created like him it would give him what he wants. When Victor accepts this proposals the monster makes I believe he is being foolhardy. It feels as if …show more content…
This is because after reading all that Frankenstein had gone though I believe that it would not be right to put another being through that isolated life and that you shouldn’t mess with the dead.
After Frankenstein found out though and threatened Victor’s family and friends I believe that his refusal to create a mate for Frankenstein is selfish and irresponsible. This is because Victor knows that the monster has killed one of his family and friends before due so what is going to stop him from doing it again. When he refuses to stop creation of the second creature he puts other people’s lives at risk and knowingly does this without concern for their life only his.
If Frankenstein’s request for a mate was completed he would have left Victor, his family and friends alone and caused no more trouble because he would have a friend. When Victor first agreed to this I think he was foolhardy because of the situation he was in. After he thought about it and realized it was not a good idea though and destroyed it he seemed brave and noble because he was standing up for something that wasn’t right. When Frankenstein threatened Victor’s family and friend though and he still did not comply with the request this was irresponsible and selfish if him to put other lives in danger for a request that could save a tragedy from
In Frankenstein, everyone treats Victor’s creation like a monster, including Frankenstein himself. This leads to the creation accepting that title and going on a murder spree. His creation says “When I reflect on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation” (69). Victor’s creation shows that he did not ask to be created, and his existence is miserable.
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...
Throughout the course of the creature's isolated and pathetic journey, he is never given the opportunity to participate in human interaction, as he so deeply deserves. Upon his creation, the reaction of Victor, his maker, is so vividly appalling; one forgets that this is actually the birth of a human being. His 'father', Victor, is so selfish and has such a lack of responsibility and foresight, that he creates a human being for the simple purpose of recreation, intellectual stimulation, and the thrill of 'the chase'. Frankenstein himself refers to his own creation as, "...the life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed" (88; ch.1; vol. 2). Victor is solely interested in the beneficial aspects on the surface of creating, just as his interest in the exterior 'monster' is superficial. Not only is Victor's quest selfish, but his goal is frivolous as well. Victor's initial opinion of...
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally, Victor as a Gothic novel, Victor is at fault, because, he and the creature are two different parts of the same person. If Frankenstein is looked at as a romantic novel, Victor, not the creature, is truly the villain. When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. On page 115, the creature said, "Hateful day when I received life! Accursed the creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust." This line shows the agony the monster was in, because of how he looked when he was created which led to even Victor running away from him. If Victor didn't run, he could have taught the monster and made his life happy. After the creature scared the cottagers away he said, "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter ...
Threats can be influential and powerful, but it is not always best to trust a threatening person, much less help them. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein has a difficult choice. His creation desires a mate, and threatens both Victor and his family so he can receive one. Even though making the companion seems to be his only option, there are many reasons why doing so would have undesirable results for Victor. Since Victor has created a creature before, there is some indication of what would happen if he constructed another. Overall, Victor Frankenstein should not produce a mate for his creature because it would put his health in danger
It is when Frankenstein realizes how different he is to other people that he realizes his uniqueness and individualism. “I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon a coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” (Frankenstein, 150). While Frankenstein is by no means a human, he is made up of human parts and still craves love and affection. His rejection from everyone he sees, including his creator makes him feel like an outcast. It was because of Victor that Frankenstein couldn’t bear to be who he was made to be and felt a need to run into isolation. Victor not only created a monster physically, but also mentally turned him into someone he didn’t have to be. Both Frankenstein and Victor struggle with balancing their personal wants and needs with societies expectations and the people around them. That is one of the true struggles of being one person living in a world of many, you have to do what makes you happy while making sure it doesn’t effect other peoples happiness negatively. Victor doesn’t do a good job of
First, we can identify a literary element: if Victor stops the monster before he commits murders, the book would not be interesting. But it is more—perhaps it is because we are so quick to trust and empathize with Victor, as he is the narrator throughout the tale, that we must come to see, through his indifference, he is actually more evil than his creation. When I first read the book, I pegged Frankenstein as good. Even though he admits to being the murderer several times, such as this lamentation: “I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer” (88), to me, he is only crying for help, like Justine’s coerced confession (81-82). However, through the above analysis, we find that Frankenstein is apt to be an unreliable narrator, biased to support his inaction. His warning of the monster: “he is eloquent and persuasive; and once his words had even power over my heart: but trust him not” (216), may better describe himself. As in legal tort, he has a “duty to rescue” his family from his now malevolent creation, yet he continually ignores it; his best idea is repeatedly shouting “wretched devil!” and “abhorred monster!” (95), followed by promising to create a woman, only to “[tear it] to pieces” (170). For the monster, this is sadistic torment, but the doctor excuses himself again, claiming it to be preferable to “[inflicting] this curse upon everlasting generations” (170). In the words of Edmund Burke, “no passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear,” and I see that Frankenstein is crippled by fear, wavering on any decision. Shelley has written a subtle allegory between the lines: do not believe narration immediately, as even if it appears trustworthy, it is always written in the interests of the narrator. Frankenstein tells us many times that his fate is sealed: “destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction” (33), but he really is a
Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that follow the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being. This is obviously something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and finding out what he is doing. At the end of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor says:
The final volume of Frankenstein analyzes the dilemma that Victor goes through, choosing between pleasing the monster which means the safety of his family and not making a mate for the monster which could mean less danger for society, since he will be the only wretch alive but condemn his family to danger. Victor's decision to destroy the monster's mate could be based on the fact he is scared of bringing such a dangerous creature on earth; the idea of the mate not accepting the deal to leave town or her not liking the monster for his ugliness makes him reconsider his decision. Creating a mate for the monster had consequences and Victor did not want to risk it, the simple idea of creating a creature similar to one that became his worst nightmare,
Victor fled because he suddenly realized, after making his creation, that it was a poor choice. He instantly reflects upon the situation and realizes that he made an abysmal decision. Frankenstein abruptly describes his creation as “the filthy demon to whom [he] had given life” (60). Readers can decipher that Victor is clearly not suitable for his job as a guardian, as most new “parents” would not relate their child to a “filthy demon”. As horrendous as this may seem, it can be expected, considering Victor’s substantial
Everything that Victor did was for his self-satisfaction. He was the one that created the monster and the reason he did it was all for himself. “is a well-intentioned man who strives to recreate human life in order to alleviate his own loneliness.’(Murray)This basically shows Frankenstein's Selfishness was driven by his motivation and ambition. Victor was the farthest from a hero in his acts of selfishness, he was fully aware that he was doing could end in disaster, but he did it anyway. He wanted to create a monster that he knew could be good or the worst creation ever made, he was fully aware of the consciousness, but although his want for self-power was too strong. Frankenstein wanted something he never should've had. Frankenstein wanted to know and understand how to bring life back so we wouldn’t have to live in
After Frankenstein discovered the source of human life, he became wholly absorbed in his experimental creation of a human being. Victor's unlimited ambition, his desire to succeed in his efforts to create life, led him to find devastation and misery. "...now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished..." (Shelley 51). Victor's ambition blinded him to see the real dangers of his project. This is because ambition is like a madness, which blinds one self to see the dangers of his actions. The monster after realizing what a horror he was demanded that victor create him a partner. "I now also began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this was like torture..." (Shelley 169). Victor's raw ambition, his search for glory, has left him. His eyes have been opened to see his horrible actions, and what have and could become of his creations. As a result, Victor has realized that he is creating a monster, which could lead to the downfall of mankind. His choice is simple, save his own life or save man.
When reading the book Frankenstein, and looking at the character of Victor, one can not help but see his character flaws. Dr. Frankenstein is portrayed as selfish, ego manic bent on restoring life to his stitched together creature, and doesn’t stop to think of the consequences. Though not till later in the book, as Victor and Elizabeth are to be wed, his true selfish nature emerges once again. Victor believes that the Creature is coming to seek revenge on him, not for a moment thinking about the well being of his bride to be, Elizabeth (144). In the novel it is all about Victor and his selfishness, where as in the film versions, it looks as though Victor is trying to protect Elizabeth. Whether it had been a noise outside or a quick motion of a shadow, in the films its looks as if Victor is trying to protect Elizabeth.
Victor said, “I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” (Frankenstein 202) His second thoughts led him to demolished the mate for the monster and is going to dispose of the remains in the sea. The monster was enraged and very vengeful towards Victor with him not upholding the end of the deal. When Victor and Henry set out to sea a storm drags his boat into the sea and they end up in Ireland. Victor washed up on shore unharmed, but Henry died on the shores of Ireland. Victor is convicted of murdering Henry Clerval, a well known friend and is put on trial. Victor was innocent of the
This is a good and true intention to begin with, but soon becomes “a serpent to sting” him in ways he could never foresee (14). After the monster murders Victor’s younger brother William, Justine is thought to have been the culprit. Instead of admitting the truth, he refuses to take responsibility and allows her to be executed. At this point, the bettering of society is obviously far from his thoughts. The morally correct action to take in this situation would be to tell Geneva, his home town, of his mistakes and take full responsibility for his actions, which would, in turn, grant Justine her life. This choice would also protect Geneva from the unknown of the monster, which costs others their lives. Later in the novel, Victor is also tempted to create a second female monster as a companion after his first creation threatens his life, and is eventually aware of the catastrophe it could become. If the monsters were to reproduce, or even on their own, they could do much more damage than has already resulted in the creation being alive so far. Victor does “right in refusing” the creature a mate for the reason of protecting the people in the society around him (220). He ponders the dangers of allowing the monsters loose in the world, and recognizes the problems it would cause. This demonstrates the responsibilities to protect humanity as a whole, and not only think about a person’s own needs, which is what Shelley illustrates to the reader through Victor’s