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Frankenstein: critical analysis
Literary analysis of the book Frankenstein
Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
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In Mary Shelley’s prominent novel, Frankenstein, Victor attempts to prove that life can be formed from stray limbs, and other miscellaneous body parts. His creation is deemed a success when he composes a brutally hideous creature, who is indeed, filled with life. After the being is created, it is demonstrated that our world is much too discriminative to the way in which we physically look.
The creature is an obvious outsider to society because of his hideous appearance. The dictionary definition of an outsider is “a person who does not belong to a particular group.” In the novel, Frankenstein, the creature plays the role of an outsider who does not belong to society, because of his grotesque looks. Appearance is much too important in our
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world, and this is demonstrated when the creature confronts Victor on the summit of a mountain, “You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you, or not. Begone! relieve me from the sight of your detested form”(70). This is a prime example of how Victor judges the creature on his looks, and sees him as a “detested form” of man. After building up enough hatred to mankind, the creature then becomes an actual outsider, and ends up killing people; specifically Victor’s brother and dear friend. A question us readers must ask ourselves is, do you think the creature would have become violent if he was accepted by man, and not frowned upon? All in all, the creature was deemed an outsider to society because of his appalling looks. Under the creature’s dire appearance, he is a conscious, normal individual.
Due to his disfigured form, people automatically think he’s a monster, however, throughout the book, he commits various acts of kindness that indicate he has a conscience. An example is when the creature finds out the De Lacey family is stricken with poverty: “I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained, and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots, which I gathered from a neighboring wood”(78).This quote shows that the creature is capable of good, even though his appearance is daunting; he pursued for the wellbeing of others, before that of himself. Mankind needs to begin to focus on who were are as people, on the inside, other than what we look like, on the outside. All in all, under the creature’s hideousness, lies a conscious, kind …show more content…
individual. The creature’s continuous, harsh alienation from society says a lot about mankind.
In our world, we tend to put people in categories; if you look different, you’re not the same as a normal individual. All in all, our society has a tendency to reject that in which we do not understand. An example of this is when the creature cluelessly, and harmlessly walks into a village, its citizens react negatively to his appearance: “ The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village”(74). The creature had no intent to hurt or damage anyone or anything, within the village, yet is still treated like a bloodthirsty
devil, due to the difference in the way he looks. If the creature was just a normal stranger walking along, harmlessly, in the village, do you think he would be bombarded with significant amounts of stones and other discrete objects? The simple, plain answer is no; our society has certain standards in which the creature did not meet. In summary, society tends to reject and discriminate against those who are unique and divine. In conclusion, our world redundantly discriminates those who look different. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once quoted, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Society needs to start to see past appearance, and judge those by the way in which we live our lives. A perfect example of this issue, in modern day, is people who suffer from dwarfism; they are perfectly normal people, who are often judged by the way they look. My point being, the discrimination displayed in the novel, still exists today - will you help end the tendency to judge on looks and begin judging on the content of character?
As the creature explores the teaching form the history book and the story and communication of the De Lacey family he insists, “I ought not to make the attempt until I had first become master of their language; which knowledge might enable me to make them overlook the deformity of my figure” (Shelley 95). Because the humans run away with fear in response to the creatures looks, he believes that the best way for him to relinquish their fear is by learning how to speak their language. Not only does he want to learn how to communicate with them, but he wants to become the “master of their language” so that his words overshadow the effects of his features. As many humans do, they judge the creature immediately without giving him an opportunity to explain his story. The creature is similar to humans in the way he responds to the judgment by others.
The repercussions of treating sentient life as monsters or miscreation’s is disastrous. When non-human conscious life is created it is easier to treat these creations as outsiders rather than accepting them. There are two stories that show this clearly. The novel Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly and the film Ex Machina by Alex Garland. When self-conscious life is created it must be treated as such.
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.
On the contrary, this demonstrates how human the creature really is. On the contrary, the creature also experiences the deficiencies of human emotion through rage and vengeance after he is attacked for rescuing a little girl. “The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage... I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.” (Shelley 121).
First of all, Mary Shelley describes the Creature with "yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was luxurious black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with hid watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips." Despite his appearance o...
A monster can be characterized by an extreme deviation from the normal standards of society including an internal or external wickedness. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Creature, his appearance overwhelms those who lay eyes upon him. A mere glance can send a villager running for the hills. It was not until the Creature caught a glance of his own reflection that he understood why villagers were so afraid of him. The realization of his ghastly appearance began the monster’s journey into hopelessness. In Peter Brooks’ article he writes, “Self recognition as the ‘filthy type’ completes the mirror stage of the Monsters development.” (Brooks 377). Seeing oneself as ugly and slovenly can cast shadows on even the most compassionate of hearts.
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.
The creature has an overwhelming capacity to love as can be seen in his admiration for the peasants, “[The
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.
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.
...that had to become evil in order to get what he wants. It was Frankenstein and the society’s fault that the monster actually turned into a monster, they didn’t reach out to him, and instead they froze him out of the society because of his looks.
As a response to the Enlightenment movement in 18th century Europe, Romanticism gradually began to undermine the way people thought about human consciousness and nature itself. Appreciation of the natural beauty of the world and pure, human emotion bloomed in Europe as Romanticism’s influence grew ("Topic Page: Romanticism”). Romantics valued Individualism and thought that being close to nature would make them closer to God (Morner and Rausch). People also searched for solace in nature to overcome the adversities and cynicisms that followed the French Revolution ("French Revolution."). Romanticism and Romantic ideals influenced Mary Shelley, and that influence can be seen throughout her novel Frankenstein. The two main characters, Victor Frankenstein
to reassure and respect him. The beast also confesses that he is lonely and disliked (Shelley 105). The creature’s confession indicates the impact prejudice can have on a victim. Though he
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).