How the Smaller Role Influences the Bigger Role Both Frankenstein and his creation share a love for nature, a longing for knowledge, and a desire for companionship. The character, Victor, and his creation of a monster show many similarities and differences in the novel, Frankenstein. Mary Shelley describes many points and views in Victor and the monster’s life that show similarities and differences in the two lives of Victor and his creation. A lot of times people believe that seeing a monster like Frankenstein is cool and amazing but really the monster can do a lot of destruction too many people. This topic sparked my interest because of the distress the monster caused in the novel. I believe that Victor Frankenstein plays a more influential …show more content…
Victor, the main character in the story develop an obsession with recreating lives from death, causing heartbreak by creating the monster and as Mary Shelley writes “deeply smitten with the thirst for knowledge” (Shelley 20). With this obsession comes his first creation of a monster. Victor comes to reject the monster profusely and they have a difficult relationship. Victor is deeply loved by his family and friends and has a clear mind in nature. He had many friends and close family members and the use of nature to describe Victor’s feelings is prominent in this novel. Victor has a very prized childhood with a great deal of attention given to him from his loving parents. The monster that Victor creates kills his brother which takes a big toll on Victor’s life. Victor was very close with his family and friends but also had heartbreak intervene with their relationships and it …show more content…
The monster is formulated by Victor and longs for someone to love it. When coping with tragedies, the monster becomes violent which is how the three deaths in its creators’ family happens. By not being taught how to deal correctly with problems like not having a companion, and being left alone the monster decides to take that out on people that Victor cares about. Shelley states, “His first speech, some years after his disastrous birth, follows his first two crimes, the murder of the boy William, Victor’s little brother, and his culpable incrimination of the nursemaid Justine, wrongly judged and executed” (Ronald Britton 7). As a result of coping with tragedy, the monster kills three of his family members. The monster suffers from rejection and loneliness. The monster has to learn how to cope with rejection because Victor rejects him in all aspects of life. Toward the middle of the novel, the monster has a request for a female companion because of how much loneliness the creature feels inside. Loneliness is demonstrated when Shelley states, ‘‘I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet’’ (Shelley 101). The monster realizes what it has destroyed and with the destruction of its creator means there is absolutely nothing left for the creature to live for. In the end it
Shelley 94). Victor’s various thoughts of rage and hatred that had at first deprive him of utterance, but he recovers only to overwhelm the creature with words expressive of furious detestation and contempt, as he recalled creature’s misdoings to his loved ones. However, Victor pauses to “conceive,” to “feel,” and to “reason” with monster (M. Shelley 94). As Victor follows his creation, he notices the “air [to be full] of exultation” and “the rain” beginning “to descend,” showcasing Victor’s consent to change his view. (M. Shelley 98). Chapter 10 is exemplary of the Romantic Period where story becomes an allegory for real emotions and struggles. Victor’s
As he goes off to college, interested in the science behind life and death, he ends up going his own way and attempts to create a living being. Victor “had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (Shelley 43). The being Victor has created does not by any means sit well with him. As victor is away from his family and for six years, he is neglectful to them, which only adds to his sorrow and misery. Victor’s isolation is brought upon him because of himself, however his creation, or “the monster”, is isolated from any connections with humans against his will. To start out, the monster would have had Victor there with him, but Victor is ashamed of what he has created, and abandons the monster. The monster is a very hideous being, which sadly is a contributing factor to his isolation. With nobody to talk to at any time, naturally this will be condescending and frustrating. Although the monster is able to
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
Victor animated the creature from dead body parts, effecting his creature’s appearance when he came alive. He couldn’t even look at his creation, and thought that it was malodorous, without thinking how unwanted and helpless the creature feels. With little hope for the creature because of his unappealing appearance, Victor does not bothering to wait and see if he has a good interior or not. As a result of Victor not taking responsibility, the monster decides to take revenge. The monster is repeatedly denied love and deals with the loneliness the only way that he can, revenge, killing Victor’s loved ones making him lonely just like
In this essay I will be looking at the differences between the creation of the first and second monster, how Mary Shelley portrays the feelings of Victor and the monster and the different myths and legends that she refers to within the novel. Victor Frankenstein had a wonderful life as a child: 'No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself' (p.39) He was loving and cared deeply for his family, especially for his foster-sister, Elizabeth, who he looked upon as his own, and saw as a 'more than sister' (p.37). Victor always had an 'eager desire to learn' (p.39) about 'the secrets of heaven and earth' (p.39). When he was thirteen years old he started studying the works of Cornelius Agrippa and the fact that his father called it all 'sad trash' (p.40) fuelled his curiosity and enthusiasm and caused him to study even more which was to him, 'the fatal impulse that led to my [his] ruin' (p.41).
Mary Shelley shows how both Victor and the monster create sympathy for one another. They are both victims, but they are also wrongdoers. They bring a great burden of suffering to each other lives, causes hatred to be created for the characters.
Within Mary Shelley’s gripping novel “Frankenstein”, Victor’s creation is a complex character due to his two dominant characteristics being in conflict with each other. Throughout, it is clear the creation’s greatest desire is to be loved by another. When he sees his creator is unable to do so, he ventures into the world looking for someone to show compassion toward him, only to be rejected over and over again. As anger arises from getting virtually no acceptance and Victor fails to build him a companion, the creation seeks revenge on those close to Victor. His battle to locate a balance between love and hatred during his existence defines him as a seemingly threat who is a truly good person.
The novel follows Victor, an aspiring scientist as he first searches graveyards in search of materials to create a new being. Once animated, he imminently proves irresponsible to the reader and labels it as a monster, where the creation later sets out to seek companionship and affection from his creator. Shelley utilises techniques such as contrast, the theme of alienation shown by Victor and narrative perspective to cause the reader to feel negatively towards Victor as his selfish and isolated nature is revealed throughout the novel.
In an attempt to clear his mind, Victor goes alone to Montanvert. Momentarily he finds peace, but it is very short lived when he comes face to face with the monster he created. The monster tells him the things he has endured in life. He says to Victor “Remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.” (Shelley 96) At this point the monster places the burden of his actions onto Victor’s shoulders. Not only did Victor’s secret lead to the death of Justine, now the very creation of the monster lead to William’s death. The monster then requests that Victor create a new creature, a female companion for
The monster was thrown blindly into the world with no one to look to for support. He was left to fend for himself, wandering the countryside. The entire time his hatred for Victor, who is responsible for his miserable existence, grew. The monster was continuously rejected by society due to his horrifying appearance and the way he reacted to such rejections. He was not created evil; he was shaped into the monster society sees him as. The monster has a personality that cares for others and longs for acceptance and a family. His personality really showed when he stayed in hiding near a small cottage owned by the De Lacy family. The monster observed the family for a long period of time, growing attached to their lives. He was able to learn how to read and speak as well as how to act properly. The monster began to feel like the he could trust the family. The monster confronted the family and, as expected, the family reacts negatively. The monster felt that he had been created out of hatred and, believing that the entire human race believes the same, swears vengeance on Victor Frankenstein. All he wanted was for someone to accept him, and his only chance of getting someone to make him happy was destroyed in front of his eyes. The monster was able to threaten Victor, forcing him to create a female companion, but before she was complete, Victor changed his mind and destroyed the second creature.
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.
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
Victor creates his creature from corpses, and he succeeds in his goal of creating new life. However, the creature terrifies him and he ends up abandoning his creation, this becomes the creature's first experience in abandonment. As a result a result of Frankenstein’s abandonment the monster now has to fend for himself. Upon creation the creature had to find a way to learn how to speak as well as learning basic concepts such as; hot and cold, light and dark, as well as hunger and thirst. On his journey of trying to find himself the creature comes across many different people, whom he doesn’t have the best experience with. Whenever people look at him they are both terrified and disgusted by his hideous features causing them to run away from him. The creature is chased off and he makes his way to a cottage where he comes across a family of peasants, he lives outside their home in secret. The family is totally unaware of his presence. The creature is able to observe the family and their mannerisms, through his observation he is able to learn how to read and write, as well as the differences between good and bad. He is also able to observe their relationship with one another, he sees the love and care which they have and he hopes to have the opportunity for the same
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).
His famished appearance and his tales of woes entice the reader to believe that he is the person who has suffered the most agony in his tale and that his quest for revenge is just. However, this first impression is entirely juxtaposed by the presence of the monster, which from the moment of his birth is detailed as hideous and villainous, yet displays emotions of longing for love and care from others. The monster’s views of the world are entirely shaped by the initial rejection that his creator gave him, leaving him without even the ability to communicate with others or understand what he is. The creature is forced to scavenge for food and learn from afar what it means to be alive, how to speak and communicate with others. His murderous actions would have been prevented had someone cared enough to give him the benefit of the doubt. This responsibility falls immediately to his creator, who was the person who brought him to life as a whim, and his failings as a compassionate human being are what ultimately doom the monster to a life of hatred. Worse, Victor has also cursed the monster to a solitary life with his refusal to create a companion after giving him initial hope of finally being able to be with someone who would accept him. The monster is left without a choice but to accept that there would never be another being that