Why do people fail? There seems to be far more failure in life than actual success, but why exactly is that? The Gothic novel Frankenstein, introduced in the early 1800s by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley could shed some light on those questions. This elaborate and extensive work that when further analyzed presents unique and compelling characters that at times resemble that of an enigma, could be quite helpful. One particular character, Frankenstein’s monster had several disadvantages and difficult circumstances that led to its ultimate failure of securing its goals. To better analyze our earlier questions, Frankenstein must first be broken up to analyze Frankenstein's monster’s failures and then hopefully understand why it failed in the first …show more content…
place. Over the course of the novel, it seems as if it’s reasons for failure become apparent. Due to the lack of self-regulation, an ability to seem human, and the failure to recognize it’s own incompetence, the monster created a loop of failure and simply could not carry out the tasks it set out to realize.
In the beginning of the story, at the birth of the monster, the monster's environment was harsh, leaving it unable to learn to understand typical social interactions, giving it a poor start in social intelligence. When the monster was originally born into this unforgiving world, Victor rushed out of his room and this started a poor beginning of development. Impulsive crimes rise in society when people give into their violent impulses. This isn't due to the organization or the planning of criminal acts but simply lack self-control. This lack of control stems from parents being absent, alcoholic, addicted, criminal, or abusive (Baumeister 5). In this case, Victor abandoned his creation and like young human children who don't have parents, …show more content…
the monster would later commit impulsive crimes. From Victor's point of view, this was an abomination that he had created and he was afraid. This line of thinking may have caused the monster that doesn't seem human to lack interaction between itself and Victor (Gueguen 256). Early interactions with dangers and humans seemed unforgiving and interactions with such things were poorly executed. One of the first times the monster is hurt is from the fire. The monster discovered fire and burned himself, this may have been due to a clear lack of data about the world (Dunning 85-86). Later, the monster wandered into a village, later being forced away. Even when strangers meet, if they look similar, they would recognize them as a friend, but the monster is just a monster so they get scared (Gueguen 255). The monster then wandered back to find a hut and slept in the cold, not learning from his actions or improving, just getting upset. Researchers suggest happiness comes from self-love mostly, the monster clearly is looking in the wrong place (Baumeister 5). The main and first true admiration of the monster, the cottagers, ultimately shunned the monster.
Before their first meeting, the monster began stealing food from Felix and Agatha, the cottagers. He noticed that this caused them pain so he stopped. To undo what he has done, he went into the woods and gathered wood for them to burn. The monster may not have been able to spot it's ignorance at the time because they needed the food he was originally taking (Dunning 83). Afterward, the people came back to the house and see the monster talking to De Lacey. Previously, before the De Lacey got upset, the two were having a good conversation because the De Lacey could not tell who the monster was. The people then forced the monster away and out of their house (Shelley 134). The monster showed that it demonstrated a huge overestimation of its own abilities. This may have been due to a preconceived notion of how Felix and Agatha would react (Dunning 85). Felix and Agatha also treated the monster with a poor evaluation suggesting that similarities between two people might increase how much they like each other (Gueguen 254). The opposite could be true as well. The monster's next attempt to befriend the humans came to an end when he got shot and killed a child (Shelley 142). Afterwards, the monster saw a girl running, she slipped and fell into a stream. As a result, the monster then went and pulled her out of the water. Consequently, men see the monster and then shoot him thinking he
would hurt her. This suggests a lack of altruism, of people in regard to the monster due to a lack of similarities (Gueguen 257). Later, the monster would spot a young man walking in the woods, William. The monster assumed he could raise the child and have it love him. The young man, however, does not appreciate this and gets hysterical. Unfortunately, the monster then strangled and killed him (Shelley 142). This shows the monster is unable to self-regulate and therefore murders a boy, this is a pattern is clear with children with no parents (Baumeister 10-11). In fear, the monster then went and framed an innocent girl named Justine. The monster placed a locket in her pocket framing her of killing William. When faced with two options, one decision ultimately wins over the other. The monster, faced with accepting the crime or framing somebody, he chose the latter of the two decisions. This suggests the monster has no mechanism for overriding a decision or self-stopping (Baumeister 7). The monster never improved and after his request of Victor, all his hope dissipates, beginning the end. The monster went to Victor and asked that he creates a partner for him, the monster then threatened that he would kill more if he doesn’t do as he asks (Shelley 167). His overestimation of himself leads him to perceive what he is doing as more clever than it really is (Dunning 84). Victor's and the monster’s relationship are also directly proportional to some similarities they have and this instance removes them even further from each other (Gueguen 255-256). Victor eventually refuses and the monster begins to kill his family. Incidentally, the monster has been to this point, experiencing a standard of pain which is then exceeded, making him feel his worst. Due to this, the monster finally breaks down and is decisions are remade in this image of self-hate (Baumeister 8-9). Victor then begins to hunt the monster and then chase him to the arctic where Victor ultimately dies and the monster kills himself. In the end, the monster was never able to solve problems or understand why he couldn’t so even in his death, he did not improve in this aspect (Dunning 85). In the beginning, the monster, was unable to learn to understand typical social interactions, giving it a poor start in social intelligence. It’s only and early interactions with dangers and humans seemed unforgiving and interactions with such things were poorly executed. This led to the main and first true admiration of the monster, the cottagers ultimately shunning the monster. The monster's next attempt to befriend the humans comes to an end when he gets shot and kills a child. The monster never improved and after his request of a bride, Victor rejected him removing all his hope, beginning the end (Shelley 167). In every instance of interaction the monster was further removed from being human and in the process showed it couldn’t control itself or even see its own ineptitude, because of this, the pattern of failure materializes achieving nothing.
In Volume 1 and 3 of Frankenstein, Victor’s reason for creating the “monster” changes drastically; however, ultimately leading to the same consequence of suffering and depression. Through this change in Victor, Shelley argues that all humans have an instinctive notation of right from wrong and learn from their mistakes. Victor left his friends and family to go to college; when there, he had no friends and social life. His top and only priority was his schoolwork; he read all he can about the sciences, especially chemistry and anatomy. When finished with his studies, Victor is ready to start his creation when he confirms his proceedings aloud, “Winter, spring, and summer, passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves-sights which before always yielded me supreme delight, so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation. The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew near to a close; and now every day shewed me more plainly how well I had succeeded.
Frankenstein is a horror movie that tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein’s experiment. In search for the fame and glory of playing to be god, he reaches a point where he is able to revive dead people. In this version of Frankenstein’s monster we see a selfish and careless scientist that created a creature with his intelligence. The way the character is shown reflects how ambitious someone can be to reach to be known in the world. This movie makes the people who are watching to feel empathy on the poor creature. This poor creature that did not want to live in a life where everyone is going to hate him for having a horrible aspect and not following rules that he has no idea about.
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...
Imagine spending months or even years perfecting a drawing. You gathered the most exquisite paints, brushes, and paper only to find out that the final product has wonky lines, irregular patterns, and is just completely not what you expected. Frankenstein could be feeling the same. For him, the monster could then symbolize shame or guilt because he vilely shut out his entire family for years, for something that is the complete opposite of what he envisioned. Thus, Frankenstein has to avoid it since it reminds him of the defeat and failure. Failure is an egotistical man’s biggest fear.
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.
There was no one left to provide the creature with companionship and was forced to isolate himself from society once again. When the family moved out of their cottage, the creature decided to go on his own adventure and seek out his creator. Upon doing so, the creature encountered a young girl who was about to drown near a lake. When the creature successfully saved the little girl, an older man confronted the creature and shot him in the shoulder. Because of what happened, the creature explained to Frankenstein that his, “...daily vows rose for revenge-a deep deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish [he] had endured.” (Shelley 61). With this burning rage, the creature decided to take his revenge out on his creator, Frankenstein. One by one, Frankenstein’s relatives and closest friends were murdered by the creature, but his father’s death, was the final push. Frankenstein believed that he was the cause for all the murders and that he had to destroy what he created. He told Walton that, “...as [he] awakened to reason, at the same time awakened to revenge.” (Shelley 88). The only way to stop future deaths, was to hunt down the creature and kill him. Fueled with hatred, Frankenstein traveled for months in hopes of finding the creature. However, in his final days, Frankenstein was no longer able to continue his search, and passed away due to malnutrition. Upon discovering what had happened, the creature came out from hiding, and decided to explain his side of the story to Walton. Now that Frankenstein was dead, the creature decided to wander off and slowly die, isolated from the
Exile. Behind the word lies angst, behind it lies fear, behind it lies sorrow. To be exiled, outcasted, or abandoned is one of the biggest fear of humanity. For to be alone, one is left with their own thoughts. No one wants to be the fallen angel. The world exile carries with it many different negative connotations. The rest of society does not dare to interact with those exiled. Society does not dare to dance with the devil. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster. The creature is abandoned by Frankenstein. And the creature searches for company and to eliminate the feeling of loneliness he has inside. After scrutinizing Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature chases after a normal life, one without loneliness; however, society
As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.
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
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.
...nster was never born evil or with malicious intentions. Victor’s absence in his life since the monster’s childhood is what initiated is behaviors. From then on, society’s rejection as well as his own creator’s ignorance furthered the monster’s desire for vengeance. Victor abandoning him, the lack of parental figures in his life, and the lack of “family” kept it in the monster’s head that he would never be accepted. After realizing that his creator didn’t want him he attempted to find happiness and love elsewhere but was rejected from society. Everyone was mortified of his appearance and that made it impossible for him to feel normal. The creature only resorted to murdering people because that was his way of releasing his feelings. If it had not been for society not wanting to be accepting of different people, the “monster” would not have been so monstrous after all.
Victor Frankenstein and his creation were both portrayed as a villain and a hero. The Monster learned that murdering innocent people and his creator, did not bring him any peace. Instead, his murders and agony he brought upon innocent families only increased his desolation and in the end, he vowed to kill himself to put an end to his, and everyone else’s suffering. As the Monster learned too late, not everyone in the world is going to neither accept nor appreciate the beauty and knowledge someone else brings into the world. However, like the Monster found the blind man, if an individual can find that one person in the world who can look past the flaws, their life would be filled with love and
Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein is a novel narrated by Robert Walton about Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates. Frankenstein grew up surrounding himself with what he loved most, science. He attended Ingolstadt University where he studied chemistry and natural philosophy, but being involved in academics was not enough for him. Frankenstein wanted to discover things, but did not think about the potential outcomes that could come with this decision. Frankenstein was astonished by the human frame and all living creatures, so he built the Monster out of various human and animal parts (Shelley, 52). At the time Frankenstein thought this creation was a great discovery, but as time went on the Monster turned out to be terrifying to anyone he came in contact with. So, taking his anger out on Frankenstein, the Monster causes chaos in a lot of people’s lives and the continuing battle goes on between the Monster and Frankenstein. Throughout this novel, it is hard to perceive who is pursuing whom as well as who ends up worse off until the book comes to a close.
There are 7 billion people in this world. That is a copious amount, which means there is a wide variety of personalities and types of people. With all of these people, there are lots of differences between them, there are even slight differences between some of the commonalities. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, two of the main characters are examples of two very different and unique people who have differences even between their similarities. Victor Frankenstein and the Creature have a few similarities that include they are both curious, determined, and guilty; but even within those similarities they are slightly different.
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).