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Victor frankenstein character analysis essay
Literary analysis of the book Frankenstein
Frankenstein character analysis
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In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley there are many themes that could be discussed, but the theme that sticks out the most is the theme of fate. Fate is a constant entity that re-emerges throughout the book and manifests itself more heavily in the monster. The monster is a reminder for the audience that Victor’s fate is one of misfortune and misery as the creature slowly destroys the life of his own creator. The theme in Frankenstein is that it is by fate that Victor suffers these tragedies as the monster slowly destroys his life, and his attempts at stopping the monster only makes the suffering even more difficult.
It is by fate that Victor Frankenstein must endure the tragedies brought on by his creation as he has no control over what
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In a act of suicide Victor devotes his life to killing the monster as it draws him out into the harsh environment. This environment later becomes the cause of his death as it is involved with his search as stated in the article:“Frankenstein dies, weakened by his search” (Cornillon 8). In his search to kill his creation Victor dies from exhaustion and his fever, and this becomes the final appearance of the monster as it also commits suicide upon seeing him die. Not just is the monster unstoppable but every attempt Victor makes only worsens his …show more content…
Victor makes several attempts to stop the monster but all fail it solidifies the monster as a dangerous force that cannot be stopped. Every attempt Victor makes or every chance he misses it ends with another death as stated in the article: “Frankenstein believes he saw his creature in the area and concludes that he must be the real culprit. Justine is put on trial, condemned and executed. Frankenstein, who does not intervene, is overwhelmed by guilt”(Cornillon 4). The few attempts Victor makes to save his family are either stopped by the monster or Victor’s own fear. Not only does it result in a loss of a love one for Victor but it also makes severe problems to his own
The first appearance of Victor Frankenstein in the novel is when he boards Robert Walton’s ship after Victor being stranded on the ice. The story then turns to Frankenstein as he tells his story of how he creates the monster, including in great detail how the monster murdered his brother William, subsequently caused the death of his maid/family friend Justine, murdered his friend Henry Clerval, and killed Victor’s wife Elizabeth, and ended up chasing the monster, which is how he got stranded on the ice. Victor vowed revenge after the death of his brother, promising to tirelessly pursue the monster until one of them dies. At the end of the novel, Victor dies on the ship after he tells the story, and Robert Walton meets the monster as he weeps at Victor’s funeral, begging for Victor to forgive him.
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
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
Throughout the book of Frankenstein, the creator of the being Frankenstein, Victor, is experienced as a suffering being. He recalls from the very beginning a time during his childhood where he was happy and surrounded by love, a time when his mother lived. Victor’s downfall or the beginning of his disgrace, initiates with the death of his mother. Victor leaves his family to start a new stage in his life, he leaves on quest for answers a true quest for knowledge. Personal motivation will lead Victor to take on the challenge of overcoming death, or to be more specific, give life to a dead body.
live his life under the demands of retribution. Victor Frankenstein’s fate is not so simple; fate is
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 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 ...
The monster, unknown to man, is dependent on “that his ‘father’ and ‘god’...assume proper responsibility for him (McClinton-Temple 979). Victor fails to do this, and as a result the monster strives for revenge on all human life. The monster’s first retaliatory act is toward the De Laceys, who he closely observes for several months in attempt to learn more about culture and language. After begin beat up by Felix while trying to interact with the human race, he “lighted a dry branch of a tree...the wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames” (118). Earlier in the novel, the monster talks about how children run away at the sight of him and pelt him with rocks, so there is a clear pattern of mistreatment. The burning of the house symbolizes not only vengeance against Felix and the De Laceys, but toward mankind as a whole. The monster’s next acts of revenges are directly aimed at Victor, as he begins killing off all of those close to Victor. When he sees a little boy in the forest and determines his relation Victor, the monster yells, “‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy-to him toward whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim’” (122). This act is the beginning of the monster’s murder rampage as a retaliation for lack of compassion that Victor shows toward him. The monster next moves on to kill Victor’s friend Clerval. Throughout the novel, Victor appears to spend most of his time alone and does not have many friends, and therefore by killing his only friend, the monster is sending a strong message. The monster finally begins sending direct threats to Victor, saying that he “‘shall be with you on your wedding-night’” (147). Throughout the novel, the monster has sought his revenge purely by harming Victor’s friends, but never before has he been impacted first hand. Victor,
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. 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.
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:
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.
Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein speaks of fate and similar topics often. One of the first
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.
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” -Buddha. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein illustrates the duality of fate vs personal choice in order to show that Victor’s view of his fate was fatalistic and in reality his actions had consequences.