Deterministic perspectives are based upon the conviction that activities, choices, and occasions, are all unavoidably controlled by already existing reasons. One artistic illustration in which determinism assumes a prevailing part is in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Shelley utilizes the idea of determinism tied into destiny and predetermination to pull the readers into the lives of Victor, the Creature, and Captain Walton, which at last, strengthens the repulsiveness of the novel.
With Victor being at the center of the novel's events, he repeatedly reminds the readers that he is a casualty of destiny. In the early sections of the novel, Victor clarifies, "by such slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity or ruin " (Shelley 41) inferring his fall into vestiges was through a preformed tying that has all the earmarks of being slight yet can't be broken. " Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction" (Shelley 42). Through this, Shelley uses Victor's deterministic self-acknowledgment to underline the constant way of predetermination. This prediction gives the
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As the monster carries on with his life, he understands that he is not in control of his future, and in his mind, the De Lacey family are, "Superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny" (Shelley 115). He has acknowledged his disengagement and comprehends his dismissal, which compels the readers to feel pity and remorse for the Creature, inevitably making his fall into abhorrence more sensational and shocking. " 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? I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me. I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge." (Shelley
Similarly, the writer Brackett explains, “At times, Victor’s actions suggest that the id has overpowered him as, earlier in Chapter 23, he notes that he doesn’t know what happened . . . ‘I lost sensation, and chains and darkness were the only objects that pressed on me’ … Victor’s id, his subconscious desires, have overcome his ego, the more rational aspect of his character” (Brackett). Brackett notices the change in Victor’s character. This means that Shelley understands the way our attitudes change rapidly, sometimes for the
abandoned; this made him feel as if he was the only person with out no
In a world full of novelty, guidance is essential to whether a being’s character progresses positively or negatively in society. Parents have a fundamental role in the development of their children. A parent’s devotion or negligence towards their child will foster a feeling of trust or mistrust in the latter. This feeling of mistrust due to the lack of guidance from a parental figure is represented in the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creation in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The creature created by Frankenstein was shown hatred and disgust from the very beginning, which led to its indignant feelings toward his creator and his kind.
After being chased out of the cottagers’ house, he is overcome with fury at humanity and his creator. The creature exclaims his desires: “All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment: I, like the archfiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathised with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin” (Shelley 138). This demonstrates the creature’s monstrosity because he desires to destroy the joyful lives of others so they must experience the same pain and emptiness humanity has made him feel. The creature first seeks revenge against the De Lacey family by burning their cottage down after the family attacked the creature and fled in fear of him. After this act, the creature turns his vengeance on his creator. The creature displays his hatred toward Frankenstein for leaving him immediately and not providing guidance and protection in this harsh, new world by murdering his family and friends. While seeking his creator, the creature first murders Victor Frankenstein’s youngest brother William and exclaims, “I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (Shelley 144). The creature wishes for Victor Frankenstein to suffer taking his own companions away, forcing him to be miserable as well by destroying his personal relationships with others by murdering loved
Taking responsibility for one's actions is a hallmark of maturity, leadership, and capability. When one can admit their faults or wrongdoings when they happen, life usually moves along much smoother. Consequences for those who attempt to shift blame off themselves for their own misdeeds tend to be much more severe than those who acknowledge them as their own. In literature, agency is the ability of a character to act on their environment, those who act positively and take responsibility for their actions would be said to have good agency. The absence of this quality can result in large consequences for not only the person lacking in agency, but those around them as well. Victor Frankenstein and Rodion Raskolnikov’s delusions of grandeur, unwillingness
The most prevalent theme in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is that of obsession. Throughout the novel there are constant reminders of the struggles that Victor Frankenstein and his monster have endured. Many of their problems are brought upon by themselves by an obsessive drive for knowledge, secrecy, fear, and ultimately revenge.
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly, Knowledge is power for Victor Frankenstein. Mary Shelly explains that Dr. Frankenstein’s hunger for the knowledge to create life out of death only leads to Victor’s unfortunate monster. The consequences that Victor Frankenstein experiences from creating a creature from his own madness leads to his death as well as the creature. Mary Shelly explains in her novel Frankenstein that Victor’s need to study life and how it is created is dangerous; furthermore, the abomination that the doctor creates should have never been created; however, the monster that Victor creates is his own monstrosity.
American psychologist and well renowned author Jerome Kagan states “Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form.” The topic of nature vs. nurture is highly known to the English literature community and is classified as a major aspect of gothic works. In the novel Frankenstein the author Mary Shelley uses the monster’s constant rejection from society to demonstrate that an individual’s traits are affected more by their environment and their surroundings than by nature.
In the book, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley captures the importance of multiple points of view by showing how different character’s value the feeling of isolation. Both Victor and the creature undergo a state of isolation, but have completely different thoughts about it. Victor’s desire for knowledge causes him to isolate himself from all of his family and friends, while the creature has no choice of his isolation. These two different displays of isolation connect their stories together and amplifies the theme that both types of isolation caused their demise.
Shelley challenges the reader to consider what is natural and unnatural. Throughout the entire text, romanticism is highlighted through the distinct emphasis on the difference between what is considered science (man playing God), and what is nature (a happening that comes as natural as birth). The monster, very distinctly, represents the concept of what is unnatural and scientific. When Victor Frankenstein creates the monster, Shelley describes what becomes an imbalance and uneasiness in what is known as the natural course of life. This imbalance of nature, ultimately results in Victor 's losses, such as the loss of his own sanity, his family, and loved one. It causes the reader to question whether or not Victor, or the monster is the antagonist. What 's so clever about Shelley setting up the story in somewhat of a "frame" storyline, is that Victor 's story of losing the battle between what is natural and what is unnatural acts as a setup for the end of the novel. "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" (Shelley). Victor warns Walton, the man who has saved him from the cold, as Walton creeps closely to trying to reveal nature 's
In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses a framing narrative and an epistolary narrative with three different narrators telling their stories at different points throughout the novel. What is a frame narrative and an epistolary narrative? Well, to put it briefly, a frame narrative tells a story within a story and an epistolary narrative tells a story through letters. First, we receive Robert Walton’s narration, in the form of letters to his sister. Second, we receive Victor Frankenstein’s story and within his story, we receive the Creature’s point of view. Mary Shelley uses these methods of storytelling to provide us, the readers, with an understanding of events from multiple point of views.
One of the greatest gifts God has given to man is free will. Free will is the ability to choose our own life’s path, to make decisions, and to suffer our own consequences. God has intended free will to allow us to live our own life by the rules we choose. However, does free will reach a certain point as which to not crossover? Man has always envied God, and has always tried to become god-like. Does this ambition compromise our free will? In Mary Shelly’s classic novel Frankenstein, Viktor Frankenstein’s tries to bring the dead back to life, and he is successful in animating a creation of his own. The consequences of his ambition compromised his free will and destroyed his life. Viktor Frankenstein reached the point of free will which man is not intended to cross over. Viktor Frankenstein is a fool for trying to play God.
Destiny is a word of meaning, “The events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future” (Oxford Dictionary). The origin of this word is from old French destinee and in Latin destinata meaning ‘make firm, establish’. As I have just given you a piece of information on destiny, you may think it is just a word but you see it’s not. Destiny is just more than a word it’s, an imperative meaning for hope and guidance. Others of course will see it as a word because they have no belief on their written paths of destiny. God created us and just didn’t leave on earth without a purpose; without a manual to live our lives. He created us with a purpose, proposing us with our own destiny. With my own perspective, I will be explaining the knowledge and belief I have for destiny.
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).