In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the main character Victor becomes obsessed with recreating life. When Victor finally does so the outcomes are not good. The monster was assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. After Victor discovers the secret of life he bring his creation, a hideous monster, to life. The monster then proceeds to kill victor's family. His creation becomes a monster and even has the appearance of a monster. The creation was not created with the intentions of being evil. Victor changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by the prospects of science into a disillusioned, guilt ridden man. Victor cuts himself off from the world when he has lost his …show more content…
Victor Frankenstein, violating the laws of nature, tried to discover “ the causes of generation and life,” and “became capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley 68). Victor simply violating the laws of nature is a problem. Days and nights Victor was occupied by his experiment, recreating life. He forgot about his family about his family and could not see anything beyond his experiment. Victor said that he had “lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit” (Shelly 70). Victor had “worked nearly two years for the sole purpose of creating life into an animated body” (72). During the time Victor spent on his experiment he became selfish and had no contact with his father, Elizabeth and William, who were impatiently waiting for a letter from him. In one of the letters to Victor, Elizabeth writes; “Yet one word from you, dear Victor, is necessary to calm our apprehensions”(68). Victor is responsible for the deaths for creating life (the creation). Victor made the decision to give life to a being without considering the possible consequences of creating life. After “incredible labor and “fatigue” Victor finally accomplished his goal. He created the creation without …show more content…
Victor keeping it a secret from his friends and family is another reason why he is to blame for the deaths of his friends and family. Victor kept a secret about the creation of his monster from everyone; even his best friend Henry. His decision led to the destruction his family. William was the creations first victim. A few months after the creation, William was found murdered. Though the murderer was was supposedly concluded to be Justine, Victor knew the real murder was his creation. Victor’s silence led to the execution of Justine, who was innocent. During the trial only said: “I believed in Justine’s innocence; I knew it. Could the daemon who had (I did not for a minute doubt) murdered my brother also in his hellish sport have betrayed the innocent death and ignominy?” (91). Victor could have stopped the execution, so Justine's murder was deduced on
By attempting to create life and messing with the natural order of the world, Victor loses his connection to the earth and eventually ends up as a shell of what he once was. No matter how hard he tried to redeem himself, he could no longer be one with nature. The creature that Victor creates by using the malicious techniques of science actually starts out to nature than Victor himself. The Creature recognizes the wonders of nature and finds temporary happiness in his closeness to the world. He turns away the peace given to him by nature just to satisfy his desire for revenge, and becomes a broken being. Mary Shelley demonstrates in Frankenstein what happens if someone strays too far from nature. Shelley purposely shows the destructive nature of science in her novel to highlight the strife that her society was going through. Her society, disillusioned by war and the devastation that new technologies caused, wanted to go back to their roots in nature, and her novel pushes at that idea. Shelley’s example of Victor’s and the Creature’s downfall warns us of the dangers and temptations of science. Even now, people are constantly enraptured by the possibilities that science and technology offer, while neglecting their duties towards nature and the
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.
Many readers have sympathised with Frankenstein’s creation, the unnamed monster, because he is badly treated by most people who he comes across. Victor created the monster with dead body parts that he got though grave robbing once he got all of the parts it took him 2 years to build a body. Victor is very obsessed with his work because he would not let any one help him or see him his fiancée is very worried he might be doing something he would regret.
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
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...
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.
Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, is the creator of the monster. When Victor created the monster, he believed he created the monster for the betterment of humankind, but he actually created the monster because he desired to prove to the world that an average human can do Godly acts. The desire to create the monster goes back to Victor’s childhood. As a young kid, Victor’s passions always lied in science and chemistry and in college; he became obsessed with the idea of creating life out of inanimate objects. He then decided to specialize in Alchemy. Within Shelley’s book Frankenstein, Victor said:
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.
Victor Frankenstein is a very complicated character. He is the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. He is the creator of the monster and spends most of the novel trying to defeat him. Overall, Victor is a good child. At an early age, he has a strong desire for knowledge and learning. A central element in the story is his fascination with electricity. When he was 15, he witnessed an electrical storm which sparked his interest in how he could harness that power. This leads him to study science and alchemy. As the novel goes on, it is clear that Victor struggles with ethical and moral decision making and as the story goes along are the consequences of his moral ambiguity.
So, when he created Frankenstein “the monster” he turned out to be this grotesque and unnatural creature which was different from what Victor had imagined. However, at the site of looking at his creation, Victor is now spooked by his appearance and immediately turned off by his own creation. For example, in chapter 5 Victor says, “I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, continued a long time traversing my bed chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.” (Page 35). Again, we can see Shelley’s use of Gothic elements infused with the monstrous theme. However, this causes Victor to immediately stray away from the monster because he views his creation as repulsive and upsetting. Which marks the first sign of abandonment that Victor places on his creation. This doesn’t do any justice for Victor because now the monster is trying to assert himself into Victor’s life but yet feels more and more neglected from the absence of love that Victor doesn’t want to give in terms of having a relationship with
Victor’s creation murdered William leading to Justine being accused, and later executed. “Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause!” (68) Victor refused to tell the truth of who murdered William allowing Justine to be charged with murder. “Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness.” (157) Once again Victor is portrayed as a monster when he deprives his creation at a chance of love and compassion. Victor believes that when the creation tells him that he will be with Victor on his wedding night that it means the creation will kill Victor, not elizabeth. Victor once again lets his selfishness cloud his thoughts and allows the death of Elizabeth and Alphonse. Victor is never able to overcome his selfishness, greed, and hostility, when it came to his creation, making him seen as a monster in the eyes of the
Victor Frankenstein views his creation as a disgrace to society and believes that it was born evil. Right when the monster was created, Victor couldn’t bare to see his face and what he had made. The evidence of his violence can be seen when he kills William, Henry, and Elizabeth. During his death, the monster says “...this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (Shelley 122). The monster is exhibited exploding in a burst of anger and killing an innocent sibling of Victor. The angerness and dialogue between the Creation and William prove to Victor that he created an evil hearted beast, one that should’ve been put to death. After the monster heard that William was related to Victor, he said “ ‘Frankenstein! You
When Victor goes to college and his interest in science and nature grows, his curiosity to find the secret of immortality causes him to want to create a creature and bring it to life. Victor starts to create his unnatural work hoping that it will bring success in the future, “I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.” (43). Victor states his concerns about what he plans to do but dismisses them based on the importance he places on his work. For that reason, he starts to meddle with nature to create something no one can do but God. Finally, when Victor completes his creation, the monster, he realizes that he has made a serious mistake by interfering with nature, “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.” (47). He thinks he has achieved this beautiful dream of creating a life, but now that he has, all he can see is an ugly monster. Trying to take on divine creation fails and instead of beauty, all Victor can create is something horrifying. Therefore, disrupting with nature is a trait that proves Victor is the true monster because it is a limit that no human should overstep. Eventually, it will come to a miserable
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...