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Frankenstein character analysis essays
Essay on victor frankenstein's character
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“I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murder.” words spoken by Victor Frankenstein himself (Shelley 88). Frankenstein was an extremely brilliant man that was constantly amazed by the world of science. His curiosity in turn lead him to the creation of the appalling monster introduced in the tale of Frankenstein. At first glance, Victor is both disgusted and horrified at his work. Later in the story Victor falls ill and is forever haunted by the monster he has brought to life. Victor’s creation led to the mass destruction of his loved ones but as the story plays out, it seems that Victor and his monster are not all that different after all. Victor Frankenstein and his creation are comparable in terms of their loving yet temperamental personalities, …show more content…
He grew up in an intellectual household, as he had a doctor to look up to all of his life. This inspired Victor to push the boundaries of nature and knowledge and become the brilliantly successful scientist he grew to be. Victor took nature to a new level when he incorporated forces like lightning and electric eels to create a new form of life. Victor was presented with new opportunities to expand in the world of known science due to nature. The monster’s life was not nearly as positively affected by nature as Victor’s was. The monster continued to battle with nature throughout his lifetime, as his own existence defines what was previously known. Victor created a “freak of nature” that not only frightened himself, but everyone else that came in contact with it. Frankenstein was so appalled by his own creation that he fled and fell ill at the sight of it. “He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the courtyard… where I remained during the rest of the night.” (Shelley 61). Victor was only the first of many to react in this manner at the sight of his creation that defied all previously known laws of nature and science. Nature and its laws were the reason behind the creation’s suffering and hatred, but was also the source of Victor’s …show more content…
The monster struggled to obtain love or acceptance from anyone throughout his lifetime, though it is what he craved the most. In response to this disappointment, the monster reverted to threats and brutal behavior. He named Victor as the source of his pain, as he was the creator that brought him into this world only to leave him alone to suffer. In search of his creator for revenge, the monster came across Victor’s younger brother William. After making the connection between the two, the monster first killed William then planted the evidence on Victor’s family friend, Justine; leading to the murder of two of Victor’s close ones. Even after being responsible of two murders, the monster was still suffering and resulted in threatening both the lives of Victor and his soon-to-be wife, Elizabeth. This resulted in the eventual death of Victor’s wife as well. The monster took extreme actions in response to his own difficult upbringing, while Victor took a much less destructive yet cowardly approach. After Victor’s creation of the monster he made a break for the door, running away from his fears and leaving the monster behind. Shelly illustrates this of Victor as she writes “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to
By attempting to create life and messing with the natural order of the world, Victor loses his connection to the earth and eventually ends up as a shell of what he once was. No matter how hard he tried to redeem himself, he could no longer be one with nature. The creature that Victor creates by using the malicious techniques of science actually starts out to nature than Victor himself. The Creature recognizes the wonders of nature and finds temporary happiness in his closeness to the world. He turns away the peace given to him by nature just to satisfy his desire for revenge, and becomes a broken being. Mary Shelley demonstrates in Frankenstein what happens if someone strays too far from nature. Shelley purposely shows the destructive nature of science in her novel to highlight the strife that her society was going through. Her society, disillusioned by war and the devastation that new technologies caused, wanted to go back to their roots in nature, and her novel pushes at that idea. Shelley’s example of Victor’s and the Creature’s downfall warns us of the dangers and temptations of science. Even now, people are constantly enraptured by the possibilities that science and technology offer, while neglecting their duties towards nature and the
Victor uses his knowledge and attachment to science and becomes “thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit” (Shelley 68) and that pursuit is to succeed. He puts his whole heart and dedicates his every hour to the creation, which makes him “neglect the scenes around [him] causing [him] also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom [he] had not seen for so long a time” (Shelley 68). After putting so much time and effort into the creation, Victor expects the product to be perfect, yet it is the complete opposite, unattractive and frightful. Victor barely gives the monster a chance to speak before he runs off, leaving the monster to fend for
After the day that Victor’s monster comes to life his creator runs away in disgust at the creation he has made, leaving behind a lost creature looking for its place in the world. As the monster
He possibly could have located the monster, with the help of others, in a timely fashion, thus averting the many calamities that followed. However, Victor chose to abandon his monster and not inform anyone of its creation, and ignore it for months (Shelly 56). When Victor finally sees the monster again, it is after the monster has killed his youngest brother, william. When an innocent woman is blamed for this crime, and Victor could testify and save her life, he takes no action, saying that he would be thought crazy for his tale (Shelly 66).This in and of itself is an insanely selfish thing to do, with minimal effort Victor could have saved another person's life but because it could jeopardize his own reputation, he chooses not to. Even after two people have perished due to his thoughtlessness, Victor still does not inform anyone of the monster which he has created and still allows it to run loose. Later in the novel, after Victor destroys the companion the monster asked him to build, the monster strangles Victor's innocent friend Henry (Shelley 166). Victor’s actions caused a number of deaths and endangered many people. Henry, Elizabeth, William, and Justine all had nothing to do with the creation and subsequent abandonment of the monster, and yet due to Victors irresponsibility, they paid the ultimate price. Williams death is a turning point in the novel, as it shows victor for the first time that his actions actually do have consequences “Nothing in the human shape could have destroyed that fair child. He was the murderer! I could not doubt it”, and yet he chooses to continue to make irresponsible choices that continue to endanger more people (Shelley
He toils endlessly in alchemy, spending years alone, tinkering. However, once the Creature is brought to life, Frankenstein is no longer proud of his creation. In fact, he’s appalled by what he’s made and as a result, Frankenstein lives in a perpetual state of unease as the Creature kills those that he loves and terrorizes him. Victor has realized the consequences of playing god. There is irony in Frankenstein’s development, as realized in Victor’s desire to destroy his creation. Frankenstein had spent so much effort to be above human, but his efforts caused him immediate regret and a lifetime of suffering. Victor, if he had known the consequences of what he’s done, would have likely not been driven by his desire to become better than
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...
He created a life, and then spontaneously he quickly decided to run away from his creation. Victor’s actions after creating what he created were really irresponsible, and did not correctly took care of the circumstance’s he put himself in. The creation was never actually evil, but he felt abandoned by what could had been called his father. Frankenstein, the monster, was only a seeker for companionship. He strongly desired to feel loved, rather than abandoned. Society’s evil behavior toward the monster is what altered the monster’s conduct and followed to how he acted.
The monster wanted revenge only to satisfy his needs and to get even with his creator Victor. The only way the two would avoid any other conflicts that would have come their direction would be to eliminate and face the reality of their own catastrophe. Victor wanted to kill the monster because he killed and destroyed many things that he loved; however, the monster was the image of his own guilt and mind. The monster wanted closure and wanted to know why he was brought to the world only to be abandoned, lonely, and
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
The monster does not resemble Victor physically; instead, they share the same personalities. For example, Victor and the monster are both loving beings. Both of them want to help others and want what is best for others. Victor and the monster try to help the people that surround them. Victor tries to console his family at their losses, and the monster assists the people living in the cottage by performing helpful tasks. However, Victor and the monster do not reflect loving people. The evil that evolves in Victor’s heart is also present in the monster.
The obvious clash is introduced all through Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Clash, anticipation and a raising peak are three noteworthy parts to an elegantly composed novel. The parts of conflict in a novel consistently propel the plot and must dependably influence the primary character in a manner that depicts through alternate characters in the novel too.
Victor is very obsessive in nature, just as the monster is, a prime example being his attitude towards his sister, Elizabeth. He treats Elizabeth as a treasure, saying, “I… looked upon Elizabeth as mine–mine to protect, love, and cherish.” (Shelley, 21). Showcasing his obsession with his sister, even at a young age, Victor eventually marries Elizabeth–this illustrates the true form of his obsession. Victor also spends two years creating the monster, purely to prove those who did not believe him wrong. Calling himself, “...engaged, heart and soul…” (Shelley, 36) in his work . This obsession affects his relations with his family, as he does not pay any visit to them during this time. “The monster’s obsessiveness is exhibited when he retaliates against Victor for destroying the companion he agreed to make, saying, “I will be with you on your wedding night,” (Shelley 156) and killing Victor’s friend, Henry Clerval (Shelley, 164). This reveals the monster’s obsession with making Victor’s life a living
Both Victor and the monster suffer tremendously both physically and emotionally throughout their life. Victor’s physical suffering was brought on by his inability to cope with his tremendous guilt and secret. The monsters physical suffering was due to the abuse inflicted upon him by society’s fear of him. Both also suffered emotionally; they were both alone, Victor due to his secret that caused isolation and his inability to admit and disclose what he had done. The monster suffered emotionally because of his creator’s rejection and society’s inability to get past his grotesque looks and accept him for who he was.
Victor goes on in school and becomes interested in bringing a person to life from scratch. He does this and creates the monster in which immediately abandons. The monster's contribution to the main theme in the novel, are brought to light in the woodshed scene. In this scene, the monster, as he tells Victor he was spying on the De Lacey family where he got so much educated about the way of life. Also from this narration, the monster reveals the fear he had for humans and the loneliness he felt because of the rejection by the humans and also by his own creator who had abandoned
After Frankenstein discovered the source of human life, he became wholly absorbed in his experimental creation of a human being. Victor's unlimited ambition, his desire to succeed in his efforts to create life, led him to find devastation and misery. "...now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished..." (Shelley 51). Victor's ambition blinded him to see the real dangers of his project. This is because ambition is like a madness, which blinds one self to see the dangers of his actions. The monster after realizing what a horror he was demanded that victor create him a partner. "I now also began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this was like torture..." (Shelley 169). Victor's raw ambition, his search for glory, has left him. His eyes have been opened to see his horrible actions, and what have and could become of his creations. As a result, Victor has realized that he is creating a monster, which could lead to the downfall of mankind. His choice is simple, save his own life or save man.