Victor Frankenstein is Depressed. Here’s Why Depression can be triggered by certain life events such as childhood neglect, death of a loved one, job problems, or other major life changes (Puneetpal and Mastana 3). This idea is portrayed in Mary Shelley’s novel, published in 2000, Frankenstein. Many of her characters suffer from depression, but some are more profoundly affected than others. Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is troubled by the heavy burden of depression, which weighs on him constantly. In order to completely understand Frankenstein’s struggles, it is essential to understand what depression is and how it can affect people, the symptoms that it causes, and how Frankenstein portrays throughout the novel that he is …show more content…
He explains this thoroughly when he says, “I spent whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless,” (Shelley 129). Frankenstein blames himself for the deaths of Justine and William because he created the monster who killed William, which in turn led to Justine’s death. This guilt only makes his depression worse and taunts him daily. He spends his life feeling guilty, anxious, and responsible for all of the events that have made him this way. Up until the day that he dies, he is trying to feel better and find a way out of the depression he is in. He blames the monster for his peril and even in his last moments he requests vengeance and asks Robert Walton to end the monster's life if he were to find him (Shelley 185). Frankenstein’s relentless pursuit to create life and subsequent isolation from society symbolizes the detachment and withdrawal that depression patients often experience, thus implying how he is constantly burdened by depression. Frankenstein portrays many instances of depression throughout the entirety of
Bipolar depression has many symptoms; the main symptoms are a quick change in mood and usually followed by two or more personalities, Victor Frankenstein clearly shows these symptoms in the book. Heavy research evidence from the book “An Unquiet Mind” by Kay Redfield Jamison provide proof of these claims; explaining how Bipolar depression usually results in a multi-personality and severe mood swings. Redfield explains how these symptoms can be seen thru the patient outwardly saying they are unhappy. Text evidence of Victor Frankenstein's Bipolar behavior is found in the following quote; “I paused; at length he spoke, in broken accents: “Unhappy man!” Do you share my madness?” (Shelley 13). This provides solid evidence that Victor Frankenstein suffers from some sort of mental illness. Following along the lines of Bipolar depression; with sudden mood swings that usually indicate two or more personalities. Bipolar depression also has symptoms along the lines of having strong feelings of happiness and plunging into overwhelming feelings of sadness. Research evidence from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) explains how these Bipolar symptoms are imperative to depression and cause smaller mood swings to become an obsolete factor to the depression. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) explains how this symptom can be seen thru the facial expression of the person, going from smiling to a sad look instantly. Text evidence from the novel backs up this claim; “As I spoke, a Dark spread over my listener's countenance. At first I perceived he tried to suppress his emotions.” (Shelley 13). The quote shows how the narrator noticed a quick change in Victor's facial expressions and also added the fact of Victor trying to hide those emotions. This supports the claim of Victor Frankenstein having Bipolar depression. The final symptom of Bipolar depression are severe fits and/or
Being isolated and separated from other people for a prolonged amount of time, can gradually make a person miserable. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is a martyr for Shelley’s view that a lack of human connections leads to misery. Victor being from a highly respected and distinguished
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.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is filled with death and sorrow. They occur in almost every aspect of the book. The four "squares" of the book, Walter, Victor, the monster, and the cottagers, all suffer from them at one time or another. Some perceive Frankenstein as a horror story; however, in actuality it is a book of tragedy and despair. Every page reveals more misery than the page before. Thus, death and sorrow are inevitable in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, has captured people’s attention since it was first written. People often wonder how much of Mary Shelley’s life is documented in her novel. From the theme of parental abandonment, to the theme of life and death in the novel, literary scholars have been able to find similarities between Frankenstein and Shelley’s life. The Journal of Religion and Health, the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and the Modern Psychoanalysis discuss the different connections between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein. Badalamenti, the author of “ Why did Mary Shelley Write Frankenstein?” in the Journal of Religion and Health, primarily discusses the connection between Victor
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.
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction (Tragic Hero). Mary Shelley presents the downfall of Victor Frankenstein, the tragic hero, as a result of his fatal flaw. Some could argue that the creature is the tragic hero in the book, while the creature does possess some of the qualities of a hero, he is not the protagonist of the book. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, demonstrates the qualities of infinite potential, good intentions, and the fatal flaw that leads to the hero's downfall. No, Victor is not the black villain that foolishly plays with the forces of life and death, but he is a good, but flawed, human being, who unwittingly unleashes destruction.
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.
The abnormal behavior of Victor Frankenstein simply could not be explained by anyone. He was obsessed with building his monster, no matter what the morality or the outcome of his actions were. Consequences wreaked havoc on the creator when the monster turned on him and took his anger out on Victor’s family. He was so focused on building his perfection that he overlooked some factors. After further research, it is concluded that Victor suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder during the creation of his monster, which resulted in a rigid following of the ethics and morals of science and technology.
In gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
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...
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley portrays an individual in a unique situation trying to overcome daily interactions while being faced with inconceivable misfortunes. Created by Victor Frankenstein, who set out on a journey to bring life to scrapped pieces of waste, he was then abandoned and left to fend for himself in a world he was abruptly brought into. After being abandoned by his creator for his less than appealing looks, this then sparked his inevitable desire for revenge. Eventually leading to the destruction of those associated with his creator. Knowing that he will never fit in, the monster began to act out in hopes of getting back at his creator for what he did. His vulnerability due to missing guidance and parental figures in his beginning stages of life contributed to his behavior. The books and article Family Crisis and Children’s Therapy Groups written by Gianetti, Audoin, and Uzé, Victim Of Romance: The Life And Death Of Fanny Godwin by Maurice Hindle, and Social Behavior and Personality by Lubomir Lamy, Jacques Fishcher-Lokou, and Nicolas Gueguen support why the monster acts the way he does. The monster’s behavior stems from Victor’s actions at the beginning of his life and therefore is not to blame. The creature in Frankenstein is deserving of sympathy even though he committed those murders because the lack of parental guidance, lack of family, and lack of someone to love led him to that. All in all his actions were not malicious, but only retaliation for what he had been put through.
Many people know that Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was part of a family of famed Romantic era writers. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was one of the first leaders of the feminist movement, her father, William Godwin, was a famous social philosopher, and her husband, Percy Shelley, was one of the leading Romantic poets of the time ("Frankenstein: Mary Shelley Biography."). What most people do not know, however, is that Mary Shelley dealt with issues of abandonment her whole life and fear of giving birth (Duncan, Greg. "Frankenstein: The Historical Context."). When she wrote Frankenstein, she revealed her hidden fears and desires through the story of Victor Frankenstein’s creation, putting him symbolically in her place (Murfin, Ross. "Psychoanalytic Criticism and Frankenstein.”). Her purpose, though possibly unconsciously, in writing the novel was to resolve both her feelings of abandonment by her parents, and fears of her own childbirth.
“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how do I delineate the wretch with whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?” (45). In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the main character, Victor, goes through a lot of highs and lows. When he is young, he is interested in science and goes off to study it in college. However, once he creates a monster, everything goes downhill. He is in a bad mood more often and it affects others.
After reading the articles and the DQ #1, the article provides major elements of convergence within the public and private sector. In my experience with working in the military and working with both public and private sectors, there are many more elements that are not necessarily essential but important. In simplest term the definition of convergence, means two or more things coming together working together and evolving to work as one. Coordination, Management, Policies and Regulations, these are three essential elements of convergence that within both sectors.