Doppelganger Effect In Frankenstein

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Recommended: Frankenstein by mary shelley pursuit of knowledge

Ben Diamond
FYSEM Writing Assignment #2
Professor S. Graham

The Doppelganger Effect:
How It Caused The Downfall of Victor and the Creature

One man’s quest for knowledge and the journey that follows are found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a story laced with similarities between the creator and his creation, which implements the Doppelganger effect to the fullest degree. Throughout the entire story, Victor Frankenstein travels through a broad range of emotions and experiences, almost all of which his creature experiences as well. As Mary Shelley expands on the character of Victor Frankenstein, she uses the creature-- as his doppelganger--to dramatize, and further elaborate upon, what cannot be explicitly explained. It is Victor’s passion rivaled by the creature’s anger, Victor’s determination mirrored by the …show more content…

From their first post-creation meeting together, the creature develops an intense anger toward the man who brought him to life, and the feeling is a mutual one. "All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us" (95). The creature cannot make sense of the rejection he is being faced with, just as Victor cannot make sense of how this horrid being is still standing before him. It is his misguided passion that leads the creature to make many of the threats that he directs towards Frankenstein. As he promises to “revenge [his] injuries; if [he] cannot inspire love, then [he] will cause fear, and chiefly towards [Victor does he] swear inextinguishable hatred” because he is his creator

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