Throughout history monsters have been put in stories to inspire fear in other people. These monsters are developed with supernatural powers, in order to make them stronger and scarier than normal human beings. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde are both stories about a man creating a monster. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster using science, this monster is gigantic, strong, fast, and intelligent. In The Picture of Dorian Grey, Dorian Grey is corrupted by Lord Henry Walton, and he vows to have eternal youth while a painting of him ages. This combined with Lord Henry’s influence turns Dorian into a cold unfeeling monster with no remorse. Both Shelley and Wilde develop Dorian Grey and …show more content…
the creation to seem like monsters, while they make the real monsters the ones who created them, Victor Frankenstein and Lord Henry Walton. In Frankenstein Mary Shelley develops the story so that the monster is created and then left alone, when he is rejected by Victor Frankenstein and the rest of society, the monster becomes filled with rage and kills Victor’s brother.
While this makes the monster seem like the true monster in the story, the real monster is Victor Frankenstein for creating the monster. Victor is not the monster for literally making the monster, but for rejecting him and turning him into the rage filled beast that the monster becomes. When Victor is making his “Great God,” he does not think about the consequences of his actions, and soon after he brings his monster to life “horror and disgust filled [his] heart.” (Shelley 58, 59) Victor then shuns this newly born monster, leaving it on its own to grow up. This is what makes Victor Frankenstein the real monster, because Victor created a problem when he created the monster, and instead of fixing it he just ran away so everything the monster does is on Victor. When the monster first goes out into the world he is all alone, because he was abandoned by Victor, so the monster is rejected by society and there is nobody there to help him. This creates a social outcast that only knows pain, solitude, and rejection, so the monster lashes out and kills Victor’s brother. This is Victor’s fault because he chose to reject the monster and make the monster an enemy of society. The monster is not to blame because he will not “ keep no terms with [his] enemies.” Even though the monster is not the person who turned himself into the cold hearted thing that he became, many people still believe that he is the monster. The reason that Victor is not thought of as the true monster is because of Richard Brinsley Peake, who “introduced the convention of portraying the creature as an inarticulate beast.” ( Bailey 58) This portrayal of the monster as an inarticulate beast makes him seem like more of a monster than Mary Shelley intended, because it makes it strips
away the feelings that the monster has in the original book, and just makes the monster want to kill. This takes away Victor’s blame because he is not the reason that the monster kills, whereas in the original book Victor is to blame because he created the monster and then rejected it and abandoned it. Likewise, in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Dorian Gray is thought of as the monster, while the true monster is Lord Henry Wotton. In The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian Gray is an extremely handsome young man who is persuaded into trading his soul for eternal youth, and there is a portrait that is painted of him, that ages instead. In the beginning of the book Dorian Gray is extremely innocent until he meets Lord Henry Wotton. Lord Henry Wotton tells Dorian Gray that he should think only about himself because it is the “duty that one owes to one's self.” (Wilde Chapter 2) Lord Henry Wotton talks about how Dorian should enjoy his youth while he has it because Dorian will lose his innocence, and beauty, this makes Dorian become a much less innocent man who thinks of only himself and the beauty that he will use. When Dorian sees the painting of himself that Dorian’s friend Basil Howard made, he curses it for the beauty it will keep that he will lose, so he trades his soul for his looks. “Wotton makes Dorian his specimen in an experiment” that shows how giving up emotions leads to the person becoming terrible. (Wainwright 503) Throughout the book Dorian does many terrible things, like causing a young girl to commit suicide, hang out at opium dens, and kill his friend Basil. The thing that pushed Basil to become this corrupt is a book that Lord Henry Wotton convinces Dorian to read, this book follows a frenchman living a life of pleasure, and it causes Dorian to start to do that to. Dorian begins to live a life where he thinks of nobody but himself, and he feels no remorse for the trouble he causes people. After Dorian is nearly killed by a person he hurts, Dorian sees the painting and sees the monster he has become, so he tries to repent. This is when you start to see the monster that Lord Henry Wotton truly is, after starting to repen Dorian begs Lord Henry Wotton to never show anyone the book that he read, but Lord Henry Wotton refuses. The reason that most people believe that Dorian Gray is the real monster is because even Dorian realises he monster he has become, but the true monster of the story is Lord Henry Wotton because he first influences Dorian to become a monster, and then when Lord Henry Wotton sees the monster that Dorian has become Lord Henry Wotton neither feels remorse, or refuse to do that to someone else. Lord Henry Wotton is the true monster in The Picture of Dorian Gray because he turns Dorian into the monster that Dorian becomes, and he also does not feel bad about what he had done. Even though Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde are two completely different stories with many different themes, they still share the common theme that the true monsters are the people who create the monsters. The two different stories are about two completely different monster, one who is a literal monster, and the other who is a man that became a monster on the inside, but they have the exact same monster in their stories, the people who created them.
The Creature, Victor Frankenstein’s creation, is shaped into a monster through its experiences, instead of the nature of itself, which is more expected. Victor Frankenstein, on the other hand, is shaped into a monster because of his mind’s power-hungry nature. Victor treats his creature poorly and he himself becomes wicked. While the Creature also becomes wicked in the end, its actions are more justified because multiple people treated it poorly, causing the Creature to lash out. Even though Victor Frankenstein and the Creature both turn into wicked monsters, to some extent, only one of
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...
Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams for himself, but this characteristic was the cause of his downfall. He had a ruthless desire to obtain forbidden knowledge- a knowledge that only God was worthy of having. This lead him to lock himself in his laboratory, disregarding his family, friends, and health. His one purpose was to create life. In his quest to create a human being and bestow the power of life, Victor eventually did create a creature, but this lead to a situation
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 gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
The monster of the novel is often misattributed with the name, “Frankenstein.” However, Victor Frankenstein can ultimately be considered the true monster of this tale. His obsession would lead to the corruption of his soul and the creation of two monsters—one himself, and the other, the creature. In attempting to take on the role of God, nature would become a monster to Victor and destroy his life. These elements of monstrosity in Frankenstein drive the meaning of its story.
In Frankenstein, the monster and Victor are both put through many depressing and hurtful situations. I think that the monster was the true victim. He was rejected by everyone he came across from the day he entered life. His creator was never there to teach him right from wrong or responsibility. And also, the monster's soon-to-be wife was killed before his eyes. These agonies are what make the monster more of a victim than Victor Frankenstein does.
Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, is the creator of the monster. When Victor created the monster, he believed he created the monster for the betterment of humankind, but he actually created the monster because he desired to prove to the world that an average human can do Godly acts. The desire to create the monster goes back to Victor’s childhood. As a young kid, Victor’s passions always lied in science and chemistry and in college; he became obsessed with the idea of creating life out of inanimate objects. He then decided to specialize in Alchemy. Within Shelley’s book Frankenstein, Victor said:
Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness.
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally, Victor as a Gothic novel, Victor is at fault, because, he and the creature are two different parts of the same person. If Frankenstein is looked at as a romantic novel, Victor, not the creature, is truly the villain. When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. On page 115, the creature said, "Hateful day when I received life! Accursed the creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust." This line shows the agony the monster was in, because of how he looked when he was created which led to even Victor running away from him. If Victor didn't run, he could have taught the monster and made his life happy. After the creature scared the cottagers away he said, "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter ...
Gender inequality will always affect the way women are portrayed in society, the weaker, unnecessary, and other sex. It is not just a subject of the past, but still holds a name in society, however in the olden eras the way women were treated and are looked at, in a much more harsh condition. In Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein women’s roles in the books are solely based on the way they are treated in their time period. The way women are portrayed in these books, demonstrate that they can never be in the same standing as men, considered the second option, and therefore will never have the same respect as men. In both Othello and Frankenstein women are treated as property, used to better men’s social standards, and lack a voice,
Oscar Wilde's idea of what makes a man a monster differs from Mary Shelley's because he focuses on a Dorian Gray’s actions and inner emotions compared to Shelley's focus on the outward appearances and the natural constitution of being inherently evil with Frankenstein’s monster. The idea of a monstrous being exists in many writings like The Picture of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein stems from the fact that it is not always a fantasy creature that is what is a monster but it is a human, an average citizen that finally snaps or hits a breaking point. It is the idea that anyone could have a monster contained in their emotions that makes this a terrifyingly interesting concept to
"The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world. They can sit at their ease and gape at the play” (Wilde 4). Many different events can cause someone to become evil in their thoughts and actions, but we can take refuge in the fact that it is possible to grow and change for the better. People often transform into better versions of themselves all the time. As humans, it is our nature to care for one another and be a productive member of society. There are certain moral standards that allow every and any individual to become the best version of themselves, no matter where they come from or their background. Through maturation and experience, individuals attempt to better themselves no
Monstrosity is not just defined by disfigurement, but also by the actions and obsessions of man. Most, if not all, tales of monsters often came about as exaggerations of sins and immoral actions. Others see men who become too obsessed with the idea of overstepping their own humanity and playing God as monsters in society. Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray reflect this idea. While the painting and the creation mirror the monstrous nature and the sin Gray and Frankenstein enact throughout the course of each novel, both Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein are the true monsters.
For Frankenstein created a monster who had no identity, and was willing to murder all of Frankenstein's loved ones if Frankenstein did not create another female creature. Victor Frankenstein refused to create another female monster to accompany his monster. Thus, the monster felt that he had no choice but to take away Frankenstein's family, just to show how Victor Frankenstein would feel being alone in the world. The murder of William Frankenstein (Victor's younger brother) caused Victor to believe that his own creature had murdered his younger brother because "nothing in human shape could have destroyed that fair child." (Frankenstein, pg.74) Frankenstein knew from then on that he had "turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery." (Frankenstein, pg.74) Frankenstein's monster caused "the death Frankenstein not only blamed the murders of his loved ones on his monster, he blamed himself for creating the monster. Throughout Frankenstein, the words "friend, monster, daemon, vile insect, enemy, and abhorred devil" were used by Frankenstein to describe the monster he had created.