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Nimish Garg Thesis: The monster should be sympathized with more than Frankenstein because he is an unprivileged character who is shunned by society. The monster had a much worse formative “childhood” than Victor. At the beginning of its life, when the monster, similar to a newborn in naivety, awoke in a desolate location, he exclaimed, “ I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides.” This monster was simply abandoned by its creator and left to fend for itself in a harsh, painful world. But the monster yearns for someone to take care of him and says, “ where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me …show more content…
The monster simply wanted protection from loneliness and told De Lacey, “ Save and protect me! You and your family are the friends whom I seek.” However, the monster was accosted. Even though the monster was king enough to help another girl after being attacked by Felix, the monster was shot. Therefore, he declares “ as a recompense I now writed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone… I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.” The reader clearly has to sympathize with the monster because he only turns evil after society berates him to an extensive degree; the monster was treated as some kind of animal. However, even though Victor was surrounded by such a loving family and friends, he did not inherit their personalities and fulfill his long term obligations. In order to complete his creation, Victor had not written to his family for years. He even knew it would cause them pain, claiming, “I knew well therefore what would be my father's feelings, but I could not tear my thoughts from my employment”. All Victor wanted was glory and for “A new species [to] bless [him] as its creator and source.” He did not even write to his family once, who were constantly loving and wishing Victor well. But, when his monster was created, he simply abandoned it, declaring, “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber.” He did not communicate with his family for several years for fame and glory, and just because his creation was not as beautiful as he expected, he simply left it out to rot. He abandoned a living, feeling, and potentially dangerous monster just because he did not like it. Because of his narcissism, he was reckless, and he hurt his own
If Victor had stayed around and showed the monster the real world, he might have not have went on to perform violent actions. This portrays Victor as a selfish character and gives more of an insight on his personal life. As a child, Victor is only interested in furthering his own knowledge and not worried about anyone else. He spent much of his time “drawing the picture of [his] early days... when [he] would account to [himself] for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled [his] destiny” (Shelley 34), or otherwise a magnificent creation that would change his future. When constructing the Monster, he put all of his relatives in the back of his mind, and only focused on his own success and victory. This further explains the theme of being selfless and only doing certain things that will benefit
Victor and Manfred share an important similarity: the desire for radical autonomy. The paths the two characters embark on to follow this desire differ, causing Manfred to be seen a as an admirable protagonist, while Victor’s continuing attempts to attain a defiant autonomy prove to be self-defeating, and he is unable to attain a complete independence because of his responsibility for the monster, which grows and transforms into a dependency of the monster. Although the shared drive of being defiant in their independence is a key factor for the outcomes of both stories, Victor’s inability to be accountable for the responsibility he holds presents a critique of the Byronic hero in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein demonstrating that without the ability
With nobody to reason with, Victor makes senseless decisions while he is alone. Victor begins this with his process of creating the monster. Nobody in the right mind would ever dig up graves, but that is just what victor goes and does. Once this creation is finally given life, which Victor has spent two years striving for, Victor foolishly abandons it. Victor comes to his senses to some degree after he brings life to the monster as he states, “‘now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 43). Had there been companions around Victor during this creation time, perhaps someone would have been able to guide Victor away from creating the “wretch” (Shelley 43) he so hopelessly conceived. As for the monster, he makes fairly good decisions even without guidance from anyone, including Victor, his creator. The monster has the desire to learn and gain knowledge as a genuine individual. As the monster is continuously rejected and shunned by mankind, his natural benevolence turns to malevolence. In his loneliness, the monster wrongly decides to declare “‘everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery’” (Shelley 126). Say the monster was able to have comrades of some kind around him, he would not have turned to this
There is also corruption within the lack of relationship between Victor and his creation that leads to death, revenge and internal hatred surrounding them. Being there for a child or creation at birth and throughout their childhood is another critical responsibility of being a parent or creator. At the time of the monster’s creation, Victor abandons him and leaves him alone to suffer the first moments he is experiencing the world, which causes the monster to feel very empty and outcast from the start, without even knowing he is a “monster”: . “It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were, instinctively, finding myself so desolate.” (87). Mary Shelley’s use of the word “desolate” really captures the exact emotion
Victor, out of horror of what he had created leaves the monster in isolation. The monster describes what it was like, “It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate… I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept,” (Shelley 87). At this point the monster is just an innocent child, who in his first hours has faced abandonment and such strong emotions. However, he is pure, like most babies. While he looks like a monstrosity he shows himself to be anything but. His first encounters with humans are all very negative. A man runs away screaming just at the sight of him. Villagers pelted him with rocks and chased him away. This makes him very fearful of humans. However, when he comes across the De Lacey family in their little cottage he sees how peaceful they are and he regains some hope. “What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching, and endeavoring to discover the motives which influenced their actions,” (Shelley 93). He is curious little
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.
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
At first glance, many would not imagine comparing the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley to the novella Ourika by Claire De Duras. However when analyzed closely, the similarities and differences between Ourika and the creature, prompts many readers to compare the novel and the novella. Both the creature and Ourika fulfill the idea of outcasts, while containing significant amount of differences. Whereas the creature’s anguish stems from society’s rejection of him and the creature pinning his suffering on society, Ourika’s misery on the other hand, arises from her own self-animosity and refusing to accept society’s shortcomings.
The monster does not resemble Victor physically; instead, they share the same personalities. For example, Victor and the monster are both loving beings. Both of them want to help others and want what is best for others. Victor and the monster try to help the people that surround them. Victor tries to console his family at their losses, and the monster assists the people living in the cottage by performing helpful tasks. However, Victor and the monster do not reflect loving people. The evil that evolves in Victor’s heart is also present in the monster.
The monster wanted to be included into society, but Victor had made him ugly in the eyes of the culture. The monster made multiple attempts to fit in, but his creator and society continuously shunned him from their lives. The monster then decided to turn evil expressing to himself, “I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge” (Shelley 162). The monster’s new goal was to cause pain for others and especially to those closest to his creator, Victor. However, the monster never told anybody about his secret plan because he was a loner due to his grotesque character. The monster goes on to kill many family members of Victor, including Elizabeth on Victor’s wedding night. This causes Victor to eventually die, but ironically the monster becomes very regretful of his secretive plan of revenge. The monster explains his inner feelings of remorse, “No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine” (Shelley 274). The monster wanted to be with his creator his whole life, but due to his rejection, he turned to evil ways that eventually led him to regret his secret actions because of the guilt that they led
Although, the monster would not have lived if it were not for Victor, it is Victor’s folly in creating and then abandoning the creation that led him to be homicidal. The creation longs for his creator to love him, or at least to show some affection or acceptance of his existence. Victor’s complete rejection of his creation is so hurtful, that the monster swears, “I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth."
His later murder is part of his promise to ruin Victor's life even further. When Victor disagrees to make the monster a companion to live with the monster warns him that he will be there on his wedding night. At this point the monster has become that of a reckless and vengeful son. Poorly raised the monster has become haphazardous to anyone he comes in contact with. He doesn’t fully comprehend right from wrong which explains his reason for murder and burning down the house of the De Lacey family. It was the responsibility of Victor to educate the monster, similar to the responsibility of a parent to educate and install common sense of right from wrong in their child. Unfortunately the chance for that is far past and now Victor must pay the price.
In the novel, Victor is raised up by two happy parents in caring and indulgence. He receives a sister, an education, affection, and a wife from his family. However, unlike Victor, the Monster does not have any maternal or paternal figure to care and teach him values. When the Monster first escapes from Victor’s apartment and enters into the forest, he lives like an animal. He eats berries, drinks water from the streams when he gets thirsty, and sleeps in anywhere. These actions illustrate the Monster’s natural impulse for needs of food and shelters.
	In conclusion, the need for an extra family member was the reason Victor created the monster. Through various examples throughout the novel, we can see that the need for family is greatly needed. If one is missing, the family is incomplete and must attempt to substitute that member with someone else. Many times, a substitute cannot be found and life must go on with what you have. The Monster in the end had no one and decided cease living and leave this place as an act of goodwill. This was most unfortunate because he never got to experience what living with a family or having anyone to love was like. As the creator, Victor should take full responsibility and provide his creation with these pleasures in life. In the very end, the monster does regret putting his creator through the torment that he went through. Two wrongs do not make a right, but it seemed the only reasoning that could get through Victor’s stubborn head was to it this way. In the end we learn that family is the basis for which we can continue on and have happiness.
Initially, he does not view his creation with disgust. He had regarded the monster as beautiful when putting it together. Then, the monster came to life and he ran. He did nothing to stop the monster from killing his family and friends. He refused to admit what he had done to the authorities. Victor’s unwillingness to confront the disaster he perpetuated hint at the existence of covert sentiments towards the monster, and towards himself. What Victor does, or doesn’t do, is irrational. He first submerges himself into creating this being, completely neglecting his family for years. Once