Frankenstein: A Monster of Society
Mary Shelley’s famous novel Frankenstein, demonstrates that societies create monsters. Shelley gives the reader the insight of knowing that the creature had feelings, forcing the reader to accept him as human. Shelley describes the mistreatment of the creature and its vengeful nature. In the end, Shelley validates that the ¨creature¨ does not become the ¨monster¨ until society can see nothing else.
The most controversial question of Shelley’s Frankenstein, is if the creature is a monster from the start of his creation or if he becomes a monster after his creator and society fail him. Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, creates the manly creature and soon after abandons him. The creature, being made of many different human parts, finds himself ugly and unapproachable.The creature learns to speak and interact by observing a small family from a distance. He secretly moves
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The creature discovered that Victor Frankenstein was his creator from a journal and some books that he found in a coat pocket in the woods. He read of Victor’s horror and fear after creating such a vile, ugly creature. In Shelley’s story, the creature begins to travel to search for Victor Frankenstein. During his travel, the creature shows he is capable of caring when he saves a drowning girl. Immediately, the girls companion sees his horrific appearance and assumes he is monstrous and attacks the creature by shooting him. With hatred in his heart the creature adventures on. Soon he comes upon a boy in the woods who mocks him for being ugly. The boy announces that he is William Frankenstein and the creature becomes filled with rage and kills William. In Denise Gigante’s “Facing the Ugly : The case of Frankenstein,” he answers the question of how the ugliness of Shelley’s monster is existing. He quotes
The creature request Frankenstein to create another creature like him and e will depart from the land and no one will know of him. This request thought it appears to be out of the ordinary it was quite respectable and understandable for the readers. The readers can accept the fact if the creature is given what he wants he will go away. Victor begins work on this new creature, it had taken him two years for his original creature to be created.
The Controversial Issues of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley ‘Frankenstein’ is a Gothic Horror novel written by Mary Shelley. An ambitious scientist, Victor Frankenstein, creates a creature from Human body parts in secret. Instead of taking responsibility for the creature he abandons it. The creature spends its life learning about Humans, learning to read and trying to find Frankenstein.
The gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley highlights the idea that the real monsters of the world are humans and society, and that most traits that most humans despise are actually within all of us. Frankenstein shows that any human can be so corrupt as to be a “monster”, and that beings society considers repulsive and evil can be human at heart. Shelley exposes human faults such as hubris and irresponsibility through the main character of the novel Victor Frankenstein, who creates a living being and refuses to care for it, sending it into the unwelcoming hands of society. Victors irresponsible actions lead to many deaths and events. As the novel progresses, Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster he creates become more and more similar
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.
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...
In most novel and movies monsters are known to be evil, committing numerous crimes against humanity and are normally the ones that we don’t sympathize with. However, this novel carefully shows the reader that monsters can be good creatures, with a decent heart and act based on the actions of others. The novel shows how the monster should be pitied, rather than criticised. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” manages to create sympathy for the creature through speech, actions and mistreatment the creature suffers.
Society is a concept found in all aspects of life; it is a slant which is impossible to avoid. For instance; sadly in life society labels things or people as good or bad, poor or rich, ugly or pretty. The literary piece of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley clearly reflects this act of society in which they classify all things. The novel reflects how society labels everything; by being judgmental from the way the family is seen, how people view Frankenstein as a monster, and how the monster is affected, his conduct gets altered by all of society judgmental actions.
When Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is analyzed, critics comes to a conclusion about Victor Frankenstein's creation. The creature invokes the most sympathy from the readers than any other character in the novel. Because he is abandoned by society which manipulates the creature to do evil things despite his good heart. Therefore Shelley's message throughout the novel is that a person is not born evil, they are made evil.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a very complex book riddled with underlying messages. From the characteristics of each individual to the main storyline Shelley depicts a world of opposites. Victor Frankenstein, a privileged young man, defies nature when his obsession with life and death has him attempting to bring someone/something to life. He succeeds and quickly goes from obsessed over its creation to disgust with its form. He then rejects his creation, which sets the stage for the terrifying events to come. This is the embodiment of a modern novel as it contains alienation, disillusionment, and a critique of science.
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, values of society are clearly expressed. In this particular society and culture, a great value is placed on ideologies of individuals and their contribution to society. In order to highlight these values, Shelley utilizes the character of Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is the main character of the novel, and with his alienation, he plays a significant role that reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values of individualism and use in society. This is done through Victor’s actions of self-inflicted isolation.
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.
In the 1818 text of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, various forms of human exploitation and oppression lead to the dehumanization of two major characters in the novel: the creature which Victor Frankenstein brings to life, and Victor himself. The creature is deemed an outcast just by his very existence. Victor oppresses his creation solely based on the creature’s grotesque features. Although the creature shares qualities, feelings, and emotions that categorize him as a human, Victor’s oppressive behavior and rejection of the his creation immediately lead to the creature’s dehumanization. Victor is driven by human exploitation, and treads on the laws of nature as he successfully attempts to cheat death and create an artificial being.
...e patriarchy, seeking technology without morality and judgment primarily on appearance, Shelley encourages her reader to reassess the value structures within society, underpinning the way they live, and consider an alternative way of life. Thus, Frankenstein certainly must be considered more than a simple story; it is an important vehicle to present the writer’s themes.
Tragedy shows no discrimination and often strikes down on those undeserving of such turmoil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature more repulsive than one can imagine is brought to life by a young scientist. Although this creature is horrifying in sight, he is gentle by nature. Unfortunately, the softer side of the creature is repeatedly overlooked and the so called “monster” is driven to a breaking point. Even though the Creature committed many crimes, Mary Shelley’s Creature was the tragic hero of this story because of his efforts rescue the life of a young girl and helping destitute cottagers.
Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein, is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise. Throughout the novel, Shelley investigates the idea of monstrosity. She makes the point that a monster does not have to be genuinely evil in order to be considered monstrous.