More handpicked essays just for you.
Supernatural within literary texts
Essay on victor frankenstein's character
Analysis of the novel frankenstein
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
When people hear the name Frankenstein, they all think of the story of the scary monster created by a scientist. The original story was written by Mary Shelley which told of a man, Victor Frankenstein and his creation of such a monster. Her novel explores the events of the creation of the monster, what Frankenstein encounters and goes through, and the chaos which the monster causes. Due to this well-known tale, film makers and other authors have depicted their own versions of the story and created an abundance of adaptations that all follow the general story line. Frankenstein begins with Robert Walton's letter from St. Petersburgh, Russia, to his sister in England. Walton, an arctic seafarer, willingly takes Frankenstein aboard his boat. …show more content…
The two children, along with his younger brother, Will, who was born when Victor was seven, become extremely close and have an intense bond between each other. At seventeen, as he is to leave for the University at Ingolstadt, Elizabeth contracts scarlet fever. Nursed by Victor's mother, she recovers, but his mother soon dies afterward. Victor later departs for Ingolstadt, which is where his chemistry professor encourages him in the study of science where Victor determines to discover the secret of life, perhaps even how to create life itself: “to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent” (Shelley). This leads to the construction of the monster himself. At the end of his creation, Victor is horrified by what he has generated, and runs away. This however, was a horrible mistake; the monster murders Victor’s younger brother and a servant is blamed for the …show more content…
Superiority through suffering and acceptance are other major themes of Frankenstein as well. Victor refuses to give his creation the love and acceptance it craves and in doing so creates the monstrous nightmare that later comes to kill everyone he cares for. While also refusing to construct the creation a companion of his own is another example of depriving the creation of love. By not providing his creation with someone of his own artificial species, the monster cannot find acceptance. In the end, Victor forces the monster to a life of suffering which in return he suffers himself: “isolation only leads to despair” (Themes). The monster and Victor Frankenstein are the major characters that portray these themes throughout the creation, journey, tragic events, and over all
Frankenstein is a horror movie that tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein’s experiment. In search for the fame and glory of playing to be god, he reaches a point where he is able to revive dead people. In this version of Frankenstein’s monster we see a selfish and careless scientist that created a creature with his intelligence. The way the character is shown reflects how ambitious someone can be to reach to be known in the world. This movie makes the people who are watching to feel empathy on the poor creature. This poor creature that did not want to live in a life where everyone is going to hate him for having a horrible aspect and not following rules that he has no idea about.
After that Frankenstein went to wander after a monster, dreaming of only one thing: to destroy it. Pursuing beings with incredible strength and endurance, he walked all the continents of the Earth and found himself near the North Pole, where he picked up the
James Whale's Frankenstein is a VERY loose adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. The spirit of the film is preserved in its most basic sense, but the vast majority of the story has been entirely left out, which is unfortunate. The monster, for example, who possesses tremendous intellect in the novel and who goes on an epic quest seeking acceptance into the world in which he was created, has been reduced to little more than a lumbering klutz whose communication is limited to unearthly shrieks and grunts. Boris Karloff was understandably branded with the performance after the film was released, because it was undeniably a spectacular performance, but the monster's character was severely diminished from the novel.
...od; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy and I shall again be virtuous" (Shelley 66). In the novel, Victor has two chances to provide this happiness for the creation. In both cases, all the creation desires was a companion, be it Victor or a new creation. And, in both cases, Victor is influenced by his initial reaction of disgust at the sight of his original creation. This reaction originates from a preconception, a fear caused by the human nature to prejudge based on past experience. This prejudice is indeed the source of the pain and torment in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If a "monster" exists in the novel, it is this aspect of human nature.
If someone were to ask people who Frankenstein is they would probably describe a tall, hideous monster with bolts sticking out of its neck. But long before movies reinvented their version of the monster, there was a novel by Mary Shelley entitled Frankenstein. In her novel, the monster is shown as child-like and uneducated. But what really makes someone a monster? Who is the true monster of Mary Shelley’s novel? Victor and the Creature present similarities and differences in their action and character throughout the novel.
Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley in 1818, that is revolved around a under privileged scientist named Victor Frankenstein who manages to create a unnatural human-like being. The story was written when Shelley was in her late teen age years, and was published when she was just twenty years old. Frankenstein is filled with several different elements of the Gothic and Romantic Movement of British literature, and is considered to be one of the earliest forms of science fiction. Frankenstein is a very complicated and complex story that challenges different ethics and morals on the apparent theme of dangerous knowledge. With the mysterious experiment that Dr. Victor Frankenstein conducted, Shelly causes her reader to ultimately ask themselves what price is too high to pay to gain knowledge. It is evident that Shelly allows the reader to sort of “wonder” about the reaction they would take when dealing with a situation such as the one implemented throughout the book.
As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.
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.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he creates are very similar. For example, Victor creates the monster to be like himself. Another similarity is that the anger of both Victor and the monster is brought about by society. One more parallel between Victor and the monster is that they both became recluses. These traits that Victor and the monster possess show that they are very similar.
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.
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.
Victor's life ends up in misery because he denies himself of being anything other than a perfect human being. His darker side finally explodes into the form of the Monster and consumes his life instead of sharing it. Since neither the good or bad side is prominent when you are born, because man is an empty sheet, it is what happens to you and how you are treated that dictates which side will be more powerful. Had the Monster experienced kindness from other people, he might not have embarked on his cruel revenge. These are the central lessons that Mary Shelley wants to teach us throughout her novel "Frankenstein": treat people good and they will become good, but do not deny yourself to be passionate or to have faults, because the dark and raw side of man needs to, and will manifest itself
Evidence of this thirst for knowledge occurs when Victor states, “The world to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember.” As he grows, Frankenstein describes how became absorbed with natural philosophy, but when he witnessed a lightning strike on a tree, he concludes that everything he has studied has been wrong. This is an important part of Victor’s life because it helps frame his mindset about what he wants to focus on, specifically the applications of electricity. When he is old enough, Victor leaves for Ingolstadt. However, his mother, who he strongly admires, dies from scarlet fever, which she caught from Elizabeth. The impact of his mother’s death is significant because this death can be noted as the trigger of Victor’s interest in bringing dead existences back to
People are defined by their environment and how they react to their environment. Environments that appear to be perfect on the outside may very well be the cause of misery in man's life because one must be able to cope with their environment. Victor could not cope with his environment and lashed out at the world by trying to attain power. However, things do not always go as planned, and sometime this may be beneficial. One should not judge by external appearance alone. It is what is on the inside that counts. Had Victor Frankenstein been taught ethics such as this, his life, as well as the lives of those he loved, could have been saved. Also, the life of the creature could have been free of pain and hatred. The monster is a symbol for the outcasts and rejected of society. He is also a reflection of Victor, meaning that Victor was also considered an outcast. The reality of an animated object reflecting something that one does not want to see, combined with being alone in the world, is enough to drive man mad. The monster, in some ways, creates a harsh reality for Victor. Either love what you create or be destroyed by it.
In 1818, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published. Mary Shelley has been compared to her characters since her book was published. While reading Frankenstein, multiple similarities between Mary Shelley and numerous characters in her story can be made. Similarities such as the way she grew up, her interactions with people in her life, and people she lost in her life. All of the similarities she included are negative occurrences.