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Ethical concerns in frankenstein
Ethical concerns in frankenstein
Ethical concerns in frankenstein
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This philosophical analysis focuses on the main character of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Monster, and how his crime of killing a young boy and framing an innocent bystander is explained through the arguments made by Mengzi concerning evil natures. This parallel will be made by showing the progression of the Monster from good to evil nature and how his motivation to ruin his creator’s life tainted his fundamental heart. I will first briefly address the action as portrayed in Frankenstein and then discuss how Mengzi’s ideas explain the change in the Monster’s nature.
The Evil Action Explained
The main plotline of Frankenstein involves the lives of two major characters, Victor Frankenstein and the Monster. Their relationship is a tumultuous one, mainly due to the fact that Frankenstein created the Monster out of a wish to be some sort of god and be able to play with the balance of life and death. Afterwards, he comes to deeply regret his action and abandons the Monster by throwing him out into the world without any education or guidance. Because of this, throughout the book, the Monster harbors resentment towards Frankenstein and dedicates his life to make Frankenstein’s a living hell. Out of the many horrible things that the Monster did to achieve this goal, the main evil action I will be focusing on is the murder of William, Frankenstein’s younger brother and the framing of his nanny for the murder.
After being continually rejected by not only his creator, but countless other humans based only on his gruesome appearance, the Monster decides to exact revenge on humankind and especially on Frankenstein for giving life to such a horrible creature as himself. Upon deciding this, the Monster decides to go to his hometown and l...
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... her beauty but knew that she would reject him as everyone else did, so he went on to frame her anyways. This shows that it was not lack of reflection that caused the Monster to commit this evil act, but the reflection process only served to help him justify why he should go through with the crimes. As he committed the acts, his heart no longer rebelled as it once did and he was overcome with “exultation and hellish triumph” (Shelley, pg. 378). The Monster’s main motivation in committing these acts was to make Frankenstein miserable since earlier in the book he compares himself to Satan in that he becomes bitter and angry at seeing his creator so happy when he is so miserable (Shelley, pg. 339). As his first acts of actual revenge against his creator, the Monster was delighted with this power he had over him, to be able to cause him the pain he thought he deserved.
In Geneva, the setting has a tone of optimism in the creature’s search of Victor to express the hate he acquires from his trials. He eventually comes across a young boy and a spark of hope blooms again at the idea that he could educate the innocent to love the damaged. The creature shows no real ill intent towards the boy as he tries to kidnap the struggling kid until the monster learns of the relation the boy, William, shares with the very man that brought him to life. The theme of destructiveness is shown when the monster kills the young boy in a fit of revenge and then finds a picture of a beautiful woman he desires to have. As he is venturing away from the crime scene he comes across a sleeping maiden and mischievously plants the picture with the girl, effectively framing and leading to her death. This shows the audience that Victor’s choice to make such a being was a mistake and his selfishness has wreaked havoc on society because the people shun the
The plot deals with the conflict that is inside Victor Frankenstein, who produces a monstrous creature. Victor is disgusted at the site of the creature he has created. "I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived"(43). After Victor rejects the monster, he meets a family that brings out his sensitive side. When these people reject him, the creature destroys everything in sight. "I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a staglike swiftness"(121). The innocent Justine is accused of a murder, committed by the creature, and dies, therefore increasing Victor's feelings of guilt and his need for revenge. Victor makes it his mission to destroy the monster, who has been ruining his life. The monster threatens to be there with Victor on his wedding night. Victor interprets this as a threat against his own life, but instead finds his wife, Elizabeth, murdered. "She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair"(179). The next paragraph discusses how loss of innocence was portrayed through setting.
The fact that Frankenstein’s creation turns on him and murders innocent people is never overlooked; it has been the subject of virtually every popularization of the novel. What is not often acknowledged is the fact that Frankenstein himself embodies some of the worst traits of humankind. He is self-centered, with little real love for those who care about him; he is prejudiced, inflexible and cannot forgive, even in death. While some of these traits could be forgivable, to own and flaunt them all should be enough to remind a careful reader that there are two "monsters" in Frankenstein.
A monster can be characterized by an extreme deviation from the normal standards of society including an internal or external wickedness. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Creature, his appearance overwhelms those who lay eyes upon him. A mere glance can send a villager running for the hills. It was not until the Creature caught a glance of his own reflection that he understood why villagers were so afraid of him. The realization of his ghastly appearance began the monster’s journey into hopelessness. In Peter Brooks’ article he writes, “Self recognition as the ‘filthy type’ completes the mirror stage of the Monsters development.” (Brooks 377). Seeing oneself as ugly and slovenly can cast shadows on even the most compassionate of hearts.
...ions toward one another. However, Frankenstein’s uncaring, negligent-parent approach to his creation who emotionally resembles a lost child, allows Shelley to establish the conflict between scientific discovery and moral consequence, as well as the greater conflict between right and wrong. She allows the audience to question who the true villain is in the story, and allow each reader to determine for themselves if the “parent” Frankenstein or the “childlike” monster is truly to blame for all the evil deeds that occur. Today, our society should view Frankenstein as a cautionary tale of the possibilities and consequences of scientific discovery mixed with greed.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. 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.
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein centers around a creator who rejects his own creation. The plot thickens as Victor Frankenstein turns his back on his creation out of fear and regret. The monster is cast out alone to figure out the world and as a result of a life with no love, he turns evil. Shelley seems to urge the reader to try a relate with this monster and avoid just seeing him as an evil being beyond repentance. There is no doubt that the monster is in fact evil; however, the monster’s evilness stems from rejection from his creator.
After the murder of his little brother William, Victor knows that the creature is responsible, and he realises that the monster is his making, so he sets out to kill it. He is replacing the guilt, of being a failure as a parent and causing his brother’s death, by creating his murderer, with anger against himself. He is also feeling self pity, his father has to rem...
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...
He made the choice to create life without considering the possible outcome of the experiment. As soon as Victor’s finished, he says: “but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room”(Shelley 58). Frankenstein did not seek responsibility for the monster; instead he ran away from his responsibilities and neglected his own creature. Abandoned by his creator the monster learns how to survive on his own for a few months. One day, the monster comes upon little kids at recess, and sees a boy he thinks would be willing to be his companion. As the monster grabs for the boy, the boy shrieks with disgust and disappoints the monster. In this moment the monster finds out the boy happens to be a Frankenstein, William Frankenstein, and anger rages inside of the monster. The monster takes his hurt feelings of being neglected by Victor Frankenstein out on William. The monster strangles William to death. The monster’s actions of strangling William were due to Victor Frankenstein’s failure to take care of the monster. In result of Williams death, Justine Mortez, a loyal family friend of the Frankenstein’s, was convicted
Countless situations created in life will always have some consequence, whether the outcome is a positive outcome or a negative outcome. During the novel, Frankenstein, there are many incidents portrayed through the characters that have both a positive outcome and a negative outcome, no matter the type of situation. The majorities of the situations that are conveyed in this novel almost always have a negative outcome because of the way the effects damage and hurt the innocence of the other characters in the story. In this novel many of the negative outcomes are a consequence of a hideous monster, known as Frankenstein’s monster, which was created by the hands of Victor Frankenstein.
At first, The Monster is very kind and sympathetic. He has a good heart, as shown when he collected firewood for the family on the brink of poverty. Like every other human creation, he was not born a murderer. All the Monster wanted was to be accepted and loved by Victor Frankenstein and the other humans but instead he was judged by his appearance and considered to be dangerous. The Monster says, “like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence…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” (page 105). This line is an important part of the novel because the Monster lets it be known how like Adam he was created into this world completely abandoned and like Satan he is angry with those people who have found contentment and satisfaction in their lives. The rejection and unwelcome feeling he is faced with, is the main reason the Monster becomes a killer. Watching another family show love towards each other made the Monster realize how alienated he truly was. He did not know how to deal with his pain and emotions so he murders as
At first the Monster never intended to hurt anyone, but continuously being made fun of by every human that he ran into took a toll on his mental state. He knew that the only way to get Frankenstein’s attention was kill someone that he loved. It started off with his brother, William. Then Justine, the family servant, was the one framed and was executed for “killing” William. Henry Clerval, Frankenstein’s best friend, and last his wife and cousin Elizabeth were killed throughout the book in hopes of getting Frankenstein to create another creature like the Monster. The Monster never had a fair life because he was created as...
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.
Despite Frankenstein's very violent nature and the actions he took within the book people judged Frankenstein before even getting to know him which eventually made him even more mad. Frankenstein is referred to as a monster, yet throughout the novel the reader is made aware of the compassion and morality that Frankenstein has. Many associate his evil personal with his ragged and tattered look, just like described in the novel, “his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries…his hair was of a lustrous black…his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes…his shriveled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 60). Everyone that sees him ult...