The novel Frankenstein follows a tale of a man and his monster, a monster that was shunned by his maker and the rest of the world around him. Throughout the novel, the beast grew morose after mistreatment from his creator and all he encountered during his endeavors. Learning about society, left him no choice, but to become the monster he was believed to be because he was enveloped in self doubt and isolated from companionship. Mary Shelley used indications of emotional issues and insecurities to indirectly shape the beast’s personality in her work of fiction Frankenstein through abandonment and depression. The monster is rejected by his maker and abandoned by him. The abandonment by his maker and the realization of what he really is leads …show more content…
This creation, however, only became a monster when Victor took off in abandonment. The lack of love and affection the creation needed caused self doubt and isolation that molded him into the beast that soon was feared by those he encountered. When alone and slowly learning about the society around him, the monster realized “...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?” (Shelley 444). From the beginning, the monster required acceptance he never found; he went in search of companionship, but was met with wide eyes and shrill screams of terror. Without anyone to love and nurture him, feelings of neglect and loneliness overrun his mind. Relating to modern issues of neglect, the monster never gains the ability to love or trust as the organization Speak Up Be Safe mention when recording “the psychological consequences of child abuse and neglect include the immediate effects of isolation, fear, and an inability to trust” (SUBS). After losing someone close to him and facing humiliation in front of townspeople, he could no longer give in to the temptation of trust with Victor, or his family. His anxiety towards Frankenstein and his family appears when the beast approaches his creator with a request for a female comrade, but doesn’t trust his word and must follow him wherever he may go. In the words of the monster to Victor, “depart to your home and commence your labours; I shall watch their progress with unutterable anxiety” (Shelley 562). Although he sets boundaries and acts as the leader rather than the abused, at this moment, he reveals his longing for a companion and risks further rejection. Once he realizes victor is not going to follow through with his promise, the beast falls into a severe depression and seeks revenge. Many cases of
He was left by his creator, his father, without a mother or sibling to care for him. He is like a babe, born in innocence unaware of evil around, “half-frightened” and “cold” in a new and unknown environment (72). The Monster finds a small village and is instantly hated. The Monster scares the villagers, “some fled, some attacked” automatically hating the strange being that had come into their midst (75). However, the Monster does nothing against the villagers even though he is seen with giant stature and brute strength. After the village incident the Monster flees and finds a small family living in the wilderness in a small cottage. As he stays near the cottagers for a time he begins to learn that he is indeed alone. He learns the roles of family members and yet he does nothing to provoke them. Even after confronting the bling cottager and being “struck” by the man’s son he does nothing but run into hiding. Only after discovering Victor do we see the Monster show sign of evil traits. After telling his story the first sign of hate the Monster shows is talking to Frankenstein saying “Cursed, cursed, creator!” (99). The Monster begs for a “companion” from his creator, longing for someone to spend his days with in happiness (105). As Frankenstein agrees to the Monster’s terms, the Monster feels some sense of happiness. The happiness is not long-lived as Frankenstein recants his promise and
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, has captured people’s attention since it was first written. People often wonder how much of Mary Shelley’s life is documented in her novel. From the theme of parental abandonment, to the theme of life and death in the novel, literary scholars have been able to find similarities between Frankenstein and Shelley’s life. The Journal of Religion and Health, the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and the Modern Psychoanalysis discuss the different connections between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein. Badalamenti, the author of “ Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” in the Journal of Religion and Health, primarily discusses the connection between Victor
The monster tells Frankenstein of the wretchedness of the world and how it was not meant for a being such as himself. At the end of his insightful tale the creature demands a companion of the same hideous features but of the opposite gender to become his. Victor only has the choice to make the monster or suffer a lifetime of horror his creation would bring upon him. Which the creator ultimately agrees to make the female monster to save the lives of his family but gains a conscious that fills with guilt of all the destruction he has created and creating. When the monster comes to collect the female he tears her apart and the monster vows to destroy all Victor holds dear. The monster’s emotional sense is consumed with rage against Victor, murdering Frankenstein’s best friend. Though when the monster’s framing ways do not work to lead to Victor being executed, he then murders Frankenstein’s wife on their wedding night. This tragedy is the last for Victor’s father who becomes ill with grief and quickly passes within a few days, leaving Victor with nothing but his own regret. Shelley doesn’t give the audience the monsters side of the story but hints that the remainder of his journey consisted of being a shadow to that of his creator. It is at the graves of the Frankenstein family when the creature makes an appearance in the solemn and
Frankenstein does not want anyone to think that he is anything less than perfect, so he decides the best action is to leave the creature completely; however, this has some negative effects, especially to the creature. Frankenstein leaving the creature makes the creature develop Abandoned Child Syndrome. According to the author of “Understanding the Physical and Psychological Impacts of Abandonment to a Child,” Abandoned Child Syndrome is “a type of psychological condition on children that stems from either an abusive household or loss (or absence) of one of both parents.” It can be said that Frankenstein is the father of the creature since he made the creature, so since one of the creature’s parents left, the creature had to learn the way that the world works on his own. Claudia Black, author of the article “Understanding the Pain of Abandonment,” says that children depend on their parents to provide a safe environment for children to grow, and that when the parents do not provide that environment for their children, the children can grow up believing that the world is an unsafe place, that people can not be trusted, and that they do not deserve approval and comfort. The creature exhibits all of these symptoms and emotions. After the creature saves a little girl from drowning, he is attacked by her father and wounded. “This was the reward for my benevolence! [...] Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 135). After being betrayed multiple times by humanity and the people that he felt like he was close to, the creature is tired of being deserted and attacked for just being himself, so he decides not to trust humanity anymore and to do things that make him succeed, even if those actions hurt the people around him. The creature was never taught how to deal with these emotions or how to deal with
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “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). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
The monster in Frankenstein just wanted to be loved and he had great and good aspirations in the beginning of the story. As the story went on he realized that the world was rejecting the physical form of his body which led to his evil doings. I think at first the reader felt sorry for the monster because he had no one that loved him but he saw what love truly was and got jealous and started going down an evil path with death and destruction. The monster seems to be similar to both Satan and Adam, he is made on earth and searches to find out who and what he is. After a while of searching and found out this information, he begins to turn against the
In Frankenstein, Shelley highlights both the isolation of the creature but also Victor Frankenstein himself, through society’s rejection. (BBC, n.d) Firstly, Frankenstein’s monster suffers considerable control and isolation immediately through being abandoned by Victor. Victor rejects the creature and flees the apartment, ashamed of his meddling with life and death, leaving the monster helpless. (Penguin Guides, 2009) Shelley then continues this theme of constraint by using society’s reactions to the gothic creature to further isolate him. This is shown by the creature attempting to ‘make contact with humans and connect with them’, but through his hideous physical attributes, his attempts are rendered useless and is instead attacked. (BBC, n.d) As a result the creature is forced to alienate himself to the Swiss Alps, living in a dark and dingy cave, representative of common gothic elements.(Botting, 1996) The creature is deeply affected by the constraint on his life, and longs to join the others, free from exclusion, but dares not to. In conjunction, Victor, his creator, also suffers isolation from society which in turn causes him to ‘lose sight of his responsibilities and consequences of his actions’.(Anna Academy English Department, 2014). He also travels to the Swiss Alps to escape reality, the ongoing torment of his secret creature and his burning, yet apparently ‘wrong’ desires of the unknown science. (Brannstrom, 2006) Shelley therefore uses the outcast of both Victor and his monster together to highlight the oppressive control as a result of society’s rejection and fear of their differences.(BBC,
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by 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. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
We are shown that this ‘monster’ is a ‘creature’ and more of a human than we think. It is in the complex structure of the novel that Mary Shelley creates sympathy. We shift from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to the monster and finally back to Walton. With each shift of perspective, the reader gains new information about both the facts of the story and the reliability of the narrator. Each perspective adds pieces of information that only they knows: Walton explains the circumstances of Victor’s last days, Victor explains his creation of the monster, the monster explains his turn to evil.
Both Frankenstein and the monster suffer greatly through the novel, Frankenstein experiment, that had gone totally wrong. The monster is not mean, in the way that he tried to fit in, into society, but was shunned and never accepted by anyone. The monster lived alone, isolated for everyone and everything, meanwhile Frankenstein suffer as well. He loss everyone around him, in a blink of an eye, in the hands of the monster, regretment as he is the creator of the thing that destroyed his life. Although many blame everything on the monster, in the way he badly behaved, he is not at total fault for his action.As in the way that when the monster commits his crime with passion; he doesn't think apon his actions, but only lives in the moment and his action are his mostly rage.
In the novel Frankenstein, the monster was singled out because of his monstrous looks. The reason he had such looks was because of the unnatural manner of his creation. The monster was created with a mix of stolen body parts and chemicals. One look at the monster would make anyone want to get out of his path. Once the monster came to life he was abandoned by his creator without any direction. He was left to fend for himself and deal with the prejudices that people had without getting to know his situation. The monster also didn't know how to react to the reactions from people which made him start to commit crimes. The monster said, "I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on" (Shelley 19). This eruption of angry self-pity as the monster questions the injustice of how he has been treated compellingly captures his inner life, giving Walton and the reader a glimpse into the suffering that has motivated his crimes. While the monster was wandering the town he encountered a family, and he learned how to speak ...
Frankenstein was abandoned by his creator Victor, he yells to him “yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me” (Shelley 90). Frankenstein speaks on how he was created and left by the one person who should have been there for him. This abandonment cause Frankenstein to view himself as a monster who can never belong. Frankenstein when looking at his reflections says “at first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.” (Shelley 103). He does not want to be a monster he feels hopeless that he will never belong. He yearns for belonging and companionship. In the novel, he watches a family through a window and longs to belong. He teaches himself how to talk so that he could communicate with them. Through this communication he can become part of their family and be
and the monster to God and Adam. The monster unlike Adam was made hideous and was left
The greater detail about the monster’s experiences provided by the book is the first thing that allows a reader to sympathize with the monster better than an audience member. When the Frankenstein monster is retelling the story of the hardships he has endured, he mentions events that were overlooked in the play. One example of this is when the monster saved a young girl’s life. An act such as this would be praised with the greatest heroism if it was done by a human, but as a reward he is shot, receiving only “the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.” (Shelley 135) The book also examines the months of hard work the creature put into learning about human nature and language in order to be fully accepted when he chose to reveal himself. The monster hid by the cottage for around a year, never leaving during the day and working to help the cottager’s at night in order to learn from them. The monster went ...
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (sometimes also known as The Modern Prometheus) is the classic gothic novel of her time. In this eerie tale, Dr. Victor Frankenstein – suffering from quite an extreme superiority complex – brings to life a creature made from body parts of deceased individuals from nearby cemeteries. Rather than to embrace the Creature as his own, Frankenstein alienates him because of his unpleasant appearance. Throughout the novel, the Creature is ostracized not only by Frankenstein but by society as a whole. Initially a kind and gentle being, the Creature becomes violent and eventually seeks revenge for his creator’s betrayal. Rather than to merely focus on the exclusion of the Creature from society, Shelley depicts the progression of Dr. Frankenstein’s seclusion from other humans as well, until he and the Creature ultimately become equals – alone in the world with no one to love, and no one to love them back. Frankenstein serves as more than simply a legendary tale of horror, but also as a representation of how isolation and prejudice can result in the demise of the individual.