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Kyra Echevarria
October 16, 2017
HON204
Paper 2
Creature v. Creator
The word “creator” stood out in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). It appears a total of nineteen times in the whole of the novel. This word is significant because it describes not only Victor, but also his creation.
A creator is defined as, “a person who or thing which creates or brings something into existence.” It is usually in reference to a God or higher being. This word is still moderately common in its use today. (OED) The first appearance of this definition of the word was in 1548 by Robert Crowley in the work, Confut. Mishapen Aunswer, in the sentence: “A priest is hier then kinges, more happy then angels, and the creatoure of his creatoure.” Relating Frankenstein to this use of the word would make the creature the creator, however every time the word “creator” is used in Frankenstein, it is referring to Victor.
The first use of this word in Frankenstein is by Victor, claiming he wants to be a creator, a father to a new species. Afterwards, this word is mostly used by the creature when referring to Victor as, “my creator.” The majority of the time, the creature is speaking of the hatred that Victor has for him, using other words such as,
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Victor Frankenstein had become what he did by the end of the novel because of this creature, in a sense making the creature his creator. The creature is the cause of Victor’s distress and negative emotions, reciprocating what Victor had done to him. Victor was so horrified by what he had made that he couldn’t look at the creature; he did not even give it a name. The way Victor treats his creation is extremely poor and unfair to the creature who, after some time in the world, regrets being given
Despite popular belief, Frankenstein is not the name of the monster but instead its creator. Victor Frankenstein created the “tremendous and abhorred” (page 76) creature that is known as the Monster after he discovers how to give
In Frankenstein, everyone treats Victor’s creation like a monster, including Frankenstein himself. This leads to the creation accepting that title and going on a murder spree. His creation says “When I reflect on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation” (69). Victor’s creation shows that he did not ask to be created, and his existence is miserable.
The theme of creation in "Frankenstein" touches on the notion of how modern science plays God. This is illustrated through the attempt of replicating a human by means of science, using the main character Victor as the god-figure. Unfortunately, Victor Frankenstein did not consider the effect his creation would have on the outside world and, more importantly, his internal self and his creation.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein originated as a ghost story told among her close friends. "It was a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils" (Shelley 34) is the first line Shelley conceived when she began composing her famous novel. In this sentence, the "accomplishment" to which Victor Frankenstein refers is the creation, which receives animation on this "dreary night." By calling the creation his "accomplishment," Victor unintentionally names the creation. However, by the end of this "dreary night," Victor names the creation no less than six times, each time getting progressively more derogatory, and more insulting. This evolution of Victor’s attitude about the creation occurs during the time immediately following the creation. In these few hours, Victor’s imagination creates an increasingly grotesque image of the creation. This developed condemnation that Victor imposes onto the creation is similar to all of the creation’s other encounters with human beings. This repeated rejection causes the creation to realize that "All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things" (Shelley 65). Eventually, therefore, the creation accepts its role as a monster based solely on the reactions it receives from other human beings. However, these spiteful reactions are inspired by irrational fears that result from the human nature of the characters to form preconceptions about the creation based on their prior experiences.
The all loving, all powerful God. However victor is the creator of the creature and this breaks the basis of Christian belief and crossed scientific boundaries even in the mind. It raised questions such as, can it be done? Has it already been done?. These questions helped to fuel atheistic literature of the 1810's fronted by the likes of Percy Bysse Shelley and Lord Byron both intensely involved in the penning of this great novel of Mary Shelley formerly Mary Wollstonecraft - "Frankenstein", written in Geneva in the Summer of 1816.
In the novel, Frankenstein, a doctor named Victor Frankenstein created a monster. Victor’s monster was created using old human parts, chemicals, and a “spark.” Victor wanted to create this monster in order to benefit mankind, and for the purpose of playing God. Victor thought his creation would turn out great, but in all actuality, his monster ended up terribly wrong (Shelley, 145). The monster was a deformed man, standing eight feet tall, with yellow eyes, black hair, black lips, and skin that did not conceal his internal features (Shelley, 144-145). Even though the monster was very grown, he had the mind of a newborn child, and he was very kind and gentle (Shelley, 327). The monster’s appearance terrified Victor, and he immediately abandoned it. Dr. Victor Frankenstein also never named his creation because he disliked it that much. The monster was longing for love, and since no one loved him, he became very violent. He ended up killing Victor’s brother and best friend out of pure revenge (Shelley, 193). Anytime the monster tried to help people, he was bea...
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 wise Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, “remember, with great power. Comes great responsibility.” There is no greater power than that acquired by the infamous Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when he discovers the secret to creating life. Shelley’s Frankenstein is a tale of creation that depicts acts of human conception and discovery. The Oxford English Dictionary defines creation as “the action or process of bringing something into existence from nothing by divine or natural agency; the fact of being so created.” It defies the natural order of things and creates a world of its own. The multiple acts of creation and discovery bring upon a certain set of responsibilities and implications as depicted by David Collings who analyzes the responsibilities that come as a result of these acts in his essay “The Monster and the Maternal Thing: Mary Shelley’s Critique of Ideology”. The main act of creation is evident through Victor Frankenstein’s creation of the Being which is depicted most prominently in the novel. However, there are multiple other acts of creation and discovery that may not be apparent at first sight. One of the most important being, Victor’s discovery of the knowledge required to create life. Apart from initially creating the Being, Victor also plays a critical role in the Being’s evolution into a raging and vengeful creature. Perhaps above all other acts of creation and discovery is Victor’s personal creation of himself into a monster. As stated by Collings most of these acts of creation on Victor’s part are subconsciously brought upon because of their lack of a maternal figure but also in part because of his desire for fame and glory. However, he is blinded by his motives and forgets that with his...
Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, is the creator of the monster. When Victor created the monster, he believed he created the monster for the betterment of humankind, but he actually created the monster because he desired to prove to the world that an average human can do Godly acts. The desire to create the monster goes back to Victor’s childhood. As a young kid, Victor’s passions always lied in science and chemistry and in college; he became obsessed with the idea of creating life out of inanimate objects. He then decided to specialize in Alchemy. Within Shelley’s book Frankenstein, Victor said:
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally, Victor as a Gothic novel, Victor is at fault, because, he and the creature are two different parts of the same person. If Frankenstein is looked at as a romantic novel, Victor, not the creature, is truly the villain. When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. On page 115, the creature said, "Hateful day when I received life! Accursed the creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust." This line shows the agony the monster was in, because of how he looked when he was created which led to even Victor running away from him. If Victor didn't run, he could have taught the monster and made his life happy. After the creature scared the cottagers away he said, "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter ...
Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor’s Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor “escaped and rushed downstairs.” (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat ...
It seems as if over the years, Dr. Frankenstein has almost become a distant memory. Nowadays, the creature that Victor created is referred to as Frankenstein. Compared to Shelley’s original story, present viewpoints of Frankenstein and the creature have blurred together into one solid form. In one of the scenes in the movie I, Frankenstein, one of the characters named Naberius called the creature Frankenstein with the reasoning behind it being, “We are all the sons of our fathers, are we not?” (I, Frankenstein). This meaning that he is giving the creature the name of its “father” which is a reasonable explanation unto why society calls the creature Frankenstein as well.
The book The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer stated that the depiction of the creature was to reflect the “...monstrosity and the price of her [Shelley’s] own ambition” (Poovey 142). The creator was the character that Sheeley was using to share a lot about herself to the reader. She considered herself monstrous because she too was on a quest for knowledge. In the novel the Victor ran away from his creation, so the creature was required to go into the real world alone and learn things himself. In the essay “Frankenstein of the Nineties: The Composite Body” it was stated, “ Shelley always provides complex psychological motivations for the creature’s cruelty” (Zakharieva 424), which is extremely true. The main thing that the creature was questing for was why his creator would create him and then abandon him. As a newly created being, he was very impressionable and anything that he was taught he learned as fact. For example the creature stated, “[T]hanks to the lessons of Felix and the sanguinary laws of man. I had learned now to work mischief”(Shelley 127) after murdering William
Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams for himself, but this characteristic was the cause of his downfall. He had a ruthless desire to obtain forbidden knowledge- a knowledge that only God was worthy of having. This lead him to lock himself in his laboratory, disregarding his family, friends, and health. His one purpose was to create life. In his quest to create a human being and bestow the power of life, Victor eventually did create a creature, but this lead to a situation
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Creature educates and learns more about what he is through reading famous books of the past. One of the more important books The Creature reads in the novel is John Milton’s Paradise Lost. By having The Creature read Paradise Lost, Mary Shelley is able to contrast the very idea of creation, and what it means to be a “Creator” versus what it means to be a “Creation”. John Milton presents creation in Paradise Lost as a symbiotic relationship between creator and creation, as without one, the other will not thrive to full potential. On the other hand, Mary Shelley’s presentation of creation is completely opposite to John Milton’s. In Frankenstein, the entire novel focuses on an ongoing battle between creator