We all know what a hero is defined as right? A hero is a figure that portrays a unique quality that makes them special. An example being superman, superman has the ability to fly and in doing this he saves lives which cause him to grow as a hero. Tragic heroes are alike in the way that they both carry a special quality trait but different in a way that a tragic heroes special power leads to their destruction and down fall. Victor Frankenstein is the tragic hero of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein ,because no matter his good intentions, his thirst for knowledge leads to his destruction because of a single cause and primary key factors that evident to heart wrenching results. The single and most influential cause of Victor’s dramatic downfall is his insane craving for knowledge. Victor wished to "become capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter" (Shelley 38) and would not stop until he fulfilled his dream. The world was as if it was invisible in the eyes of Victor because nothing else mattered until his creation was in motion. Victor’s dream suddenly turns into a nightmare when his creation is portrayed as a monster and "no mortal could support the horror of that countenance" (44). Victors first mistake that leads to his downfall is abandoning the creature without first taking responsibility for the being he had created which evident to many factors of destruction. There are quite a few key factors that contribute to the destruction of Victor’s life as well as those around him. Victor envelops his life to creating a being with no thought on what his creation could bring to the ones he loves. After the monster awakes from his death, Victor is "unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] created, [he] rushed out of ... ... middle of paper ... ...l, Victors great need for knowledge and his rage toward the monster led to the death of all he loved, the being he devoted his life to, and himself. Victor is seen as the true tragic hero because his intentions for making the monster were not harmful but his need for revenge and his want for knowledge led to his downfall. The monster could also be seen as a tragic hero in the view that the monster did not wish to turn into such a beast. He once was good but his resentment to society caused him to turn evil, he only wanted to be accepted. Mary Shelley's lesson to her reads is too much ambition can lead to your destruction, and she represents this threw Victor in the way that no scientific discovery is worth sacrificing yours and others lives. Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: A Norton Critical Edition. ed. J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996
His actions after this point are those. of an evil being, one that is damned. The monsters crimes affect Victor's family and therefore punish Victor. This punishment haunts him through the rest of the novel. Victor is weak and it is only near the end of the novel that he attempts to face his creature and destroy it to restore nature.
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.
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 some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that follow the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being. This is obviously something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and finding out what he is doing. At the end of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor says:
Victor experiences very little joy at all after the creation of the monster. He suffers from numerous bouts of depression, he most tolerate the deaths of his brother, best friend, and wife, all of which were murdered at the hands of the monster. His friend Justine is executed because of the death of William, for which she is falsely accused and convicted. His father also dies after the murder of Elizabeth, Victor's ill-fated bride. With so much death surrounding his life, how is it possible that Victor could still be cognizant of his actions when he decides to pursue the monster and end its violent fury? He can't. Victor's mind is so clouded by the sorrow and pain of his past that he is blinded to the fact that he is attempting to destroy a creature with far greater physical strength and speed than any mortal. Much of his conflict appears to be created by the monster, when in fact the torment comes from Victor's own hands because he himself created and gave life to the monster.
If Victor had stayed around and showed the monster the real world, he might have not have went on to perform violent actions. This portrays Victor as a selfish character and gives more of an insight on his personal life. As a child, Victor is only interested in furthering his own knowledge and not worried about anyone else. He spent much of his time “drawing the picture of [his] early days... when [he] would account to [himself] for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled [his] destiny” (Shelley 34), or otherwise a magnificent creation that would change his future. When constructing the Monster, he put all of his relatives in the back of his mind, and only focused on his own success and victory. This further explains the theme of being selfless and only doing certain things that will benefit
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992
He not only turned away the being he had brought into the world; he also denied the creature companionship, friendship, and happiness while continuing to seek his own. Victor gained new purpose and even on his deathbed holds to the principle that he is justified in desiring the death of his enemy. Moment before his death he turns to Captain Robert Walton and says, “I feel justified in desiring the death of my adversary. During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable” (156). He even begins to lose the small amount of compassion he had for the creature’s struggle.
Victor fears that he has created something with humanity that could be stronger than himself and his people. Whether or not the creature’s nature would lead it to struggle towards something greater is never revealed, but the fact that the creature had forfeited - in desperation - to be a part of society shows that it can have higher goals. Ironically, in the end Victor desired what the creature did, to settle down and live happily. This is because Victors struggle had been completed, he had created something that had humanity, and at the same time, left his own behind. Soon after his achievement however, he is killed by his own creation.
Victor is obsessed with the creation of life. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. 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 disgust and horror filled my heart” (Shelley 43). Victor has spent almost two years of his life doing nothing but working on his creation of the creature. He even says that it was an obsession when he says that he desired it with a passion more than normal. This obsession led to Victor’s disappointment with what he had created. He was certain that he would love his creature and that it would be beautiful but once his dream came to life, he was severely disappointed. He says his heart was filled with hate and disgust. Victor wasn’t even able to stay and look at it so he rushed from the room and then obsessed over hating the creature. If Victor didn’t obsess over the creature as much as he did he wouldn’t have been so disappoin...
He tried to play the role of God, which eventually led to his downfall and the death of him and his monster. Victor is the one who all the blame should be placed on, and not the monster.
...ain knowledge in hopes that he will no longer be beaten and attacked by society for what he is. “…my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery” (16.1). When his thirst for knowledge gets backfired and fails he becomes violent. Concluding the death of Victor, not much is known about the fate of the monster. The monster surely met his fate as well thus proving the search for knowledge to be dangerous.
...became obsessed with his studies. He became very ill and created a monster. He then was nursed back to health and was getting better by his friend Henry. Just as you thought everything was getting better terror struck again. He lost his brother William to the monster. By creating this monster Victor became the monster himself. When he created the monster it killed his brother William, which led to the execution of his friend Justine. The monster later killed his old school mate Henry Clerval, and the love of his life Elizabeth which days later caused the death of his Father. Everyone around him that he loved was dying. The monster knew no better, the monster was lonely and had no place to go so it took revenge in Victor, and everything he loved. Victor was the real monster here by creating one. By creating the monster it caused much devastation throughout his life.
Victor has a lack of respect for the natural world that leads him on the path to becoming a monster. In creating the monster Victor is trying to change the natural world. He is trying to play the role of god by creating life.
Victor is obsessed with two things: one, the creation of his monster and, two, finding his monster after his life is destroyed by it. Victor says that “so deeply I was engrossed in my occupation” that he “did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves” which had previously enamored him (Shelly 34). Victor was so obsessed with the creation of his monster that he did not even leave his “lair”. This obsession led to health problems, seclusion from the world and his family, and ultimately to the deaths of several people because of the monster he completed. Towards the end of the novel, we see a Victor consumed with finding and killing the beast....