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In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Rousseau's idea of amour propre (self-love), amour de soi meme (love of self), and pity are what define the characters' ability or inability to give love. Victor Frankenstein exhibits amour propre or pride, which causes his inability to pity or love anyone, as he only strives for his own glory. In contrast, the creature of Frankenstein, exhibits both amour de soi meme or self-preservation and pity. He is not interested in the glorification of himself over others; therefore he can be compassionate towards other people. The narrator Walton exhibits amour propre, amour de soi meme, and pity. In the end, he chooses his amour de soi meme and pity over his amour propre. Despite each character's ability to …show more content…
give love, they all need to receive it. Frankenstein receives love but he cannot give it and the creature gives love but he cannot receive it. The lack of love in both situations ultimately leads to their deaths.
Walton is able to both give and receives love, and he is the only main character who lives in the end of the novel. Frankenstein illustrates the importance of giving and receiving love and sympathy through the fates of Frankenstein, the creature, and Walton.
Frankenstein's amour propre causes his inability to pity or love anyone but himself and his ambitions. When creating his creature, he is so obsessed with achieving fame that he neglects to write his family. Even though he knows his lack of communication worries his family, his sympathy for their distress is not as strong his amour propre, for he states he "could not tear [his] thoughts from [his] employment" (Shelley 37). Nowhere in the novel is he able to pity anyone more than himself, for even "the tortures of the accused (Justine) did not equal his" (Shelley 64). To Frankenstein, no one's suffering is as acute as his, because they are innocent. He is the one who has the live with the remorse and embarrassment of his failure creation. Because he is so ashamed of the creature, he refuses to warn his family about the creature's existence. Ostensibly, he doesn't warn them because he thinks they will think he is mad. This is an excuse, because at one point he makes many
absurd confessions saying that he is responsible for the deaths of William, Justine, and Henry. It's not that Frankenstein doesn't want to seem mad, he just cannot bear the shame of his monster, not even to protect his family. Frankenstein's relationship with the creature also reveals his lack of sympathy and love. First of all, Frankenstein does not create the creature because he wants someone to love. He sees the creature merely as a tool for his success, and when he is unhappy with the result, he rejects and hates it. The creature's argument for Frankenstein to make him a mate causes Frankenstein to ask himself, "did I not, as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow?" (Shelley 120), but he quickly changes his mind. The idea of creating something just as ugly as the creature disgusts him and he vows, "never will I create another like [him], equal in deformity and wickedness" (Shelley 140). Frankenstein refuses the only act of love and sympathy that the creature asks for, because can't stand the thought of creating something that will further hinder his goal for recognition. The cost of this refusal is the death of everyone he loves, but he does not change his mind. Frankenstein's inability to pity and love anyone more than himself is illustrated through the decisions he makes concerning his loved ones and the creature.
Frankenstein's parents were very loving and he states that “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself” but he was only able to love them after seeing “other families [he] distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate [his] lot was” (34). Frankenstein was loved by his family but he was emotionally unattached from them and was only able to feel gratitude towards his loving family. When Frankenstein knew his mother had passed he was not affected by her loss and thought that his family should “learn to think [themselves] fortunate” (41). The person that gave him life had passed but Frankenstein never developed an intimate connection to her and was more concerned about his desire for knowledge. Frankenstein also runs from the chance at having a father son relationship in favor of a God and creation relationship when he rejects the “one hand [that the creature] stretched out” (56). The possibility at having a relationship as intimate as a father and son had Frankenstein running from his creation and leaving it like god left humans on Earth. Frankenstein’s friendships were also lacking intimacy he “loved [his friend] with a mixture of affection and reverence that knew no bounds, yet [he] could never persuade [himself] to confide in” his friend (66). Frankenstein loved his friend in the way that god loves all people
Critic Northrop Frye says, “Tragic heroes tower as the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, the great trees more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning”. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein greatly exhibits the theme of the consequence of knowledge and irresponsibility among others through its tragic hero, Victor Frankenstein. Northrop Frye’s quote is certainly true when looking at Frankenstein’s situation. Victor is a victim of his divine lightning, and ultimately causes much trouble for himself; however, Victor also serves as the tragic hero in the lives of the monster, his family, and his friends.
Can you imagine losing all of your loved ones to an evil beast? Or being abandoned by everyone you came in contact with? Mary Shelley portrays numerous emotions in Frankenstein. Sympathy and hatred are two that are constantly shown throughout novel. Mary Shelley enlists sympathy and hatred towards Victor and the monster by presenting them in different viewpoints. The views of sympathy and hatred towards the main characters change as the narration changes in the novel Frankenstein.
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.
Isolation is one of the major motifs that resonates throughout Frankenstein. Tying into the romantic style of the novel, Shelley uses this element all the way through the work to show a repetition of isolation, an aspect that is present in almost every character in the novel and expressed primarily in Victor and the monster. But even some other minor characters such as Justine, Caroline, and Walton deal with isolation in one way or another.
By the end of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wanted the reader to discover that it was not Frankenstein’s creature that was the monster, but Victor Frankenstein himself. She was able to accomplish this fully by highlighting the absence of a single trait in Frankenstein; he has no empathy. Empathy, the ability to feel with another creature, is an integral part of what makes us human, what separates us from inanimate objects and animals. It is possible for a person to register another creature’s emotions without truly being empathetic. True empathy requires an individual to merge identities and act upon both their own and the others’ emotions.
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the main theme revolves around the internal and external consequences of being isolated from others. Being isolated from the world could result in a character losing his/her mental state and eventually causing harm to themselves or others. Because both Victor Frankenstein and the creature are isolated from family and society, they experienced depression, prejudice, and revenge.
...most readers tend to sympathize with Frankenstein because of the way in which he is mentally and physically harmed by his creation. However, one must also realize that while Frankenstein is a victim in the novel, he also exhibits features that make him a monster. These monstrous qualities, however, stem from his passion for science and his desire to create life. Not only does the reader criticize and pity Frankenstein, but the reader also empathizes with Frankenstein’s creation. He was unjustly shunned by society because of his physical appearance. On the other hand, the reader realizes that like Frankenstein, the creation can not be sympathized with entirely. He too exhibits traits that make him appear villainous. It is the duality of these two characters that make Frankenstein and his creation two of the most appealing characters of the nineteenth century.
...ctor Frankenstein, while Victor gains monster-like traits, Frankenstein gains human-like traits, this journey is particuallary evident in the early development of the two characters and their acquirement of knowledge. While the reader generally gravitates towards the monster, through empathy they experience disappointment in Victor Frankenstein, this leaves the reader is left in confliction. The reader is unsure whether in today’s appreance focused society it will be viewed as appropriate to feel empathy towards a ugly monster. This confliction ultimately results in the reader reflecting upon the extent of which they wish to conform to society.
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein conveys three main themes throughout the story: the cost of ambition, the major role family plays, and humanity and isolation. Victor’s tale of unfortunate events and consequences displays how ruthless ambition can lead to your downfall and destruction. Victor learned the hard way when he lost everything he held dear to him and eventually his own life. Once Walton heard Victor’s story of death, chaos, revenge, suffering, and loneliness, Walton decides to end his journey of finding magnetism in the North Pole, realizing he has sacrificed his sister, Margaret, for his quest for success. Walton is then saved before it is too late. The creature’s telling of events that happened to him shows that he was shunned
The theme in a piece of literature is the main idea or insight on characters. Most pieces of literature do not limit itself to one but many other themes all collected into one. This is just like in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This horrifying story was produced in 1818 and has several themes that she portrays throughout. The theme of dangerous knowledge is unmistakably seen theme in Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see this theme through three of the main characters, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton and the creature. We can see how their desire for knowledge can take them places and show them eventually what they are looking for. Sooner or later it will take them to dangerous and unwanted places. The desire for knowledge can eventually lead one to its grave. Victor Frankenstein’s scientific endeavor, Robert Walton’s search for the North Pole, and the creature’s kind heart but scary features creates this theme of dangerous knowledge.
...ry. The loneliness of Frankenstein and the monster drove them miserable for most their lives, and in the end, to death. Walton on the other had, turns back to civilization, perhaps learning something from the story of Victor Frankenstein. In the book Frankenstein, there were many moments of glory for Victor Frankenstein, but in the end he only ending up destroying many of his family, himself, and the monster after suffering through loneliness and grief for a big part of his life.
Frankenstein's attachments to other people make him vulnerable in a way that his creation can never be. When the creature and Victor meet face to face, the creature admits to killing William. He says “Can you wonder that such thoughts transported me with rage? I only wonder that at the moment, instead of venting my sensations in exclamations and agony, I did not rush among mankind, and perish in the attempt to destroy them.” (Page 145) When hearing his creation speak to him, Frankenstein is made vulnerable leaving him feeling that, “[he] had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart, and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse.” (Page
Mary Shelley in her book Frankenstein addresses numerous themes relevant to the current trends in society during that period. However, the novel has received criticism from numerous authors. This paper discusses Walter Scott’s critical analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in his Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Review of Frankenstein (1818).
While the monster gains a feeling of hatred and a desire for revenge after he is abandoned and treated pitifully, Frankenstein continuing reinforces the suffering of his creation, and likewise the suffering of himself. Frankenstein is completely to blame for the misery that he endures. Victor creates a being only for his own fulfillment, and afterwards abandons the great responsibility that he bears for it. To make it worse, Frankenstein intentionally ruins the monster 's happiness and gives him the same horrendous treatment that the rest of mankind gives the monster. Victor 's selfish actions cost him his family, bring him to the brink of insanity, and make a terrible creature out of a loving and compassionate being. Victor Frankenstein is a true