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Analysis of the novel frankenstein
Analysis of the novel frankenstein
Victor frankenstein character analysis vs monster
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A Transparent Mirror
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, self deception eclipses Victor Frankenstein and clouds his judgment of the Creation. Victor’s obsession with defying the laws of nature drives him to experiment with animating a corpse. Yet, when he successfully brings the Creation into existence, Victor regrets giving life to the hideous creature, and deserts it. The abandonment is just the first step Victor takes to introduce the Creation to malevolence, followed with Victor’s assumptions of evil, and lost responsibility in the results of his own zeal. Victor Frankenstein’s self deception not only forges evil into the Creation, but also incriminates him for the consequences of Victor’s ambition.
Victor emphasizes the Creation’s malevolence,
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but he fails to notice how his actions create the antagonizing characteristic. From the moment Victor sees the Creation, he deems him evil without validation. He initiates the hostile relationship by threatening the Creation, “We are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight in which one must fall” (103). Just as Victor abandons the Creation from the day he creates him, Victor demands for the Creation to leave him. Victor’s first instinct is to escape, avoiding his creature, and the responsibility he has to him as the creator. Likewise, he rejects love in the relationship, while the Creation seeks it from his estranged author. Victor manifests hatred onto the embryonic Creation, assuming evil nature programs the creature to destroy. Nevertheless, the creature, who desires affection, consumes his aversion and mirrors it. As Victor’s resentment becomes clear to the Creation, he too forms animosity, forcing Victor to promise him happiness in the form of a female counterpart. Victor undertakes the promise, but reneges on it for fear that the Creation’s evilness will impel him to break the contract. Victor “destroy[s] the creature on whose future existence [the Creation] depend[s] for happiness” and watches the Creation make “a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdr[a]w.” (171). Victor describes the Creation as “devilish”, but the “devilish” nature is a direct result of Victor’s actions. He agrees to deliver happiness, but accomplishes the opposite. Victor knows that he annihilates hope of happiness for the Creation, but does not connect his own behavior as the root of the creature’s bitterness. Rather, he expects the vengeance to already exist, not from Victor’s vile behavior towards him, but from the true nature of the Creation. His constant rebuff increases the Creation’s ardor to harm him. Victor’s self-deception overlooks the true origins of the Creation’s evil. From the beginning, Victor brands him as a monster, treating him as one, and torturing him to a loveless life. The Creation replicates the inflicted behavior of the creator, but Victor never recognizes the reflection. Just as Victor unknowingly creates the evil in the Creation, he also wrongfully blames the Creation for the outcomes of his own aspirations.
Throughout the journey, Victor mourns for his deceased loved ones, but consistently blames the Creation as the murderer. He uses the blame as an escape and justification to end the creature. While he repents building the creature, Victor does not accept that his ambition led to the loss of his family and friends. As soon as Victor encounters the Creation, he chastises him of the “victims whom [the Creation has] so diabolically murdered!” (102). Victor presumes the Creation is the murderer without evidence, thus imposing the complete fault on him. Victor admits to being the creator, driven by compulsive passion, and regrets it. However, he refuses to consider how his desire to create and role as the creator led to the deaths. Victor uses self-deception to avoid the reality of his assistance in victims’ deaths. Marking the Creation as the sole murderer, Victor uses the belief as a basis for desiring revenge against the Creation. Victor defends his reasoning, “he destroyed my friends… he ought to die” (220). Similarly, Victor places the blame on the Creation, but uses it as a subterfuge. Victor’s previous fixation on bringing life to a corpse replicates itself, but in the form of revenge. He self-deceptively sees it as a logical reason and derives his enslaving obsession from it. Subsequently, Victor surrenders the rest of his life to pursuing the Creation, failing to distinguish reality from his flawed perception, even until his last breath. His self-deception of the Creation as the murderer begins as an excuse, but transforms into a reason to defeat
him. Victor’s self-deception takes the Creation on its path to evil and eliminates blame for himself due to his own ardor. Consequently, Victor’s tendency to deceive himself drives him to become the illusion of a monster he sees in the Creation. He disregards the complexity of the Creation, simplifying him to Victor’s original fallacy of a demon. In the end, Victor is no different than his image of the Creation, embodying identical traits. Both remain isolated from society and live for revenge. Victor dies encumbered by his failed retribution, but ultimately, the self-deception that laid the foundation for Victor’s tragic ending.
In Frankenstein, everyone treats Victor’s creation like a monster, including Frankenstein himself. This leads to the creation accepting that title and going on a murder spree. His creation says “When I reflect on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation” (69). Victor’s creation shows that he did not ask to be created, and his existence is miserable.
Once the process of life has been initiated, individuals have a lot to consider. When Victor begins creating the first creature he is excited at the possibility of bringing his creation to life. He has no thoughts of destroying the creature at this time. However, once the creature is brought to life, and Victor realizes the monstrosity he has created, Victor wishes to abandon the creature.
Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.
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...
...e all the evil things they have done. When he goes to Victor's coffin, the creature does the opposite of what a evil being would do. He grieves over Victor despite all the horrible things the creature has done to Victor. The creature even feels guilt over the innocent people he has killed and the torment he put his creator through. Despite Victor's actions leading the creature to commit evil deeds, the creature finds in himself to feel regret in the end.
Victor’s cruel and hostile actions toward his creature demonstrate his monstrous characteristics. One example of Victor’s inhumane cruelty is when he decides to abandon his creature. When Victor realizes what he has created, he is appalled, and abandons his creature because he is “unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created” (42). This wretched action would be similar to a mother abandoning her own child. Victor’s ambition for renown only fuels his depravity; he brings new life into the world, only to abandon it. This act of abandonment accurately depicts Victor’s cruelty because it shows his disgust toward his own creation, as well as his lack of respect for life. An example of a hostile action is when Victor destroys the creature’s
By the time of their death, both Victor and the creature has committed repugnant acts: Victor created a being out of corpses and then abandoned it and let it wreak havoc on the people he loved, the creature directly killed three people. But Victor tells Walton that, “During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable […] nor do I know where this thirst for vengeance may end” (269). 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 hate 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. He tells Walton that, “You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself” (275). Although no amount of regret or sorrow can bring back the people that he has killed, the creature does acknowledge the evil of his actions, which in turn allow him to make come to peace. He is able to reconcile his vengeful feelings towards his creator and praises Victor by calling him, “worthy of love and admiration among men” (275). Both Victor and the creature have done committed actions against each
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
True selflessness of character is something very infrequently possessed by people. It is a survival instinct and a part of human nature to make decisions that fit one's individual needs, rather than those of another. That being said, through the development of cultured and civilized society, it has become an assumption that with moving away from living in the wild, people will develop an altruistic sense of others' needs. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein showed himself many times not only to be incapable of forward thinking, but also to not possess this ideal of responsibility to help others through his lack of guidance for his creation. The doctor could have helped his creature to acclimate to society by nurturing and teaching him at the time of his birth, publishing and spreading word of his findings, and escorting the monster around with him. Despite however hideous the monster was, it was Victor's duty to take responsibility for his creation, and doing so would have changed the outcome of the story drastically more in Victor's favor than anyone.
A reckless abandonment cost Victor and others, their lives. The Creation killed everyone Victor loved as vengeance for his treatment and isolation. Nevertheless, Victor chose to keep his knowledge of his own doing a secret and watched in guilt as many people, including his own family, died. Victor’s ignorance becomes the
Furthermore, after his creation breathes its first breath, Victor already despises it, which leads to his health’s deterioration and hatred of his previous love. His love quickly changes to despise when he says, “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 ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (53). His statement shows how his heart does a complete 1800 and stops loving the monster the moment it lives. When Victor’s “…heart palpitated in the sickness of fear…” (54), it proves how his monster tormented his creator without having to be near him. Which also leads to the teaching of the lesson “think before you act”.
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
...he window and see his own creation killing his wife. As a result of all the deaths in Victor’s family, his father kills himself because he cannot stand all the grief that he has been struck with. His death is a result of the hideous monster that his own flesh and blood created, but he will never know that because Victor will not tell anyone.
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
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).