How does Mary Shelley’s construction of the secondary characters reflect upon the protagonist? Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, character parallels and analogies between Victor Frankenstein and the creature are strongly emphasized. More evidently, the character doubles between the creator Victor, and his creature are presented through their demeanor, their desires, and their demands. Shelley emphasizes parallelisms of nature, alienation, and vengeance to underscore their objective similarities, leading some readers to interpret that the creature is Victor’s double, an altered conscience. Both lonely and outcasts in the world, Victor and his creation live forlorn and dreary lives, hungry for the love of another, desperate for family, …show more content…
One of the most clear and compelling character parallels that Victor and the creature share is their loneliness and their isolation. When the creature observed De Lacey and his family in in a remote German village, he shadowed their behaviors and he began to master the basic ways of life; he learned of their emotions, their culture, and their history. Like a growing child, his mind was constantly saturated with new ideas, his thoughts twirling around the ways of human nature. Although heavily intrigued by their family and values, the creature ponders and says, “Increase knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast I was” (Shelley, page 133). Progressively, the creature transforms into a slave to everything he learns. Like a child metamorphosing into adolescence, he begins to stray from his innocence and purity, discarding his once-naive ways of thought. This torture he feels, helps him alert Victor, sending him subtle warnings of what his life might become if he follows a certain path. Alone, he says, “I was dependent on none and related to none. The path of my departure was free, and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them” (15.5). Without …show more content…
Infected by grandiosity, Victor denies his bad morals and crooked ideals. Victor chose to isolate himself from the world, neglecting his obligations as a partner, as friend, and in a sense, as a father. The creature on the other hand, is more emotionally attached. With a stronger sense of feeling, the creature tries to get Victor more in touch with his feelings and his bare humanity. The creature, even though he was made by Victor, teaches his creator more about himself. In a sense, the creature helps his master by asking him to raise him as he was raised, in a loving, present family. Prior to the creature’s shift as a murderer, Victor still craved solitude and welcomed weak relationships in turn for time alone. To the creature, this felt unfair. Fixated on his studies, he would seldom meet with friends or circle himself with the moving world surrounding him. As Victor finalized the creation, he was continually criticized. Short of an accepting support system, Victor was forced into conforming to societal principles. He chose to keep his creation a sworn and coveted secret, only disclosing the tale to Robert Walton towards the end of his life. Although Victor had limited choice in what his monster would amount to, his ugliness was the root of his boiling hatred towards humanity. Having such an abhorred countenance prohibited the creature from
Rather, it is others who alienate it because of its grotesque appearance. The monster is quite literally ‘born’ into perpetual isolation beginning with Victor’s abandonment of it. He denies it domestic safety when he flees to his bedchamber. Victor disregards the monster’s utterance of “inarticulate sounds while a grin wrinkled his cheeks,” then escapes its outstretched hand “seemingly to detain [him]” [Shelley 49]. Examining the monster’s body language as though an impressionable infant, its actions can be read as a child-like plea for its father though the absence of speech not yet learned. Instead, its unattractive appearance causes Victor to run, leaving the creature alone with no information about himself or his surroundings. Therefore, Victor’s abandonment is a crucial justification of the monster’s negative experiences with society and nature and actions in desiring community. The monster’s alienation from family is the missing first school of human nature, and the first lesson where he learns he does not belong. The creature leaves into the wilderness to learn about the world and himself on it own, only to understand his interactions are
By the time of their death, both Victor and the creature has committed repugnant acts: Victor created a being out of corpses and then abandoned it and let it wreak havoc on the people he loved, the creature directly killed three people. But Victor tells Walton that, “During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable […] nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end” (269). Victor is not able to see past the metaphorical clouds that seem to shroud his mind from seeing the truth. Furthermore, Victor is not able to let go of his hate for the creature. In contrast, the creature admits, “But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless” (275). The creature is able to recognize that he has made mistakes and as a result he loathes himself. He tells Walton that, “You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself” (275). Although no amount of regret or sorrow can bring back the people that he has killed, the creature does acknowledge the evil of his actions, which in turn allow him to make come to peace. He is able to reconcile his vengeful feelings towards his creator and praises Victor by calling him, “worthy of love and admiration among men” (275). Both Victor and the creature have done committed actions against each
Shelley characterizes Victor in a way that he acts on his impulses and not with rationality. As a result, Victor does not take the time to teach or talk to his creation. This action leads to his downfall as his loved one’s are killed by the Creature taking revenge on Victor for leaving him to fend for himself. Victor’s actions have consequences, hence why all his loved one’s are murdered because of his instinct to leave out of fear and safety. Shelley proves that our id demands immediate gratification of needs and thus, is in control of our actions.
At the beginning or the story, Victor lives in ecstasy, reveling in life’s every joy. Desolation and darkness no doubt had minor roles in his life, but these were glanced over in an instant, as Victor was remembering the times as good and perfect. The harsh dichotomy of this perspective and the perspective he maintained for the majority of the novel after the creation of the creature is stunning. After, he saw the world as always filled with darkness and loneliness. He even stated that he almost caught himself feeling happiness at one point and stopped himself. This distortion that the world became a fruitless wasteland is simply untrue, but it sheds light on how totally our feeling twist our perception of the world. By shoeing the polar opposites, the novel further emphasizes how our outlook on life shapes what we see in the world around us, for better or for
After killing his younger brother, Elizabeth , and his best friend, Victor after having no family left wanted to put an end to it all so he ended up chasing his creation and dying before catching it. After bringing the creature into this world and leaving it behind to fend for itself the creature endured lots of agony and pain from society which drove its rage to Victor and his family and he ended up kill this younger brother and soon to be wife. Both were isolated from society, Victor brought isolation upon himself through locking himself up to create the creature and ignoring everything around him as stated in the article, “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage: but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them; and I well-remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.” As
As he goes off to college, interested in the science behind life and death, he ends up going his own way and attempts to create a living being. Victor “had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (Shelley 43). The being Victor has created does not by any means sit well with him. As victor is away from his family and for six years, he is neglectful to them, which only adds to his sorrow and misery. Victor’s isolation is brought upon him because of himself, however his creation, or “the monster”, is isolated from any connections with humans against his will. To start out, the monster would have had Victor there with him, but Victor is ashamed of what he has created, and abandons the monster. The monster is a very hideous being, which sadly is a contributing factor to his isolation. With nobody to talk to at any time, naturally this will be condescending and frustrating. Although the monster is able to
The creature later went on a journey looking for his creator, he wanted partner to be with him since he was the only one of his kind plus the people hated him. He wanted a partner whom he could live with and not feel alone in this world. When they first encounter themselves victor was amazed by his creation but once again victor did not wanted to see.” Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence, which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants
Victor is so engulfed by his work that he is unaware of what is going on around him. He “bore onwards [with his work], like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success” and he wants to “pour a torrent of light into our dark world" (Shelley 55). Blinded by his yearning for making new discoveries, Victor thinks that his knowledge of the sciences will be enough for him to be successful. However, he does not understand that in order to create an auspicious relationship between him and his creation, he needs to have knowledge of society as well. Once his creation is animated, Victor is unable to see that all the creature wants is to be loved and accepted. The creature craves the maternal love that Victor denies him. From the beginning, Victor is unable to realize the significance of his creation. He describes how the creature’s “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath... [and] his hair was of a lustrous black... [and] his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). He immediately focuses on the negative features of his creation, and does not even attempt to learn the positive qualities. If Victor uses more social skills, rather than his knowledge of the sciences to manage his creation, all of the destruction the creation causes could have been
The confrontation between the two demonstrates Victor 's weaknesses as an individual. Although Victor is the Creature 's creator, he refers to his creation as an "abhorred monster" (Shelley 68) and is willing to "extinguish the spark which he so negligently bestowed" (Shelley 68) upon him. This demonstrates Victor 's lack of responsibility. His goal was to create life, essentially to play God. Once the monster began to murder those dearest to Victor, he failed to take responsibility for the creature 's actions. Another weakness in Victor 's character is revealed through the dialogue exchanged between creator and creation. Instead of calmly trying to reason with the Creature, Victor lashes back at the Creature. He even suggests that the two "try their strength in a fight in which one must fall." (Shelley 69) The monster, however, maturely and eloquently urges Victor 's "compassion to be moved" (Shelley69). Because Victor is full of "rage and horror" he wants to destroy his own creation even though victor is playing god in recreation of humanity. They both are to blame due to the fact that Victor created the creature as well as the signs of irresponsibility between the two for the Creature killing people and for Victor trying to recreate
...or was not thinking of others in his actions, but only of himself. He did not consider the tumult the abnormally large creature could cause in the world, nor what the feelings of the monster would be towards him if he abandoned him. Victor also did not contemplate the safety of his friends, as he had the chance to stop the creature’s misdoings but failed to do so, risking the life of his friends. Therefore, Victor was a selfish being, who only concerned himself with his wishes and never evaluated the situation of his loved ones, ultimately causing their demise. The misfortunate events that occurred through Victor’s life could have been prevented, and also discontinued when Victor had the chance. However, Victor’s irresponsibility overcame these opportunities and he in turn, caused misfortunes for himself as well as his loved ones.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
Victor avoids association with his family and many others during the time which he is developing the creature, and solely interacts with professors at his time at Ingolstadt. The theme of association with others goes hand in hand with the theme of isolation, as Victor seems to prefer keeping to himself. Many compare the creature to Victor and the way they are similar, but the creature longs to be apart of society, and to be loved by others, or by a family. The opposition is Victor’s inability to grasp a relationship with those who seek one with him, while the creature is kept from associating with anyone from the outside world due to the way he looks. Shelley ties together the theme of association with others to isolation, and family as many of the people Victor hides from is his family. The importance of associating or communicating with others for Victor is the less likely chance he will fall ill when isolated. Shelley provides many instances, which she places the importance of associating with others on both Victor and the
Victor had created the creature with the vision from his dreams of a strong, tall perfect being with no flaws. His years of study with the unnatural and science had come to this final conclusion and masterful idea that he was determined to finish. To his surprise, he had created the opposite, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. 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) Victor is saddened by what he thinks of as a failure. He leaves his own apartment to go sleep in his court yard outside following his creation. He begins to isolate himself from the creature because of his fear of the creature’s outward appearance. He loses all hope for the creature without even learning anything about him. The fact that Shelley begins to refer to the being that Victor created as a “creature” shows Victor’s ignorance and lack of acceptance. It is Victor’s prejudice that blinds him of the creature’s true potential due to the unwanted preconception that follows the creature as he finds meaning in
His ambitions are what isolate him and bring to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated from everyone, including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge.
In any novel the author is free to create and shape their characters in whatever way they see fit. In Frankenstein, Shelley does an excellent job of shaping her characters, be it however minute their part in the story, so that the reader gets a clear picture of Shelley's creations. It seems that each character in Shelley's Frankenstein is created by Shelley to give the reader a certain impression of the character. By doing this Shelley creates the characters the way she wants us to see them. She tells us certain things about them and gives them certain traits so that they will fit into the story the way she wants them to. In particular I will examine the characters of the monster, Elizabeth, and old man De Lacey.