Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

1712 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Where in frankenstein does the author show character development

This story is told by the monster speaking through Victor Frankenstein, Victor then speaks through Walton, and Walton speaks through Shelley. The book starts with letters from Walton to his sister Margaret Saville. Walton begins telling his sister of his journeys and what he wants to accomplish. While on his voyage, Walton comes upon a stranger and rescues him from the cold. Once the stranger is in better health he begins telling Walton of his journeys. All the while, Walton is writing to his sister about the stranger and his stories. That is where the book begins and the story of Frankenstein is told.
Walton is an Englishman and a captain of a ship headed to the North Pole. He has no friends to share his discovery or his failures with, the idea of loss and loneliness makes him feel isolated, for he can’t bond with his shipmates. Walton feels he will achieve his goals. Walton studies at night to gain more knowledge. When a stranger boards their ship it is Walton who turns to this stranger as the friend he always wanted. This is like the desire for a friend for the monster. The stranger tells Walton, “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” (Kindle Locations 222-223). To know too much knowledge can be destructive and the stranger tries to tell Walton that he too was obsessed with the need for more knowledge.
How Victor makes you visualize his childhood as a pleasant childhood. Victor had a loving family. Victor longs for a happier time, he dwells on his happy childhood. He knows however, that with the happy times there are tragedies that he had to face. Victor seems to deny the responsibilities ...

... middle of paper ...

...but what Victor doesn’t realize is the monster has always felt what Victor is feeling because Victor abandoned him. The cold wasteland in which Victor pursues the monster is a strong reminder of his hatred of his creation. The only thing that Victor wants out of life anymore is revenge, he is obsessed with finding the monster and killing it.
Victor had a happy childhood and along the way his life got harder until he was lost and alone. His family died around him due to what he had created and only the guilt is what kept Victor from despairing. Victor’s only goal in life after his family died was to kill the monster. He made Walton promise that if he should die and the monster should come that Walton was to kill it. Victor knew that he would not live forever but he wanted the monster to die and not kill anymore.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. EBook

Show More
Related

  • The Destructive Power of Revenge: An Analysis

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    We are introduced to Victor who is found by Robert Walton, now when Victor begins to retell his tragic story he gives us a general view of who he is, where he was born, and what has happened in his life. We then progress through the story and arrive at the rising action which is when Victor returns back to school after his mother’s death and sisters recovery of scarlet fever. Victor sets out to create a living thing upon his return and this is when it all goes down hill, he successfully creates the monster but he is horrified at the site of the creature he then runs like fearful gazelle leaving the creature/monster to wander (very smart Victor). Skipping ahead the monsters causes quite a bit of trouble and strangles a lot of people, and this is all caused by him not being provided with a connection with anyone. Now before he really starts his strangulation spree he spies on a family (the Delacy’s) that teaches him unknowingly how to speak, read, and of general human connection and relationships. This moment of distant watching and learning has left him wanting things even more, he then reveals himself the Father who is blind and he is kind to the monster when the children arrive they terrified and reject the monster. Throughout the tale of the monster is reminded of his indifference by others resulting in him

    Read More

  • Cruelty In Frankenstein Essay

    739 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Human Connections In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Part One = == == === A main theme in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is that of birth, childhood and parenthood, this is explored through Shelly’s choice of frame narrative and structure for the novel.

    Read More

  • Essay on Death and Sorrow in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    Victor experiences very little joy at all after the creation of the monster. He suffers from numerous bouts of depression, he most tolerate the deaths of his brother, best friend, and wife, all of which were murdered at the hands of the monster. His friend Justine is executed because of the death of William, for which she is falsely accused and convicted. His father also dies after the murder of Elizabeth, Victor's ill-fated bride. With so much death surrounding his life, how is it possible that Victor could still be cognizant of his actions when he decides to pursue the monster and end its violent fury? He can't. Victor's mind is so clouded by the sorrow and pain of his past that he is blinded to the fact that he is attempting to destroy a creature with far greater physical strength and speed than any mortal. Much of his conflict appears to be created by the monster, when in fact the torment comes from Victor's own hands because he himself created and gave life to the monster.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein: Who is the victim?

    385 Words  | 1 Pages

    After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster's solitude, the monster is overcome with suffering and sadness. These feelings affected his state of mind and caused him to do wrong things. He did not deserve to see his one and only mate be destroyed.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

    1163 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein - Victor is the Villain not Victim

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Victor flees the creature, he becomes lonely and unhappy. He rejects his own works. If he stayed and taught him the creature would at least have a chance of happiness. When the monster flees to the cottagers he learns about human nature. He quotes “I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protector had departed and broken the only link that held me to th...

    Read More

  • The Power Of Knowledge In Frankenstein

    2035 Words  | 5 Pages

    The monster wanted revenge only to satisfy his needs and to get even with his creator Victor. The only way the two would avoid any other conflicts that would have come their direction would be to eliminate and face the reality of their own catastrophe. Victor wanted to kill the monster because he killed and destroyed many things that he loved; however, the monster was the image of his own guilt and mind. The monster wanted closure and wanted to know why he was brought to the world only to be abandoned, lonely, and

    Read More

  • Examples Of Compassion In Frankenstein

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Comparing Victor Frankenstein and the Monster in Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'

    510 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Desolation In Frankenstein And A Christmas Carol

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    He longed to become a member of society like the rest of the people of the nearby village but he knew because of earlier trials with those same people, he could not live alongside them peacefully. “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"(Shelly). The monster isolated himself in order to learn how people lived their lives. His actions led to a manner of choice that made him learn from a distance, which in turn hurt his development in communication between himself and other people. His isolation turned into anger because instead of learning how to live alongside the villagers, he had to learn how to survive among them, causing his destructive behavior. Just as Victor’s isolation contributed to how he lived his life, the same can be said about the monster Victor

    Read More

  • Victor as the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Victor has a lack of respect for the natural world that leads him on the path to becoming a monster. In creating the monster Victor is trying to change the natural world. He is trying to play the role of god by creating life.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Compare And Contrast Essay

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    Victor frequently doesn’t consider the monster, and only thinks of self-benefit. In fact, Victor’s purpose in creating the monster was self-benefit: to have a race that considers him their god. This plan doesn’t work out for obvious reasons, and the monster runs. When Victor encounters the monster again, it is an unexpected encounter on Mount Blanc. Victor assumes the monster killed his son though no real proof existed at the time. Victor sees the monster, and “A mist came over (his) eyes, and (he) felt a faintness seize (him)”(80). This is Victor's reaction to simply seeing the monster. He feels as if he needs to get revenge against the monster who could be innocent. Victor says later “I trembled with rage and horror, resolving to wait his approach and then close with him in mortal combat”(80). He is willing to die if it gets this possibly innocent creature off of the earth. This is an evil and selfish thing of him to do, simply to get out the rage of losing two of his family members. Actions like this are what cause the monster to want to continue ruining Victor. The monster asks for a compromise; a bride so that he has someone who he can befriend. Victor agrees to this only out of self defense, and not out of goodness. After realising he is being spied on by the monster, he destroys the bride. Victor said “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore

    Read More

  • Theme of Loneliness in Frankenstein

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ry. The loneliness of Frankenstein and the monster drove them miserable for most their lives, and in the end, to death. Walton on the other had, turns back to civilization, perhaps learning something from the story of Victor Frankenstein. In the book Frankenstein, there were many moments of glory for Victor Frankenstein, but in the end he only ending up destroying many of his family, himself, and the monster after suffering through loneliness and grief for a big part of his life.

    Read More

More about Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Open Document