How Does Mary Shelley Use Violence In Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein promotes the truly violent reality of the natural world through its deployment of gothic literature styling, primarily death and gloom. Victor’s creature evolves through its struggle to survive after its escape from Victor’s apartment, its initial care for humanity eroding into the most natural and primitive solution present in nature - violence. Shelley’s novel also touches upon the medieval code of chivalry, making use of high levels of emotion to portray Robert Walton as a chivalrous knight who dismisses the concerns of the lower classes in pursuit of personal glory, only to have his glory denied by said commoners.

Victor’s creature begins in the world with a clean slate. His first encounter with humanity however,

teaches him the reality of the natural world.

The fearful villagers “attacked [the creature], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, [he] escaped” (pg. 109). This engagement taught the creature the violent methods of both the primitive and civilized world, and the creature would soon adopt this violence. After the assault by Felix, the same boy who the creature assisted for some time, the creature finally embraces the solution he experienced upon his contact with the villagers and “unable to injure anything human, [it] turned [its] fury towards inanimate objects” (pg. 140). The creature burns down the cottage previously occupied by Felix. Victor’s creature proceeds to further apply this authentically primitive solution to wreak havoc on the life of the supposed cause of his misery - Victor Frankenstein - by murdering William, Victor’s brother, and framing Justine, a close family friend. While the trickery articulates a much more complex system of problem solving when compared to simple, primitive violence, the initial murder of William contained natural, unadulterated savagery. The creature details in its account to Victor how it strangled William after encountering him in the forest and learning

of his ancestry in order to attack Victor, and after the deed “[It] gazed on [its] victim, and [its] heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph” (pg. 144). However, the creature would not fully embrace this primitive method of problem solving until late in the novel, instead attempting to reason with Victor to create a female creature. But after Victor destroys this female creature, the creature finally recognizes the only solution remains the same solution he’s experienced his entire existence: hateful, primitive violence. The creatures murder spree and continual despair promote a wild and authentic violence deriving from hatred and despair.
Shelley’s gothic style further divulges chivalric elements in Frankenstein by employing gloom in reference to the behavior of Robert Walton.

As Walton sets out for his expedition to the North Pole he remarks how he “greatly need[s] a friend” (pg. 20). Yet, he possess very specific requests for said friend, requiring an educated, and consequently of similar social standing (at the time one needed wealth in order to secure an education for their children) companion, as seen in his rejection of his lieutenant. Walton recalls the man’s exceptional story, which included the donation of his fortune to a woman he loved and her lover in order to ensure their happiness. Yet Walton views the man as “wholly uneducated” and thus refuses to befriend the man (pg. 21). This portrayal of Robert Walton reflects that of chivalric knight in the Middle ages; a man refusing to associate with his lowers. The chivalric code notably only applied to nobles, with the lower classes consequently receiving no protection from rape, robbery, and massacre (Bonenburger). While he would not rob and murder his crewmen, Robert Walton also failed to consider any of the other common sailors surrounding him worthy of his friendship due to their socioeconomic standing. Later in the novel Walton expresses how the crew’s request to return to England after a particularly perilous encounter with the ice “troubled [him]”, and he then wondered “could I, in justice, or even in possibility, refuse this demand?” (pg.

217). Shelley’s use of Walton’s letters as a medium greatly modifies the reader’s perception of this quote. As a letter to his sister contains the quote, Walton likely only questioned if he could deny his sailors “in justice” in order to appear less cruel to his sister. His subsequent anger and obsession with his quest also support Walton only begrudgingly conceding because he possessed no other choice. His desire to push the crew farther once more illustrates his lack of concern for the ‘peasants’ of his team, men he considered expendable. In fact, Walton explicitly states “One man’s life or death were but a small price to pay” for his success (pg. 29).
Not only does Walton’s lack of concern for his crew expose the chivalric elements of the novel, but so does Walton’s infatuation with the obtainment of honor and glory, which Mary Shelley exposes with her employment of elevated emotions - an important aspect of Gothic literature. Walton writes to Margaret in his first letter, “do I not deserve to accomplish some great purpose? My life might have been passed in ease and luxury; but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my path” (pg. 17). Glory, whether gained on the battlefield or on the polar ice cap, contributes an essential component to Middle Ages chivalry. Walton’s passion evaporates into anger after his crew forces him to abandon the voyage. He writes “I have consented to return...Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision: I come back ignorant and disappointed” (pg. 218). Walton stood ready to conquer the North, but failed as the peasants around him denied him his conquest. In his last letter, Waltons vigorous emotions come full circle, from giddy excitement to outrage to depressed acknowledgement. The same man who weeks earlier had written how he hoped “that some encouraging voice would answer in the affirmative!” in regards to him accomplishing “some great purpose”, now simply writes “I have lost my hopes of utility and glory” (pgs. 17, 218). Here, Shelley once again applies gloom to highlight the code of chivalry, but differs from previous examples by focusing on the failure of chivalry for Robert Walton. Despite Walton’s rambunctious claim that he would “rather die than return shamefully”, he returns home, a defeated man (pg. 218).
While making use of gloom and ambition for glory to portray Walton as a chivalrous knight, Mary Shelley creates a situation which reflects the end of chivalry at Agincourt (Bonenburger). At Agincourt the English, composed primarily of non-noble longbowmen, captured numerous French knights after several failed charges by the French, and proceeded to massacre them towards the end of the battle. The commoners denied the chivalric knights their glory, and the knights witnessed their own demise due to the unchivalric behaviour of the commoners around them. In parallel to this, Walton’s crew of commoners deny him, a wealthy man of learning, his glory by preventing him from reaching the North pole. The crew also do so by unchivalric treachery, a mutiny against their captain. Walton’s chivalrous conduct failed to keep his men in line, as they no longer respected the code, and with a numerically superior crew Walton could not enforce his will through violence. Just as chivalry fell to the medieval knights’ inability to overcome non-noble soldiers on the evolving battlefield, Walton fell to his inability to control his uneducated crew in the frigid waters of the North.
Mary Shelley’s command of the elements of gothic literature - death, gloom, and amplified emotions - convey a greater meaning to Frankenstein. The death and gloom, both uniquely gothic elements, pull into focus the violence of the natural world. On the other hand, the amplified emotions, a romantic element borrowed into gothic literature, promote medievalism in conjunction with the code of chivalry and parallel the fall of chivalry in the muddy fields of France with the fall of Walton. While these two focuses appear separate and distinct, the recognition of Chivalry as codified violence allows the uncovering of a deeper meaning. Shelley’s representation of the creature’s primitive violence and Robert Walton’s civilized violence unveils little difference between the two, as the systems fail both the creature and Walton. Whether primitive or civilized, violence achieves little, and detracts from the beauty of the world.