Is Frankenstein a man, whose ambition led to a disaster; or a monster, which created a
life with disregard for the human race? Frankenstein, in my opinion, was the monster not the life
that he had created. Frankenstein never admitted to his family what he had done, never admitted
responsibility for his actions. He might as well have killed Elizabeth, William, Justine, and
Clerval with his own hand. The so called “Monster” only wanted companionship; he did not
want to murder those people. The circumstances forced him to commit murder. Frankenstein
was the instigator of those circumstances.
To me, Frankenstein and the monster are one and the same. While reading this book the
thought that kept occurring to me was that Victor had multiple personality disorder. Although
the book Frankenstein is a work of fiction, does it not suggest that Victor was the one
committing these vile acts? The persona of the monster is just his conscience making it easier
for Victor to dismiss the atrocious acts that he had committed. Shelley’s reference to “My first
thought was to discover what I knew of the murderer and cause instant pursuit to be made. But I
paused when I reflected on the story I had to tell.”(Frankenstein, Mary Shelley), showed that
Victor had the knowledge that he was the reason William was dead. Frankenstein didn’t need to
know about the murderer, because he was the murderer. No Hero in Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein cites “He is so self-centered that his lack of interaction and love for others after his
experiment has been completed, would barely qualify him as a person, if the difference between
being human and being a person lies in the ability to have relationships with others.” This
statement suggests to me that he...
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...in led himself down the path of
destruction. He lost his friend, wife, and brother. He was loved by no one. All those whom he
had cared about were dead. His experiment had turned him into a shell of hatred and despair.
His focus on his creation, led him to a black hole, from which there was no escape.
Frankenstein’s ambition did lead to disaster, but he was also the monster with no regard for
human life.
Now that Frankenstein was in the afterlife, the monster could now end his own
life. His quest was over. He had won the revenge that he sought. He only waited for his creator
to die. He choose to end his miserable existence, rather than face life alone and lonely. He was
right to blame Frankenstein for his failures; his appearance, the way society accepted him, his
need for companionship. The monster was the reflection of the man that the world couldn’t see.
..., but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery."(Shelley 265) This quote reiterates one of the main points of the novel: Frankenstein's decision turns on the good of humankind. Frankenstein talks about the monster saying “He walks about the world free, and perhaps respected.” (Shelley 220) Frankenstein is condemning human nature and the society and institutions that come from it. Frankenstein doesn’t know if he should hold himself responsible for his creature.
We first view Frankenstein’s ignorance while he is busy in his work. He had not visited his family for two straight years. These are the people that love and care about him, yet he does not go home. Not even to visit his own father, the man who pays for his schooling and necessities.
The gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley highlights the idea that the real monsters of the world are humans and society, and that most traits that most humans despise are actually within all of us. Frankenstein shows that any human can be so corrupt as to be a “monster”, and that beings society considers repulsive and evil can be human at heart. Shelley exposes human faults such as hubris and irresponsibility through the main character of the novel Victor Frankenstein, who creates a living being and refuses to care for it, sending it into the unwelcoming hands of society. Victors irresponsible actions lead to many deaths and events. As the novel progresses, Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster he creates become more and more similar
In the first half of the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is the narrator telling his story. Victor tells how he spends night and day for nearly two years working nonstop on his creation. After all his effort and constant dedication, he is only found disappointed in his creation once finished (Britton 5). “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” says Victor (Shelley 55). All of Victor’s hard work was of waste. He has abandoned his health, family, and social life working on creating this monster to only be left shameful (Prince 2). Victor states “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I have finished, the beauty of that dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 42). He is so disgusted with his work, that he does not even want his best friend Henry Clerval to know about his creation that went wrong. He shrieks at the thought of Henry even finding the least bit about this disaster (Shelley 58). Upon entering Victor’s apartment, Victor makes Henry wait downstairs while Victor searches his apartment to make sure the wretch he ...
Mary Shelley, the renowned author of Frankenstein, explores the consequences of man and monster chasing ambition blindly. Victor Frankenstein discovered the secret that allowed him to create life. His understanding of how bodies operated and the science of human anatomy enabled him to make this discovery and apply it to the creation of his monster. Walton wished to sail to the arctic because no sailor has ever reached it. The monster was created against his will, his ambition was to avenge his creation as a hideous outcast. These three characters were all driven by the same blind ambition.
The psychoanalytic perspective tells us that behavior is determined by one’s past experiences and that these experiences have been locked in the unconscious mind and the character is unaware of them. This perspective is also based strongly on Freud’s studies of the mind. The major experience in Victor’s life was the death of his mother. Victor was very close to his mother and she died before he left to go to college in Ingolstadt. Shelley wanted to make a point by placing Victor’s mother’s death before he left for the university, to act as his separation from her and to show that he was unable to continue life in the way a usual human being could. Victor’s studies at Ingolstadt strictly went against his father’s words and could be seen as Shelley placing a type of Oedipus complex in his career pursuits. This led Victor to creating the monster to have someone he could be with. After working for 2 years, Victor finished his creation and said, “Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (...
...most readers tend to sympathize with Frankenstein because of the way in which he is mentally and physically harmed by his creation. However, one must also realize that while Frankenstein is a victim in the novel, he also exhibits features that make him a monster. These monstrous qualities, however, stem from his passion for science and his desire to create life. Not only does the reader criticize and pity Frankenstein, but the reader also empathizes with Frankenstein’s creation. He was unjustly shunned by society because of his physical appearance. On the other hand, the reader realizes that like Frankenstein, the creation can not be sympathized with entirely. He too exhibits traits that make him appear villainous. It is the duality of these two characters that make Frankenstein and his creation two of the most appealing characters of the nineteenth century.
Brachneos. “Frankenstein – a Literature Essay on Social Context Comments.” Writinghood . N.p., 3 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2011. .
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley portrays an individual in a unique situation trying to overcome daily interactions while being faced with inconceivable misfortunes. Created by Victor Frankenstein, who set out on a journey to bring life to scrapped pieces of waste, he was then abandoned and left to fend for himself in a world he was abruptly brought into. After being abandoned by his creator for his less than appealing looks, this then sparked his inevitable desire for revenge. Eventually leading to the destruction of those associated with his creator. Knowing that he will never fit in, the monster began to act out in hopes of getting back at his creator for what he did. His vulnerability due to missing guidance and parental figures in his beginning stages of life contributed to his behavior. The books and article Family Crisis and Children’s Therapy Groups written by Gianetti, Audoin, and Uzé, Victim Of Romance: The Life And Death Of Fanny Godwin by Maurice Hindle, and Social Behavior and Personality by Lubomir Lamy, Jacques Fishcher-Lokou, and Nicolas Gueguen support why the monster acts the way he does. The monster’s behavior stems from Victor’s actions at the beginning of his life and therefore is not to blame. The creature in Frankenstein is deserving of sympathy even though he committed those murders because the lack of parental guidance, lack of family, and lack of someone to love led him to that. All in all his actions were not malicious, but only retaliation for what he had been put through.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, produces a monster and instead of teaching his monster the mannerisms and norms of society, he abandons him. Victor expects his monster to make it in the harsh, critical society without being taught correct demeanors because he believes that having correct mannerisms is intuitive. A common viewpoint of the book is that Frankenstein’s monster should receive the blame, because he should have had proper nature, but in reality, society nurtured him to act out. Victor isolated the monster, and other members of society followed in Victor’s example and also treated him as so; which made the creature’s actions monstrous. Frankenstein played God, causing society to view his creature as a monster and as a risk to the public, but Frankenstein did not intend to create the monster as dangerous in nature; society nurtured him to act as a beast.
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.
After hearing the monster’s side of the story Frankenstein started to show some compassion for the being and agreed to it’s desire for a mate. Now that Frankenstein has learned the full story of his creation he feels the need to take responsibility for it now with the line, “did [he] not as his maker owe him all portions of happiness” (Shelley 125), less the monster start to attack humanity out of
Victor Frankenstein is a fictional character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He was born in Naples and led a very troubling life after the death of his mother. As he delved deeper and deeper into his studies, his mental state began to deteriorate and he became a recluse. His clear obsession then engaged him into the creation of a monster who soon became the culprit of many murders. Thus arguing that the crimes committed by the creation are not a result of Victor's negligence but rather out of the Creation's lack of ability to control his revengeful nature and therefore Victor's innocence on accountability for the Creation's crimes.
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is a novel narrated by Robert Walton about Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates. Frankenstein grew up surrounding himself with what he loved most, science. He attended Ingolstadt University where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy, but being involved in academics was not enough for him. Frankenstein wanted to discover things, but did not think about the potential outcomes that could come with this decision. Frankenstein was astonished by the human frame and all living creatures, so he built the Monster out of various human and animal parts (Shelley, 52). At the time Frankenstein thought this creation was a great discovery, but as time went on the Monster turned out to be terrifying to anyone he came in contact with. So, taking his anger out on Frankenstein, the Monster causes chaos in a lot of people’s lives and the continuing battle goes on between the Monster and Frankenstein. Throughout this novel, it is hard to perceive who is pursuing whom as well as who ends up worse off until the book comes to a close.
From the moment Frankenstein bestows life upon his creation, his selfish character is present. Just after witnessing his work of over two years come to life, Frankenstein tells Walton, "Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had