Friendship in Frankenstein

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Friendship in Frankenstein

Friendship is one of the most common human desires found all over the world in every different type of people. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this deep-seeded need is explored, especially as it manifests itself in the hearts of three great men. Captain Walden writes to his sister about the loneliness that he is experiencing on his journey at the very start of the book. Then, as the story progresses, a similar want can be found in Victor despite his tightly woven relationship with Henry Clerval. The Creature is constantly denied his lust for companionship demonstrates the horrible consequences of incessant loneliness. His amiable nature combined with his grotesque appearance proves to be a horrific collaboration that serves only in gaining rejection as he is shunned, quite irrationally, over and over again by all living beings. The Creature's suffering could only be abandoned if he were able to encounter an unprejudiced and completely tolerant friend. Shelley masterfully conveys the importance of a kindred spirit and the overall necessity of loyalty between people.

Victor Frankenstein's successful closeness with Henry Clerval plays a valid foil to the Creature's unrequited passion for a comrade. Their intimacy is extremely obvious when Victor relates that, "Nothing could equal my delight on seeing Clerval;…I grasped his hand, and in moment forgot my horror and misfortune;"(p.44). The close friendship between these two grown men prospers and expands up until Clerval's tragic death, which is caused by the Creature. The actual termination of this particular companionship works symbolically to show the final path of destruction the Creature has chosen to take. His greed for revenge ...

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... He saves her from harm and delivers her to the shore where he is verbally attacked by her quite worthless guardian. As he attempts to flee, he is shot in the chest and when he eventually recovers his pity and love for humans is absent to his impulses. This is an extremely moving scene because it shows the passage of his soul from good to evil for the final time.

Throughout this powerful novel, we observe the injustice in societal rejection and the pain caused by this. However, another extremely dominating theme involving the need for friendship surfaces again and again in all of the prominent characters. The Creature's isolation reveals the effects that loneliness can have when it is the strongest feeling in one's life. Taken as a whole, while the ability to care for oneself is important, people will always need someone to be there when the road gets rough.

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