Someone Else’s Story We as humans are the ones who choose to make the decisions that we do; decisions to act upon certain thoughts, decisions to make imagination become reality, and even decisions to ruin lives. Therefore, the majority of bad decisions that each individual person has made has been by their own doing no matter the circumstances, such as in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly along with The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Though there are certain factors that may sway a decision, such as the overall benefit for one person or a group of people, the decision is ultimately that of the chooser. Frankenstein chose to create another life form with tainted motives, chose to continuously abandon this creature …show more content…
Such as the example with Dr. Frankenstein believing that he was doing a service for humanity by creating the ultimate human, but in all reality he was creating his so called human for personal gain. He thought to himself, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Shelly). We can see that his intentions behind his creation are not what they initially seem to be at this point in the novel. As can be seen, Frankenstein wants to create life and become somewhat of a Godly figure, having what he created praise him and abide by his commands. He planned on bringing to life other inanimate subjects so he could be the overall ruler and leave behind a legacy of his very own making. Continuing on with his thought process of what his overall goal was he states, “I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption." (Shelly). Not only can he create new life forms and bring inanimate objects to life, but now he has the opportunity to cheat death. Furthering his ego, he now believed that what he was doing was completely right for himself instead of thinking about the dangers that this type of science would bring him. Tricking himself into believing his actions were acceptable for the purpose of science, he stopped …show more content…
How he tried to hide behind his own flaws and in doing so turned the creature he made into a monster resembling his own self. He lacked the responsibility to care for his creature, the responsibility to stop the creature, and to figure out how to make what was ruined better. But even though he was realizing this for himself, he still chose to run away from his creature and problems. “Frankenstein is not a tale about a mad scientist who loses an out-of-control creature upon the world. It's a parable about a researcher who fails to take due responsibility for nurturing the moral capacities of his creation” (Bailey). Humanity slowly started to enter his brain, but his monstrous ways fought back to push it out. Causing him to be alone through his last leg of life and die with his life in vain. Through all his deserved pain and suffering he at least finally understood that he was wrong in calling his creature a monster, that the true monster was himself. It was his own fault that a large number of his loved ones were dead, and in the process he also damaged what could have been the greatest discovery of that time. Even with the little glimmer of redemption he earned by understanding where he went wrong, it still was far too late to change the fate that was ahead of him. With Victor dead and gone there were still ends to tie up with the creature, the “reader of the novel is left to ponder if
As Frankenstein is enroute to his pursuit of gaining more knowledge, he states, “I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed” (Shelley 41). Frankenstein’s decision in allowing his intellectual ambitions to overpower everything else in his life leads him to be blinded to the dangers of creating life. He isolates himself from his society when creating the monster, letting himself be immersed in his creation while being driven by his passions, allowing nobody to be near him. The fact that he allows this creation of a monster to consume his total being reveals how blinded he is to the immorality of stepping outside the boundaries of science and defying nature. His goal in striving to achieve what wants to in placing man over nature makes him lose his sense of self as all he is focused on is the final product of his creation. He starts to realize his own faults as after he has created the monster, he becomes very ill and states, “The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him” (48). His impulsive decision to make the monster leads him to abhorring it as it does not turn out to be what he has expected. Because he chooses to isolate himself in creating the
If you create something should you be able to kill it? The notion of playing god like Victor did with the creatures in Frankenstein is comparative to the same issue the courts have with abortion laws. Various angles of abortion can be quite overwhelming as well as who makes the final decision. Many governments have struggled to strike what they believe to be a balance between the rights of pregnant women and the rights of fetuses. Before life is started, generally, an individual has thought about whether or not they want to create life. All life is created whether it is the creatures in Frankenstein or development of a fetus. Once life has been created choosing to end that life can cause many issues. The struggle of choosing between life and death could be avoided by an individual evaluating the results of creating a life before starting the process.
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
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.
At the end of the book, Victor Frankenstein seeks to get revenge on his creation for killing his entire family. However, he dies before avenging his family. The monster visits his bedside, and the reader learns a lot from his speech. Through this quote, and the end of the book, the author shows the themes of sacrifice, compassion and forgiveness, and that the way living beings act is more important than its appearance. In this quotation, the monster says he will kill himself because of all the crimes that he has committed, and that he has nothing to live for now that his creator died. The audience sees that all the evil that the creature committed was very difficult and he hated doing them because he was compassionate, and was built to
...f science it is a risky business. Victor Frankenstein broke these ethics when his creation came to life and thought he could play God. Consequently, this backfired on him when he did take responsibility for his creation and it lead to deaths of his family and friends. As to what Mary Shelley has shown through her novel, Frankenstein, it is that ethics are not meant to be broken but followed in order to keep a balance between human knowledge and natural occurrences.
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 ...
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein is a man full of knowledge and has a strong passion for science. He pushes the boundary of science and creates a monster. Knowledge can be a threat when used for evil purposes. Though Victor did not intend for the being to be evil, society’s judgement on the monster greatly affects him. As a result he develops hatred for his creator as well as all man-kind. Victor’s anguish for the loss of his family facilitates his plan for revenge to the monster whom is the murderer. While traveling on Robert Walton’s ship he and Victor continue their pursuit of the monster. As Victor’s death nears he says, “…or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him and satisfy my vengeance in his death…Yet, when I am dead if he should appear, if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes” (pg.199). Victor grieves the death of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and his father. Throughout the novel he experiences the five stages of grief, denial/ isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Victor denies ...
It is hard to describe the true nature of man, until you look through the lens and ultimately see their inner intentions reveal only altruistic behavior. All the actions of man reflect their sole purpose of selfish desires and having full knowledge of the harm they are causing. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor decides to go beyond all boundaries of life and create something from the dead. He becomes all too obsessed with alchemy and human anatomy, that he takes his dark and twisted desires and creates a creature of whom he begins to refer to as a wretch and monster. Victor does all this with no intention of getting to know who the true person behind the ugly yellow skin is. By looking at Victor’s cruel actions and careless
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.
Victor Frankenstein proves his ability of holding ultimate knowledge by creating life, but as a whole, the society shows a greater impact over others. The Creature 's physical strength plays a vital role in the novel as well. Through the Creature’s many murders, he showed his strength and mental drive to accomplish the things he wanted. The desire for power plays a vital role within the novel, pushing the characters to act out in either a positive or negative manner. Victor Frankenstein, the Creature, and the society all show a different type of influence over others within the novel, creating different desires of
In the book Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is very much interested in sciences and anatomy. As he continues studying these things he attempts to create a human like creature. Victor is successful in the creation of this creature, but when the creature awakes for the first time Victor is terrified by his appearance. Victor runs out of the room, but when he finally returns he finds that the creature is no longer there. Victor has created a horrible monster.
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...
Victor Frankenstein changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by science into a guilt-ridden man determined to destroy his creation. Whether it is his desire to have the godlike power to create new life or his avoiding the types of sciences done in public, Victor’s lack of humanness is his downfall. He isolates himself from the world and eventually he dedicates himself with a nonhuman obsession will getting revenge on his creation. At the end of the novel, Victor tells his story to Robert Walton and then dies. With multiple narrators and multiple perspectives, the novel gives the reader contrasting versions of Victor: the classic mad scientist, who destroys all boundaries without concern, and the brave adventurer of unknown sciences, who should not to be held responsible for the consequences of his explorations.