Shelley offers snapshots of the characters’ similarities to draw attention to the idea that the Monster is Frankenstein 's second self. The Creature is at first a kind, gentle being who was curious about life and its wonders. But this world did not welcome him and he found that his only source of power was when he inflicted pain on others. Without his plots of revenge, he had nothing. He had no one in which to confide, nor to relate to, so destruction was his only outlet for emotion. Similarly, Frankenstein began a peaceful life in the countryside of Switzerland and grew up with a fascination of alchemy. But an underlying sorrow caused by the death of his mother inclined Frankenstein to distance himself from his family more than he’d ever done …show more content…
“The form of the Monster on whom I had bestowed existence was for ever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him” (Shelley 39). The dream of Victor’s creation can be seen as the embodiment of the “descending moon” in the ballad (line 20). Now that Frankenstein has fulfilled his dreams and created the Monster, he no longer has anything to think about and incessantly worries about the Monster’s whereabouts and the evil acts looming in front of his eyes. “Once the planet drop’t,” and once Frankenstein carries out his dream, “wayward thoughts” are brought about into Frankenstein’s head, occupying his mind with the “strange fits of [his] passion” throughout the rest of the story (line 24). Readers may understand this to reflect Wordsworth 's articulation of the sublime. Shelley draws on Wordsworth’s articulation of the sublime in nature to show how the Monster is Frankenstein’s psyche as he is ubiquitous, lingering around in Frankenstein’s thoughts. Within the Monster’s evil acts, one can see the latent connection between the two characters, which becomes apparent after Frankenstein’s intuition tells him that the Monster killed Frankenstein’s younger brother. Frankenstein allows the Monster to do harm to his family, which further reveals the extent to which Frankenstein desires to be without his loved ones, and to …show more content…
Victor’s childhood is similar to the upbringing of the creature; the Monster doesn’t receive enough nurturing attention from Victor and becomes a barbarous and brutal creature, out of control just as Victor had been while he created the creature. Although the two part immediately, and live separate lives, they think of one another constantly. In addition to the similarities between the two characters’ lives, their emotions mirror one another 's as well. Both the creature and Frankenstein long for sympathy as they continuously reiterate that no one understands them. The Monster tells Frankenstein about his experiences, “I am an unfortunate and deserted creature, I look around and have no relation or friend upon earth… I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever (Shelley 95). The creature’s sense of being an outcast is profound. This feeling of not being understood is also found in Shelley’s rendering of Frankenstein’s character. As Frankenstein picks up dead body parts from the graveyard he remarks, “Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? (Shelley 33). His obsessive desire to bring this creature to life forces him into his secret toil, as does the monster’s desire to
Both characters from the novels Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein were similar because they were both intelligent. Victor loved science, he sued to go on journeys to seek more information about life and death, because at home he had nobody to teach him.” My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. (Victor Frankenstein quotes on education). And he even studied abroad to see more knowledge on his favorite subject. This created major conflicts with his professor at the university but also admiration among professors and peers.
In Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit to discover “the cause of generation and life”, he creates something that becomes the victim of his self-absorption and irrational manner (Segal). Following some insight on the creation of life, scientist Victor Frankenstein decides to take science into his own hands and create a creature out of human cadavers. It is not until the creature comes to life that Victor ponders the perplexing appearance of the creature that is before him. As Victor looks upon the creature he has created, he wonders “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence” (Shelley 138). With the recognition that the creature truly looks like a monster, Victor abandons the creature and leaves him to the harsh assumptions of society. Although the creature employs a genuinely empathetic and compassionate manner, society refuses to acknowledge him because of his beastly appearance making him the victim of Victor’s persistent curiosity.
Shelley uses her context, in particular the 1800's industrialisation era throughout her novella. Shelley exemplifies the Rousseauian notion of humanity throughout Frankenstein which is essentially that humanity is born to feel ecstasy and lowest dejection. Rousseau's idea is a key factor in Gothicism and Romanticism highly prominent in Shelley's era. Man's connection with nature and the effects that industrialisation will have are commented throughout the text. With utilisation of her textual form, Shelley details the 'nurturing' of the monster through reference of two distinct texts 'Paradise Lost' and 'Sorrows of Wurther' and implies that the monster received the ideal education in the traditional sense, It was taught to love, to be morally correct and +to acknowledge nature. Shelley however satirically comments by stating 'all that is worthy of love and admiration is devoted to misery'. This juxtaposition is a warning to the rapidly industrialising society in that if they continue on this path order will be destroyed. The monster itself comments 'Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?'. This exemplifies the idea that it was not created to be evil, rather corrupted by humanity to be evil due to their inhumane treatment of him. An analysis of Shelley's textual form
Nature is a controlling force that can sway an individual in multiple directions. It can be used descriptively to describe a feeling of emotion that someone is trying to portray. In the book Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly the main character and narrator Victor Frankenstein uses nature and the natural world to his advantage. Victor builds a relationship between him and nature that binds him together in order to tell the story of his life and the creation he gave life too. Through out the text Victor seems to have a few skeletons in his closet that make him a nervous wreck. He was devoted to creating another human being and finding away to create a man bigger than anything anyone has seen. With those intentions and determination he succeeded but regretted his creation in the end. From then on he was a troubled individual. Nature in the text became his way out from the beginning to his end in order to convey his emotions to the reader. Victor uses nature to build a connection that allows the reader to pick up on the troubles he is experiencing through out the book. Without nature Victor Frankenstein would be nothing.
In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, a man named Victor Frankenstein discovers how to effectively create life and reincarnate the dead. Victor successfully puts together the Creature out of body parts he had found in a nearby graveyard.Horrified by what he created, he runs away from the Creature as soon as the Creature came to life, and the monster runs away to form his own experiences. The Creature then goes on to murder many people and whilst having to observe other people to form his own ideals and sense of morality. The Creature’s demented sense of morality affected how he treated other people, and the Creature began to acquire a very violent lifestyle, and a relentless lust for revenge against his creator, Victor. The Creature began to harm and even kill those that Victor holds dear, and Victor attempts to hunt him down in search of his own revenge.
In the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Shelley uses obsession, nurture, and nature as a theme for the good and also the bad things occurring throughout the story. The “monster” who is thought to be the evil one through the story is thought otherwise when Victor is the father figure who did not care for the monster when it was little.
Frankenstein and Victor both find comfort in mercy of nature and develop a strong bond with their natural surroundings. As the novel goes on, the Monster and Victor’s bond evolves and becomes even more similar than it already is. I think the main cause for this transformation is the attack that both Victor and the Monsters seek. I feel more sympathy towards Victor because he has no idea that he will be creating his own failure when he makes the Monster. His experiment goes terribly wrong and because of this he loses everything that he holds dearly, even his own life… Our kindness identifies ourselves in his observed seclusion. The monster suffers from the fraud of nature and they both have cravings for love and care from and to humans. The monster notices the care and concern and affection for one and another. This is what the monster began to crave for
All of Victor Frankenstein's feelings are traced back to his first thoughts of the creature when it confronts Victor about creating a companion creature. As
Victor and his creature continuously try to punish each other for the wrongs that have happened in their lives. One critic states, “Frankenstein and the daemon are the two halves of the same being, divided against itself” (Bloom par. 2). Although there seems to be a constant push and pull between the Creature and Frankenstein as they alternate between being the antagonist and protagonist, they both follow the same wretched path. Additionally, though Victor does not take on the role of being a positive and nurturing role model to the Creature, the Creature has a similar ambition to learn, grow, and develop just like his creator Victor. Furthermore, after numerous, direct and indirect, encounters with each other, it becomes evident that both the Creature and Frankenstein have the same motivation towards each other. The conflicts created between the Creature and Victor illuminate the numerous similarities in their educational successes, ambitious mindsets, and tragic
Victor was introduced to the later love of his life at a young age, when his mother adopted her into the family. The new member of the family, Elizabeth, was seen as a gift to Victor for him to love and to cherish. Both Elizabeth and Victor’s father showered him with love throughout his childhood, leading to his continued desire for love and family later in life. This need is controlled and fulfilled by Elizabeth as Victor has felt love all of his life, unlike his creation. Victor’s creation was brought up abruptly in a hostile environment as his creator fled in horror at the sight of him. The monster’s first encounter in his life was one of disgust and fear, which is one reason behind his actions later in his life. Frankenstein's monster pointed this out to him, blaming his creator for bringing such a hideous unlovable being to life. The creation told the story of his first encounter as “-but I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me…”. (Shelley
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, is a novel filled with mystery, romantic, and many themes. One of the most repeated themes throughout the novel is the relationship between God and Man. Shelley does this to show the relationship between Victor and the creature. Victor and the creature’s relationship is full of tension and a few miscommunications.
Shelley takes the side of natural good of humanity and the creature but believes that when faced with events one is not accustomed to they result to evil. When the creature saved a girl from drowning he was shot; “On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood...he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired….“This was then the reward of my benevolence!” (Shelley 286). The monster demonstrated his selflessness, risking himself to save a girl, a stranger. The man, on the other hand, was faced with a hideous creature. In his mind regardless of what the creature did it was dangerous and scary so he took a shot at it. The creature came to know that by doing good he would be rewarded with evil. The creature cursed his creator and surrendered to evil by vowing to kill everyone that Frankenstein loves; “Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me….comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends” (Shelley 191-192). The creature, neglected and hated by
This leads to an almost immediate reaction by the monster, “It begins at chapter V with the creation of the monster who becomes, within the first two pages, Frankenstein’s pursuer” (Spark 93). By starting off the relationship between Victor and the monster in such a poor fashion, Shelley makes lays out the template for the kind of relationship the two characters will have throughout the novel. Now that Victor has acquired the vast knowledge to be able to create life, and then actually succeeds in creating a live creature, he now has the result to deal with; which will prove to be an extremely agonizing
Shelley does an excellent job with Victor’s character because she creates him through her own experiences with modern science (mytholyoke.edu). Throughout the story, Victor tries to go above and beyond to learn new scientific studies, and that leads him into trying doing the impossible; raising the living from the dead (mytholyoke.edu). Gothic novels tend to focus on mysteries and supernatural doings, and Shelley uses that of a mysterious circumstance to allow Victor to create the monster (cliffnotes.com). Victor first starts out by going out and gathering body parts for his experiment, which gives the book an eerie feeling right from the start (cliffnotes.com). The outcome of the experiment results in a monster that is “the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature,” this allows readers to visualize the creature as having abnormal qualities (askwillonline.com). “Frankenstein brings into a creature who, though not innately evil, is a torment to himself and to others precisely because he is without companionship and a sexual counterpart” (Bloom 29). The monster is without a companion and that results in him having many interactions with Victor because he is determined to kill anybody close to Victor until Victor can create him a partner (askwillonline.com). The creature was not born evil but with the misconceptions of humans, he became isolated from society which turned him into a
While Victor imagines himself to be a part of society, he soon comes to realize how his work has instead done the opposite, sheltering him completely. “I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime (Shelley 60). By alienating himself, Victor is then able to feed his ego with only his thoughts, gradually building it (as he does his monster), until the mind is practically drowned out by the self. “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley 58). By grasping firmly to the idea of playing God, Victor lets his imagination, his deception free him into believing that the dead could inevitably be brought back to life without repercussions. With this he loses all moral graces and overlooks the rationality of his actions. The task overtakes him and gains enough control to have Frankenstein go the depths of grave-robbing.