Darren Bogart 25 May 2015 Moomau Period 3 Frankenstein- Isolation Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a novel that follows the struggles of Dr. Victor Frankenstein with a monster he has brought to life. Readers may not know that Shelley, who suffered three successive losses in her early life, wrote the novel as a reflection of her own experiences with rejection. Mary’s loneliness resulted in the conception of Victor and his creation, who both suffered from mental and physical isolation throughout the story, eventually leading to the death of each of them. However, the ways in which Victor and the monster suffered from isolation and handle their loneliness, as well as the causes of each, are very different. Victor chose to spend his life in isolation, …show more content…
which later negatively affected his physical and mental state. Victor’s fascination with natural philosophy later preoccupied his life, cutting him off from the outside world. He “deprived [himself] of rest and health” and “worked hard for nearly two years” (42) creating the creature. Victor became gravely ill numerous times throughout the novel due to his obsession with his work, and eventually became “pale with study” and “emaciated with confinement” (39). Victor’s mental condition also weakened after spending numerous hours creating the monster.
He “became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled [him], and [he] shunned [his] fellow creatures” (41). Victor’s craze over the monster brought him to a state of paranoia and insanity. Victor separated himself from his family in order to pursue his creation. Victor infrequently reciprocated the affection his family and friends showed him, often ignoring the letters they sent him. After Victor’s father, Alphonse, sent him a letter reminding him to stay in touch, Victor disregarded his request, for his father “could not tear [his] thoughts from [his] employment” (40). Victor regarded his work as more important than his relationship with his family. While creating the monster, Victor was so engrossed in his objective that he removed himself from …show more content…
civilization. Victor’s creature did not choose to live in isolation as Victor did.
The creature was exiled from humans because they were incapable of interacting with him, due to the “breathless horror” of his appearance. The monster found comfort in watching the family of De Lacey, an old blind man. The creature learned social norms from the family by watching them over time, and De Lacey accepted the monster. Although the creature was very enthusiastic about learning about humans, his “increase of knowledge only discovered to [him] what a wretched outcast [he] was” (111). After stalking the family, he realized the blatant differences between himself and the humans. Unfortunately, even De Lacey abandoned the monster after being forced to leave the cottage by his children in order to escape the monster. The creature’s “protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held [him] to the world” (118). After being deserted by the only individual that accepted him, the creature realized he would forever lack a companion. The monster recalled that “[he] possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property” (100), and was agonized by his hideous and deformed appearance. Although the monster lived in solitude, he learned how to survive by himself entirely on his own, and becomes stronger. Additionally, the monster also suffers from a lack of care from his creator, Victor. He stated that “[his] creator, detest[s] and spurn[s] [him]” (81). The monster’s hunger for Victor’s attention is
reciprocated by Victor’s apathy toward his actions. Victor’s neglect eventually led the monster to commit insensitive acts, such as the murdering of Victor’s family members. The isolation of Victor and his creation are very closely connected. Victor’s creation’s terrifying appearance scared off the public. The monster coped with his deficiency of attention and retaliates by slaying Victor’s family, thus forcing Victor into a state of isolation and absence of loved ones. Victor and his monster’s mutually shared feelings of loneliness and hatred result in their self-inflicted deaths.
‘Frankenstein’ or ‘The Modern Prometheus‘ is a 19th century gothic novel written by Mary Shelley. Shelley’s interest in the physical sciences had led her to writing a novel that is based on creating human life in an unnatural way. Victor is one if the narrators who has an unnatural obsession with the sciences led him to discover the secret of life; creating the abomination that is his monster. Walton serves as the neutral narrator that has no personal impact on Victor’s and the monster’s tales. It is through Walton that the monster was able to express his feelings at the death of his creator.
In the novel, Victor is raised up by two happy parents in caring and indulgence. He receives a sister, an education, affection, and a wife from his family. However, unlike Victor, the Monster does not have any maternal or paternal figure to care and teach him values. When the Monster first escapes from Victor’s apartment and enters into the forest, he lives like an animal. He eats berries, drinks water from the streams when he gets thirsty, and sleeps in anywhere. These actions illustrate the Monster’s natural impulse for needs of food and shelters.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the Creature executes extreme and irreversible acts due to his isolation from society. Although the Creature displays kindness, his isolation drives him to act inhumanely.
As he goes off to college, interested in the science behind life and death, he ends up going his own way and attempts to create a living being. Victor “had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (Shelley 43). The being Victor has created does not by any means sit well with him. As victor is away from his family and for six years, he is neglectful to them, which only adds to his sorrow and misery. Victor’s isolation is brought upon him because of himself, however his creation, or “the monster”, is isolated from any connections with humans against his will. To start out, the monster would have had Victor there with him, but Victor is ashamed of what he has created, and abandons the monster. The monster is a very hideous being, which sadly is a contributing factor to his isolation. With nobody to talk to at any time, naturally this will be condescending and frustrating. Although the monster is able to
Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, has several themes imbedded in the text. One major theme is of isolation. Many of the characters experience some time of isolation. The decisions and actions of some of these characters are the root cause of their isolation. They make choices that isolate themselves from everyone else.
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...
After learning about the life of Mary Shelley, I have grown to appreciate the novel, Frankenstein, even more since the first time I read it. She led a life nearly, as tragic as the monster she created through her writing. Mary seems to pull some of her own life experiences in Victor’s background, as in both mothers died during or after childbirth. Learning about Mary’s personal losses, I have gained a better appreciation of her as an author and a woman of the 17th century. She had association with some the most influential minds of that
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.
The creature never had an inclination to be murderous, and “becomes violent only after he is repeatedly rejected by society” (Nocks). Failing to win companionship by attempting to understand people and learning their language, he turns to his creator. The monster explains that he is just like the people who hate him, with the same desires and emotions. After developing all these ideas of society and emotions, he learns that there is no way for him to express them. Following his many attempts to fit into the world, he realizes that he will never be accepted by humans, and vows to destroy all of mankind. Society and its mistreatment of the monster causes it to become barbaric. He states, “My protectors had departed, and had broken the only link that held me to the world” (Shelley 134). The creature speaks of how his protectors had essentially cut him off from society, which would lead him to act out against all of mankind. The incorporation of the three books also develop the creature, and may have provided him with false perceptions about human interaction and the world in general. Lack of human interaction can greatly affect one’s decisions and can cause one to have a bad a reaction to their
Victor, out of horror of what he had created leaves the monster in isolation. The monster describes what it was like, “It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half frightened, as it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate… I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept,” (Shelley 87). At this point the monster is just an innocent child, who in his first hours has faced abandonment and such strong emotions. However, he is pure, like most babies. While he looks like a monstrosity he shows himself to be anything but. His first encounters with humans are all very negative. A man runs away screaming just at the sight of him. Villagers pelted him with rocks and chased him away. This makes him very fearful of humans. However, when he comes across the De Lacey family in their little cottage he sees how peaceful they are and he regains some hope. “What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching, and endeavoring to discover the motives which influenced their actions,” (Shelley 93). He is curious little
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (sometimes also known as The Modern Prometheus) is the classic gothic novel of her time. In this eerie tale, Dr. Victor Frankenstein – suffering from quite an extreme superiority complex – brings to life a creature made from body parts of deceased individuals from nearby cemeteries. Rather than to embrace the Creature as his own, Frankenstein alienates him because of his unpleasant appearance. Throughout the novel, the Creature is ostracized not only by Frankenstein but by society as a whole. Initially a kind and gentle being, the Creature becomes violent and eventually seeks revenge for his creator’s betrayal. Rather than to merely focus on the exclusion of the Creature from society, Shelley depicts the progression of Dr. Frankenstein’s seclusion from other humans as well, until he and the Creature ultimately become equals – alone in the world with no one to love, and no one to love them back. Frankenstein serves as more than simply a legendary tale of horror, but also as a representation of how isolation and prejudice can result in the demise of the individual.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
A horribly ugly monster, a chronically ill mad scientist, and a perpetually cold explorer: the remedy to their afflictions is simple, they need companionship. Loneliness is a central theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and her characters suffer greatly from solitude. Their actions and motivations are all based on a simple human desire, our need for social interaction. The monster, Victor Frankenstein, and Robert Walton are the most apparent sufferers of intense isolation.
There are two opposing forces in this novel that greatly affect Victor Frankenstein, the advancement of science and technology, and the natural world as it is. Mary Shelly reinforces the theme that science and technology are dangerous if unchecked by showing how nature is the only thing that will heal Victor. When Victor is left despondent by grief by the murders of his friends and family, he shuns humanity and instead turns to nature for health and to strengthen his spirits. As Frankenstein continues, Victor takes sustenance from nature, and it becomes his personal therapy when he undergoes torment or stress and by chapter five of the first volume, Shelley creates a connection between Victor and nature. Instead of describing Victors emotions
Friendship is one of the most common human desires found all over the world in every different type of people. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this deep-seeded need is explored, especially as it manifests itself in the hearts of three great men. Captain Walden writes to his sister about the loneliness that he is experiencing on his journey at the very start of the book. Then, as the story progresses, a similar want can be found in Victor despite his tightly woven relationship with Henry Clerval. The Creature is constantly denied his lust for companionship demonstrates the horrible consequences of incessant loneliness. His amiable nature combined with his grotesque appearance proves to be a horrific collaboration that serves only in gaining rejection as he is shunned, quite irrationally, over and over again by all living beings. The Creature's suffering could only be abandoned if he were able to encounter an unprejudiced and completely tolerant friend. Shelley masterfully conveys the importance of a kindred spirit and the overall necessity of loyalty between people.