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
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that needed him, and chose to label such creature as a “monster” even after he acknowledged his own faults. Dr. Jekyll chose to brew a potion that brought out a darker side of him, chose to constantly consume this potion even though he knew the danger it brought on, and used Mr. Hyde in order to hide behind his monstrous persona. Many may choose to see or start off with the idea that Frankenstein’s creature and Mr. Hyde are the monsters in their own novels, but as each story progresses it as almost as clear as day to see who the true monsters are. Dr. Jekyll and Frankenstein are the ones who brought about the terror and havoc that was thought to be solely caused by their creations. They both chose to create what they did without taking any precautions, feeding into their own wants and desires, self-indulging into their own true monstrous ways. Many times our motives may seem pure when in fact they are not, and sometimes we even strongly believe that they are.
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…
focusing on what could become of humanity, thus began his corruption into becoming the monster he did. Other times we know exactly what our motives are and happily accept them, especially if our motives focus on what we solely want and if they feed a certain type of dark desire within us. Henry Jekyll is in a similar mindset as Frankenstein by choosing not to consider the overall protection of humanity, but he does not take this into consideration at all as Frankenstein falsely did. Dr. Jekyll wanted to separate and release his dark side from his good, so he fought against nature, just as Victor Frankenstein decided to do, and created a potion in order to do so. The potion is successful of course, and thus begins the life of the novel’s “villain”. Just like Victor Frankenstein, Jekyll wanted to experience and add more to his very ordinary life. As this review book of classic novels describes perfectly, “In the Hyde personality Jekyll is provided a welcome escape from the oppressive respectability of his life.” (Press) Henry Jekyll chose to open the door that he did because of the release he got from his life of living as a good and respectable man. He was willing to try and do anything he could to indulge in his dark side without ruining his credibility. “Jekyll’s need for freedom from conventionality is strong enough that he is seduced into…experimenting with drugs”, not thinking of the consequences that would follow his actions such as the other doctor, he chose to be selfish within every step of his own creation (Press). Given the tainted motivations and need to release of a dark side, both creations from each separate novel certainly caused monsters to arise; two of which were produced, and two who became the true essence of monsters by their own doings. Within every situation there is a choice to either solve the problem or continue to fuel a negative outcome. Once Victor Frankenstein’s creature arose from the table it was placed on, a rush of excitement and victory filled its creator, but soon after was replaced by the emotions of disappointment and failure. Frankenstein thought the creature was to hideous to be alive and instantly regretted his invention. What he decided to do next is what any monstrous person would do when faced with a major hardship, such as ridiculous as the way something looks: he abandoned his creature. “The revulsion Victor Frankenstein felt upon sparking his creature into life caused him to reject the being, eventually driving it to a murderous existential crisis” (Bailey). Due to the creator running off and not showing the creature how to properly behave or giving him comfort while it enters into a world that has never been known to it, the creature is left to fend for itself and figure out the workings of entire universe alone. Resentment and hatred towards its creator became built up inside the lost creature, while it was sorting through the many different uncomprehensive thoughts and emotion inside its own head. With a fiery rage the creature went looking for its creator to make him understand his pain of being alone and feel the hurt and anger that it did. Murdering Frankenstein’s family members and loved ones the creature believed what it was doing was fair and just for his pain; but even after a few murders were committed and the creature finally began to realize what wrong it was doing, Victor added fuel to the creature’s flame, continuously antagonizing him, causing the situation to become even worse. Even with danger looking Victor directly in the face and continuously causing tragedy in his life, he did not stop staring back at it instead of turning away, such as another scientist did when he chose to not put down his vial of disaster. Henry Jekyll adds a whole other meaning to monstrous ways. Once his dark side was released from his “good” side creating Mr. Hyde, he went on to terrorizing the people around him. Celebrating his freedom from his normal boring way, Dr. Jekyll kept on taking his potion even though he knew what dangers it would cause. No matter how hard Jekyll tried convincing himself that the disasters were happening not by his own hands but by the hands of Hyde, he knew deep down that he was the one adding fire to the flame he created. “Sharing one body and one brain, they do not separate but assume a change in form in which Jekyll is replaced by Hyde, who was within Jekyll” (Hurd). In all reality Jekyll’s two sides did not separate, the bad did not split from the good, but once the potion has been taken the bad personality takes over the entire mind; Mr. Hyde is Dr. Jekyll, they share the same mind and body. Even though they are very different, one did come for the other, and without the creator there would not be the monstrous counterpart. This same idea can be related back to the story of Frankenstein and his creature, both main characters are very different but they share a similar identity because the creature learned from the wickedness of Victor. Adding on to the parallelisms between these two novels, Jekyll also tried abandoning his creation after several situations got out of hand which only made matters worse. “Hyde is enraged at his treatment by the person to whom he owes his life, and he becomes increasingly evil” (Hurd). Henry Jekyll has no other option but to suppress Hyde since he is ruining his reputation and wreaking havoc, but the more he tries fighting his darker side it fights back harder to take control. Edward Hyde went from a deep dark inner feeling to a free range human, knowing that his creator wanted to get rid of him and force him back inside his head he revolted like Frankenstein’s creature did. Both creations were pushed too far and only wanted what was in their best interests as they were taught to do, but in the end responsibility had to be taken for all of the pain that was caused. Guilt became the driving force behind the two scientists’ actions to resolve what monstrous tragedies they brought on themselves. Towards the end of Frankenstein Victor somewhat began to realize where he went wrong.
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
Mary Shelley's "creature" should be condemned or pitied” (Timko). In the end, readers begin to analyze how much of a victim the creature became after seeing its softer and completely emotionally damaged side when his creator died. The victim felt there was no other reason to be alive anymore after its abuser received what was coming to him, so it rides off on a glacier to meet its end as well, which furthers the idea of how much more of a monster Victor Frankenstein was.
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.
Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.
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...
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
In Frankenstein, Victor’s monster suffers much loneliness and pain at the hands of every human he meets, as he tries to be human like them. First, he is abandoned by his creator, the one person that should have accepted, helped, and guided him through the confusing world he found himself in. Next, he is shunned wherever he goes, often attacked and injured. Still, throughout these trials, the creature remains hopeful that he can eventually be accepted, and entertains virtuous and moral thoughts. However, when the creature takes another crushing blow, as a family he had thought to be very noble and honorable abandons him as well, his hopes are dashed. The monster then takes revenge on Victor, killing many of his loved ones, and on the humans who have hurt him. While exacting his revenge, the monster often feels guilty for his actions and tries to be better, but is then angered and provoked into committing more wrongdoings, feeling self-pity all the while. Finally, after Victor’s death, the monster returns to mourn the death of his creator, a death he directly caused, and speaks about his misery and shame. During his soliloquy, the monster shows that he has become a human being because he suffers from an inner conflict, in his case, between guilt and a need for sympathy and pity, as all humans do.
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.
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.
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
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 ...
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...
...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.
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
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 ...
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
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.