Frankenstein Research Paper

924 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ethical dilemmas in Frankenstein

Simon Liu
English 9
Brown PD 8
May 4, 2014
Frankenstein
Dangerous Knowledge
Near the end of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature stands by Frankenstein’s dead body and curses himself: “Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death?” Although he murders the younger brother, best friend, and wife of his creator, the creature remains a sympathetic character, as his demise was caused by his rejection from society. In comparison to his creator, Victor is not much different. Victor and the creature are both very innocent when they first appear in the novel, slowly developing into their prime and dangerous selves.
Like the “control” of a scientific experiment, it is important to establish the situation of Victor and the creature before their development and change. In his childhood, Victor’s “temper was sometimes violent, and [his] passions vehement” (23) for an eager desire to learn. He grew up with Elizabeth, where “harmony was the soul of [their] companionship” (22) and showed no sign of his violent temper towards her. He is very innocent here, before his corruption by knowledge and revenge. In the creature’s childhood, or the first section of his life, he harbors no malicious thoughts. When the creature realized that in consuming parts of the cottagers’ store of food he was causing the cottagers to starve, he “abstained and satisfied [him]self with berries, nuts, and roots which [he] gathered from a neighbouring wood” (92). He also tried to assist the cottagers by “[bringing] home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (92), bringing out his innately good nature.
Victor and the creature develop in many similar ways. The first is the desire for knowledge throughout thei...

... middle of paper ...

... their actions” (91) after what had happened when he tried to associate with the previous villagers. However, even they “dashed [him] to the ground and struck [him] violently with a stick” (115). The creature, unlike Victor, doesn’t have a choice of isolation. His hideous outward appearance is what causes humans to alienate him from them.
Victor and the creature are very similar yet vastly different. They share a beginning and an end, an introduction and a conclusion. They are both brought to ruin by the same factor: the thirst for knowledge. These two characters are brought to their downfall by knowledge: Victor by penetrating too deep in to the mysteries of nature and the creature by learning to cause pain and death upon others. Victor and the creature engage in gathering knowledge, each for their own purpose, but the outcome is the same. Knowledge is dangerous.

Show More
Related

  • Frankenstein - Victor is the Villain not Victim

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Victor flees the creature, he becomes lonely and unhappy. He rejects his own works. If he stayed and taught him the creature would at least have a chance of happiness. When the monster flees to the cottagers he learns about human nature. He quotes “I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protector had departed and broken the only link that held me to th...

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Out of Class Essay

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Role Of Cruelty In Frankenstein

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    Victor, at first sight of the Creature, abandons and leaves him to survive on his own. This is insignificant to the creature at the time, but later causes the Creature to have bitter feelings towards Victor. After the Creature discovers Victor’s notes, he becomes enraged, and incriminates Victor for the victimization that he faces; hence accusing him as a perpetrator of cruelty. Through the accusation of Victor one can see that the Creature believes that Victor should be held responsible, and owes the Creature a favor. Additionally, Victor double-crosses the Creature after obliging to create a mate for the Creature. These actions of betrayal demonstrate how Victor is a perpetrator of cruelty and how the Creature is his victim. Victor’s unintentional cruelty reveals how he only wanted what was best for himself and human kind. Victor’s betrayal is seen as an action of cruelty by the Creature, and consequently delivers the final blow that instigates the retaliation of the

    Read More

  • The Juxtaposition Of Death In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    Victor is not able to see past the metaphorical clouds that seem to shroud his mind from seeing the truth. Furthermore, Victor is not able to let go of his hatred for the creature. In contrast, the creature admits, “But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless” (275). The creature is able to recognize that he has made mistakes and as a result, he loathes himself.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Ignorance In Frankenstein

    1135 Words  | 3 Pages

    Victor is so engulfed by his work that he is unaware of what is going on around him. He “bore onwards [with his work], like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success” and he wants to “pour a torrent of light into our dark world" (Shelley 55). Blinded by his yearning for making new discoveries, Victor thinks that his knowledge of the sciences will be enough for him to be successful. However, he does not understand that in order to create an auspicious relationship between him and his creation, he needs to have knowledge of society as well. Once his creation is animated, Victor is unable to see that all the creature wants is to be loved and accepted. The creature craves the maternal love that Victor denies him. From the beginning, Victor is unable to realize the significance of his creation. He describes how the creature’s “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath... [and] his hair was of a lustrous black... [and] his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). He immediately focuses on the negative features of his creation, and does not even attempt to learn the positive qualities. If Victor uses more social skills, rather than his knowledge of the sciences to manage his creation, all of the destruction the creation causes could have been

    Read More

  • Frankenstein

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the story progresses Victor and the creature become more similar, and their differences become more defined. Victor and the creature both become aware that knowledge can be a burden. The creature is telling Victor how he craved knowledge, he says “My days were spent in close attention, that I might more speedily master the language; and I may boast that I improved more rapidly than the Arabian, who understood very little and conversed in broken accents, whilst I comprehended and could imitate almost every word that was spoken.” The creature is similar to Victor because they both craved knowledge. The creature also tells Victor how knowledge to him is a burden. He says, “I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat!” The creature and Victor are alike because they craved knowledge but when they obtained it they realized how destructive it could ac...

    Read More

  • Victor Frankenstein’s Isolation

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    His ambitions are what isolate him and bring to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated from 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.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein: An Analysis Of Irony In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Creature, after learning what it is to love, requests that Victor creates a companion for him. Victor rejects the creature’s proposition, as Victor now understands the consequences of animating what shouldn't be alive, the Creature wants nothing more than for Victor to suffer, to feel the pain that he, as a wretch, faces. The Creature does so by devoting his life to the destruction of Victor’s. In chapter 24, the Creature states “But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes the malignant devil.” The creature is viewed as entirely evil by the characters of the novel, despite the scenes in which his benevolent nature is shown. It is ironic that Victor and his creature are foils of one another, yet they suffer a similar fate: their desire to destroy one another led to their ultimate

    Read More

  • How Victor Frankenstein Changes

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    The creature’s actions transformed his personality. Going into the village impacted him greatly. “Some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons…” (75) The creature does not fight the villagers, proving that he has good intentions. When he went into villages people either ran away from him, or attacked him. He could not have gone into the villages if Victor had educated him about the outside world and how people would react to the creature.

    Read More

  • Knowledge and Imagination in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    This thirst for knowledge enables Victor to succeed," in discovering the cause of generation and life, [he became] capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter"(Shelly 30). Here, Victor's creation of the monster can be seen as Victor becoming like a God. Victor's acquisition of knowledge has led him to believe he is entitled to glory, "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child as completely as I could deserve theirs" (Shelly 32). He truly becomes overpowered with the idea of losing himself in the process.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Justice In Frankenstein

    1695 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning, the creature was very jovial and even cherished the De Lacey family so much that he stopped stealing their food and helped collect wood for them anonymously. Victor was the creature’s final opportunity to seek happiness, but when Victor refused him he gave up on the pursuit of happiness. All these accounts certainly can be trusted as both Victor and the creature’s recollections are consistent throughout the entire novel as they interact with each other and Walton. Victor’s desire to have the creature be destroyed thus illustrates his ignorance to fully recognize the creature for who he is, but Walton seems to have the clarity to decipher the

    Read More

  • Abandonment In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    The perfect trifecta to fuel any fire: afraid, abandoned and angry. These emotions sparked the Creature’s inescapable desire to get revenge on the one person who is to blame for all the deaths throughout the novel, Victor. Although Victor didn’t physically hurt anyone the emotional pain that he inflicted on the creature leaves him responsible. The creature constantly wanted to be accepted and was regularly scared of rejection. Ever since the “birth” of the Creature he has felt alone. Despite the inability to foresee the results of his actions Victor’s first encounter with the Creature sparked his plot towards revenge. Due to the fact that the Creature was completely rejected by Victor he was left with no one to give him guidance, which affects him in the long run. Without Victor the Creature never had the opportunity to learn and is one of the causes for his inability to process difficult

    Read More

  • Essay On Frankenstein Tragedy

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Victor plays the role of God and creates his “Adam” but unlike the Adam from the bible, the creature is not designed in a perfect image or guarded by the care of his creator. The creature compares himself to Satan when he says “I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; …like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me” (228). The creature was forsaken his first days of living and learned about the society of humans through observation and reading. God introduced Adam to the world with everything provided and guided him his early days of life. He saw Adams loneliness and granted him a mate. The creature asks Frankenstein for a companion as a last chance to become happy and good hearted. Victor destroys his hope and brings more tragedy among him by doing so. God creates all things good, Victor took his Job as a creator and his creation became malignant because unlike God he was ashamed of his creation. From that point on the creatures’ heart becomes cold and makes sure to destroy his creator. When Victor dies the creature repents for the damage that he has done and would live with continuing pain till his death. “…My agony was still superior to thine; for the bitter sting of remorse will not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them forever” (380).

    Read More

  • Frankenstein Romanticism Essay

    1864 Words  | 4 Pages

    At first, Victor believes himself superior to nature, and he builds a creature to prove his dominance. After gathering the information and materials needed to create life, Victor begins to fantasize about what he is about to do. He sees “life and death [as] ideal bounds, which [he] should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into [their] dark world. A new species would bless [him] as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to [him]” (Shelley 55). Life and death are natural things, but Victor thinks that he can “break through” them and create life. He alone would be the person to “pour a torrent of light into their dark world,” as if he was God, ruling over all of the world. This shows Victor’s lack of respect towards life and how he intends to overcome the boundaries set by nature. Unlike the Romantic who revered and honored nature, Victor wants to use it for his own gain. He expects “happy” and “excellent natures” to obey him, and he doesn’t dwell upon the consequences of his actions. His outlook changes after the Creature comes to life. As Victor stares into the watery, lifeless eyes of his creature, he finally realizes his mistake in trying to disrupt the natural order of the world. Scared by the outcome of his actions, Victor attempts to run away and find comfort in nature. He travels to the Arve Ravine, where “the

    Read More

  • Frankenstein vs His Creature in Mary Shelley's Novel

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that Victor and the creature are both right about what they want and yet monstrous in their reactions. Victor is right about what he wants; one reason is because he is very committed to his work and in creating life for his creature. On the other hand he is evil because he abandoned the creature and left him on his own: "I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited" (Shelley 57). Shelley shows Victor's monstrous reaction to the creature in the way that he abandoned the creature to his own luck and he shows no responsibility for him.

    Read More

More about Frankenstein Research Paper

Open Document