What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor Frankenstein. The novel looks at “Monstrosity” and “Humanity” in a deeply analytical way.
Frankenstein
The murder of William is the first monstrous act the creature commits.
The murder of William came about when the creature arrived in Geneva,
when he gazed his eyes on the young boy, the creature’s idea was to
not harm the boy but to seize him educate him as a companion an
friend, but the idea of the creature backfired when he found out that
the boy was related to victor Frankenstein, his creator. When the
creature approached William, William’s first reaction was to be
frightened scared because from his eyes he could see nothing more than
a monster wanting to kidnap him. The creature tried ensuring William
that he wasn’t going to hurt but William continued screaming and
struggling to escape. The creature said to William “child what is the
meaning of this?
As he arrives home he finds out that an innocent girl named Justine Moritz has been accused, tried and executed for the murder. Victor knowing who the real murderer feels guilty. Hoping to forget everything he takes a vacation to the mountains. While sightseeing at a nearby glacier, the monster approaches him and Victor immediately begins to accuse him of the murder. Feeling lonely and shunned the monster wanted to get back at his cruel creator. “I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me, but one as deformed as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same defects. This being you must create.”(Frankenstein). With the monster demanding a companion, Victor refuses not wanting to create another monstrosity, but being eloquent and persuasive the monster convinces Victor to create him a companion. Victor heading back to try to repeat his first success isolates himself in an island located in the
Before leaving Victor, his mother died of scarlet fever, and the family was left in the care of Frankensteins Elizabeth. Victor zealously took up the study. It turned out that the work of medieval alchemists who was fond of the young man, hopelessly outdated, so he had to study modern science, especially chemistry, with the basics. After two years, Victor has achieved great success. Fascinated by physiology, he decided to identify "where lurk start in life," and soon reached his goal - to open a way to revive the lifeless matter. To apply the knowledge in practice, he gathered from various parts of the body found in the morgues, tombs and in slaughterhouses. Victor dreamed of a perfect being, a new breed of
Victor is jailed because he is suspected of murdering his friend Henry Clerval. The murder occurs the previous night and there are witnesses that say they saw Victor acting suspiciously during the night.
His monster murders his best friend Clerval as a retaliation to him destroying the half-finished female Frankenstein that his monster requested. This brought Victor into his “ill” state because Victor couldn't handle what he had observed, his friend murdered with the handprints of his monster on his neck.Victor remained ill for two months only to find himself in jail when he recovered because of suspicion of Clerval's murder. He is released because there was no evidence of the murder, however, he still rested in Paris to help cope with his issues and regain
Victor Frankenstein is a 16 year old boy who enjoys his life in Geneva. His family includes: his mother, father, distant cousin and his brothers, the most important being his twin. His twin brother Konrad is much more charismatic, he is loved by all and has won over the heart of Elizabeth, their distant cousin. On a normal sunny day the Victor, his brother and Elizabeth stumble upon a secret library that holds books of alchemy. While searching through the books, they find the elixir of life. They are then scolded for being down there, and they are warned that alchemy is illegal in their time. When his brother suddenly
Compassion and empathy are often described as human-kind's greatest quality. Yet, many things can distract or overpower our compassion to allow room for things like cruelty, selfishness, and the need for vengeance. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein has no compassion for his creation; however, his creation is born with large amounts of compassion, but Frankenstein ignores and abuses his monster. Victor’s lack of compassion towards the monster, makes the monster lose his own compassion in a need for vengeance to make his abuser feel the same pain he does.
Victor Frankenstein creates a creature that he considers to be treacherous. Since the creature was created it obtains no knowledge of what it is or what is happening. Victor abandons the creature and the creature becomes filled with hate as it is constantly rejected by humans. The creature uses nature to survive. The creature also self teaches himself and becomes aware that he is a monster. He then swears to get revenge on Victor for leaving him alone. He gets his revenge by killing Victor's family. Victor then swears to get revenge on the creature, and decides that the best way to do so is by bringing the creature as far away from human civilization as possible. Thesis?!
Every artist draws inspiration from somewhere, and the inspiration shows in their work. When looking deeper into the life of Mary Shelley, it is easy to say that the inspiration she drew to create her novel Frankenstein, came from her own personal experiences. Frankenstein is riddled parallels to Marry Shelley’s own life. It was not just by mere coincidences either, Mary Shelley makes various references to family members (specifically by name), places she visited, and situations she faced, herself, all of these experiences are documented in her novel Frankenstein.