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Theme of social injustice in frankenstein
Social responsibility and justice in frankenstein
Theme of social injustice in frankenstein
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The Injustice of Suffering in Frankenstein In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the several crimes committed receive little to no punishment. On the contrary, characters who do nothing wrong end up suffering the most. Victor had plans to create a new, beautiful species. However, when his creation came to life, he was terrified by how ugly the monster was. The night the monster came to life Victor describes: “I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night… catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life” (44). Victor is disapproving of the monster - going as far to call it the demon himself - even though it had done nothing wrong. This may not seem like a …show more content…
very serious crime, but it results in the monster feeling alone and disgraced. These feelings impel the monster to kill Victor’s brother, William. The monster will continue to go on a rampage until everyone is dead unless Victor accepts him. I believe this will eventually happen, but not until after several people have been killed. The rest of society also commits the same crime; they all neglect the monster for no apparent reason besides being ugly.
This can be seen through the cottagers, who the monster had observed for so long. When the cottagers finally see the monster in their house, “Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted toward me [the monster]… he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope” (123-124). Again, people are punishing the monster solely being ugly, which he cannot control. The monster even describes that he could tear apart Felix, the man beating him with a stick, but he refrains thus exemplifying his kind-heartedness. It is after this moment that the monster swears revenge on all of humanity. Therefore, the cottagers neglection of the monster takes a toll on the entire world. As previously stated, the way to make things right is to give the monster the acceptance he deserves. Although I believe Victor will accept the monster, I feel as though he will not be able to convince the rest of society to do the
same. Through the monster and his experiences, it becomes evident that people do judge a book by its cover.
...society rejected; some may argue it was simply the creature’s bad decisions. The argument is that the decision to kill William and to blame the murder on Justine is an idea that never came from Victor and was the entire creature’s idea. This argument is invalid because Victor created the creature in his perception of “beautiful” during a time when he had secluded himself from society (60). After the creature introduces himself to de Lacy, the creature is expelled from the house due to his scary countenance. The reason that he killed William was because the creature had claimed “war against the species” because Victor had put him into “insupportable misery” (122). The reason that the creature made the bad decisions is because the creature was created as an ugly creature by Victor and was subsequently therefore rejected by society.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
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...
Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor’s Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor “escaped and rushed downstairs.” (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat ...
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.
creature is not to blame - it is the creator. For this reason, we feel
Many punishments for crimes are often given to innocent people. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, there are several instances in which the punishment is given to an innocent person. Justine, a maid at the Frankenstein residence, was killed for a crime she did not commit. Felix, a character the Monster encounter, was exiled from his country, for helping an innocent man escape from jail. Lastly Victor himself was jailed for a murder, which he did not commit.
When Victor goes to college and his interest in science and nature grows, his curiosity to find the secret of immortality causes him to want to create a creature and bring it to life. Victor starts to create his unnatural work hoping that it will bring success in the future, “I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.” (43). Victor states his concerns about what he plans to do but dismisses them based on the importance he places on his work. For that reason, he starts to meddle with nature to create something no one can do but God. Finally, when Victor completes his creation, the monster, he realizes that he has made a serious mistake by interfering with nature, “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.” (47). He thinks he has achieved this beautiful dream of creating a life, but now that he has, all he can see is an ugly monster. Trying to take on divine creation fails and instead of beauty, all Victor can create is something horrifying. Therefore, disrupting with nature is a trait that proves Victor is the true monster because it is a limit that no human should overstep. Eventually, it will come to a miserable
The monster does not resemble Victor physically; instead, they share the same personalities. For example, Victor and the monster are both loving beings. Both of them want to help others and want what is best for others. Victor and the monster try to help the people that surround them. Victor tries to console his family at their losses, and the monster assists the people living in the cottage by performing helpful tasks. However, Victor and the monster do not reflect loving people. The evil that evolves in Victor’s heart is also present in the monster.
Victor Frankenstein serves as an instrument of suffering of others and contributes to the tragic vision as a whole in this novel. He hurts those surrounding him by his selfish character and his own creation plots against his master due to the lack of happiness and love. The audience should learn from Frankenstein’s tragic life and character to always remain humble. We should never try to take superiority that is not granted to us because like victor we shall suffer and perish. He had the opportunity to make a difference in his life and take responsibility as a creator but his selfishness caused him to die alone just like what he had feared.
The monster also says, “One of the best of these I entered; but I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me…” (Page 98). The monster is stating that humans are afraid of him. The villagers attack him and try to kill him upon site, without getting to know him. They have a prejudiced opinion of him because he is different. This makes the monster become malicious. This shows how society is not accepting of people who are different. The monster feels like he should become more violent due to the way he is treated, especially by Victor. The monster says to Victor, “Slave, I have reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of my day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; - obey!”(Page 146). Victor’s creation feels unloved by Victor because he will not make him a companion. He feels disrespected by his creator and reminds him that he has power over Victor that can destroy his life. The monster
His ugly features made it hard for people to see him as anything more than a creature. This fueled his outrage and motivated him to destroy all who posed a threat. This shows that the creature was at fault, since he chose to act like this. Although Victor set him up for failure, the creature had the ability to turn the failure into success. With a family, bad or good, the creature would have responded the same way. He allowed other people to influence his decisons and later motivate him to destroy all who were acquianted with his creator,
I believe that Victor and the creature are both right about what they want and yet monstrous in their reactions. Victor is right about what he wants; one reason is because he is very committed to his work and in creating life for his creature. On the other hand he is evil because he abandoned the creature and left him on his own: "I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited" (Shelley 57). Shelley shows Victor's monstrous reaction to the creature in the way that he abandoned the creature to his own luck and he shows no responsibility for him.
After Victor creates his monster he us instantly horrified and cannot control his emotions toward the monster and runs away.”I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach demoniacal corpse to Wichita I had miserably given life”(Shelly44). Realizing what he has created it sends him into a state of paranoia and anxiety. Once he collects his thoughts he realizes his creation was not beneficial to anyone and was a huge mistake”oh no mortal could support the horror of that countenance”(Shelly44). After seeing the monster he realized he was far from the perfect human and is in fact the complete opposite. Human body parts that were sewn together did not represent a progression for science but a graphic failure. Not only is Victor affected mentally from the creation of the monster, but the monster itself is negatively affected. The monster states” I had a minor the perfect form of my cottagers-their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions: but how was I terrified and I view myself in a transit pool!”(Shelly101). The monster sees what normal look like and envies them. He feels disgrace and horrified that what he is and that transfers to anger towards his Creator. But some good does come from