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Victor Frankenstein is the oldest son of Alphonse and Caroline Beaufort Frankenstein of Geneva, Switzerland. After having a good childhood, he leaves Switzerland to attend the University of Ingolstadt. Victor always had a desire to continue his education. Dussinger argues that Victor’s curiosity, his lust for forbidden knowledge, creates a God-complex (40). Victor desires to play God by having the knowledge to be able to create and control life. Victor Frankenstein is the true monster because of his monstrous mind. First, he states: It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things, or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my enquiries …show more content…
This is because his parents were too controlling when he was a child so he rebels against them. Victor rebels in the only way he knows how to by morphing into his father. His father was the one that told him he was never good enough and told him what he should or should not do. Victor felt suppressed by his father and decided to overcome this suppression by inventing a person to control like his father did to him. Huber et al. suggest that Frankenstein has feelings of inferiority that stem from his childhood, which was a driving force in his need for the godlike goal of creating life to compensate for his inferiority and fulfilling his need to dominate others (5). Huber et al. point out two crucial aspects of Victor’s monstrosity: his sense of inferiority that drives his God complex and his dominating nature. Victor developed a sense of inferiority from not living up to his father’s high standard. He has been unable to accept the fact he will never be good enough for his father and that he should define his own standards to live up to. Victor’s dominating nature is one of the main reasons he is the true monster in Frankenstein. He feels the need to have control over everything and when he does not have control he invents a way to have this control. Hogsette states, “Victor’s God complex caused him to show no respect for himself, his invention, or the Creator; rather, he is an arrogant man who attempts to transcend invention and to create life as if he were God” (534). This is the reason why he never questioned his methods of obtaining control and lacks respect for the dead. Instead of letting the bodies lay in peace, he digs them up and steals the various body parts he needs. Shelley notes that Victor “dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave. . . collected bones from charnel-houses,” and “the dissecting room and the slaughter-house
After bringing life to something seemingly horrible, Victor Frankenstein reveals his personality of avoidance and arrogance. Instead of facing the creature he created, he runs away from the problem. His motivations for the experiment vary, but there is one clear one that he even admits. "The world," he says, "was to me a secret which I desired to divine" (Shelley 18). Victor tells us that he's curious, and more importantly that he's always been this way. Victor has been raised in a very loving family. His father and mother were kind parents who loved all of their children, and even adopted some children. Victor, however, grows up a little indulged and perhaps because of this, he is selfish. He is stubborn and unyielding about many things. For
Science fiction writing began in the early 1800’s as a reaction to the growth in science and technology. The genre is characterized by its intellectual excitement, high adventure, and its making of the fantastic possible. Due to the nature of science fiction, film has become an essential piece to its popularity. Science fiction films have been popular since the earliest silent clips because of the outlandish visuals and creative fictional story lines that capture an audience’s attention. Under the guise of this popular platform writers relay political, social and philosophical messages to their audience. The popular 1931 version of Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, depicts an anti-exploration and anti-intellectual philosophy. In Frankenstein there is criticisms for the immoral behavior that is involved with progresses, the natural tendency for humanity to attempt to be greater than God and the pursuit of knowledge.
Throughout history, many have debated whether an individual's behavior is a result of DNA inheritance or developed through the environment they have grown to experience. One side believes that an individual inherits their behavior through nature which is DNA just like how it determines the child’s eye color, type of hair and the possibility of diseases. The other side argued behavior is developed through the environment in which they have experienced through the years. John Locke explains that at birth, a child is born with a blank slate and as they grow their mind is filled with experiences. The question arises whether the creatures’ horrendous behavior was a result being born a monster or his experience of being abandoned constantly.
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.
..., played God, abandoned his creation, and then hid any relation to the creature. Victor is quite at fault for the murders that take place in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. True, the monster does know right from wrong, the difference is he was not brought up by his parents that way. How to live life is something that is learned and imprinted through experience and guidance. The monster was never fully given the chance to live because upon the day he arrived he was instantly rejected. Victor created the monster physically and emotionally within himself and in turn died by it.
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.
It is when Frankenstein realizes how different he is to other people that he realizes his uniqueness and individualism. “I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon a coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” (Frankenstein, 150). While Frankenstein is by no means a human, he is made up of human parts and still craves love and affection. His rejection from everyone he sees, including his creator makes him feel like an outcast. It was because of Victor that Frankenstein couldn’t bear to be who he was made to be and felt a need to run into isolation. Victor not only created a monster physically, but also mentally turned him into someone he didn’t have to be. Both Frankenstein and Victor struggle with balancing their personal wants and needs with societies expectations and the people around them. That is one of the true struggles of being one person living in a world of many, you have to do what makes you happy while making sure it doesn’t effect other peoples happiness negatively. Victor doesn’t do a good job of
Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that follow the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being. This is obviously something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and finding out what he is doing. At the end of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor says:
Victor Frankenstein is the protagonist and the narrator of the main story in Frankenstein. Raised by doting parents, Victor confesses: “I was their plaything and their idol, and something better-their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.” (35) This statement condemns his later reckless and arrogant behavior. Victor was obsessed from an early age with natural philosophy and the ultimate knowledge of life. He sought answers to the many questions that puzzled great minds before him. Motivated by ambition and an insatiable quest to be God like and create life, Victor dedicated himself to this one pursuit for nearly two years. The creature, which was made out of old body parts stolen from the cemetery, strange chemicals, and a mysterious spark, convulsed to life. In this moment, Victor becomes a creator of a human life, the “God” to a being that was deserving of the attention and love of its creator.
Victor Frankenstein experiences a great childhood life in Switzerland, Victor Frankenstein experiences a perfect childhood in Switzerland; surrounded by a loving family and accompanied by his cousin Elizabeth. Victor is interested in all of the books he reads about science. After the death of his mother, his first murderous experience was when he attended the University of Germany where he applied his newfound knowledge and created a human being, (the monster) of enormous size and strength. When his creation is made and awakes Frankenstein, is so horrified by his creation that he falls into an illness, lasting for months. While he is sick, the creature leads himself into the woods and purposely does what his brainpower tells him to do. Frankenstein returns home when learning that his brother had been murdered and Justine a friend Frankenstein is falsely executed. Having been hated, refused, and feared by every human being he meets, so he decides he wants to change. He asks Frankenstein to create him a female buddy but he never wantsto exchange bread with humanity ...
There are quite a few key factors that contribute to the destruction of Victor’s life as well as those around him. Victor envelops his life to creating a being with no thought on what his creation could bring to the ones he loves. After the monster awakes from his death, Victor is "unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] created, [he] rushed out of ...
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.
...e that his creation may be, in fact, a monster, not just a creation. Frankenstein, throughout the entire novel, has free will and it was his foreseeable decision to go through with his efforts. Although his creation goes rogue, Frankenstein’s retribution far exceeds his “crime” committed. He did not deserve to lose so many family members and friends as well as his own life. Frankenstein portrays human beings as both ambitious and fallible. Victor’s dream of altering society through his creation of a new life form is tainted by his desire for glory, making his ambitions fallible by ignoring the consequences, exemplifying the characteristics of a tragic hero. Victor so badly desires to become “a creator,” but disappoints his own monster when he is unable to fulfill his responsibilities as a creator, ultimately, leading to his own death and the death of his creation.
While the monster gains a feeling of hatred and a desire for revenge after he is abandoned and treated pitifully, Frankenstein continuing reinforces the suffering of his creation, and likewise the suffering of himself. Frankenstein is completely to blame for the misery that he endures. Victor creates a being only for his own fulfillment, and afterwards abandons the great responsibility that he bears for it. To make it worse, Frankenstein intentionally ruins the monster 's happiness and gives him the same horrendous treatment that the rest of mankind gives the monster. Victor 's selfish actions cost him his family, bring him to the brink of insanity, and make a terrible creature out of a loving and compassionate being. Victor Frankenstein is a true
Mary Shelley in her book Frankenstein addresses numerous themes relevant to the current trends in society during that period. However, the novel has received criticism from numerous authors. This paper discusses Walter Scott’s critical analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in his Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein (1818).