Character Analysis Of Characters In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

There are many characters in Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein.” There are a couple characters in this novel that could be argued as the main character. Shelley starts off the novel with a sort of background on Victor Frankenstein. Shelley lists how he grew up with his father, Alphonse, and his mother, Caroline. Shelley goes into detail with Victor Frankenstein's early childhood and background, which leads the reader to believe that Victor Frankenstein is the main character.

Victor Frankenstein has many defining characteristics; his most defining characteristic is his search for knowledge. Victor Frankenstein attended the University of Ingolstadt and it is there that he finds the secret to life, and before long, uses the secret to life, to bring to life his “monster.”

Another defining characteristic of Victor Frankenstein is how he strives for perfection. When he creates his monster, he uses only the best parts of old bodies, thinking that he making the perfect human being. Much to Victor Frankenstein's displeasure, after he brings this creature to life, it turns out to be a hideous monster.

Mary Shelley really wants the reader to sympathize with the main character, Victor Frankenstein, in a couple different ways; first off, Victor Frankenstein is just an innocent young man with a passion for science. As he discovers

the secret to life, he wants to create his own creature. Thinking that he is making the perfect human being, Victor Frankenstein is excited and the reader can see his youthful exuberance and innocence. After he has created this monster, it destroys his life. Frankenstein’s monster proceeds to flee from his creator and then comes back around for revenge by killing Victor Frankenstein’s little brother, best friend and wife. So, Shelley uses death and loss of innocence as a big way to get the reader to sympathize with the main character.
As previously stated, Victor Frankenstein starts out as a innocent young man who is just interested in science. After he creates the monster, he loses this innocence and love for science. This is where the reader could identify one of the main forces that oppose the main character; Frankenstein’s monster. It is up to the reader to determine whether the forces opposing the main character have been resolved or not. In my opinion, Victor Frankenstein has not overcame his opposing forces, as this opposing force has taken basically everything from him, and eventually causes him to become ill and die.
The techniques Mary Shelley uses to prove that the forces opposing Frankenstein are hostile, are pretty straight forward; Shelley uses death to people who were very close to Frankenstein to prove that this force opposing him was hostile.

Shelley does use other techniques to show that the opposing force to Frankenstein, means to be hostile and cause him harm. Shelley shows the hate and remorse the monster has for his creator to show that this opposing force means to do harm to the main character. Through this hate, the monster that Victor Frankenstein has created, plots to take revenge on his creator, proving the hostility of this opposing

force.