The term novel is defined as a fictitious narrative typically representing character and action, and that is what the novel, “Frankenstein,” is all about. In Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein,” the main character, Victor Frankenstein, has his life story put on display as readers see the transformation of a young Swiss boy to a guilt ridden adult by having an infatuation with science, by the creation of a monster, and how he handles the obstacles that he himself creates.
Infatuation is almost an understatement. Victor has plenty of flaws, but I feel like his complete obsession with particular things would ultimately be his demise, or tragic flaw rather. The signs of obsession started at an earlier age. When Victor’s family decides
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to adopt Elizabeth Lavenza, he states, “My more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only” (Shelley 37). This is an extremely powerful statement (somewhat double meaning), and he had known her for only one day. Victor was determined that he would love his “cousin” to his utmost ability, and he did so for a certain period of time. This shows an early tendency of Victor to hit the ground running per say. This tendency of obsession leads me to Victor’s pure obsession with Science. Victor became familiar with the works of Cornelius Agrippa, an ancient alchemist with the theory of Galvanism, and took these beliefs with him as left his home in Geneva to study in Ingolstadt, Germany. In Ingolstadt, Victor mixed the old ways of Agrippa with the new modern sciences he was learning from one of his professors in college. With all the change and interest Victor experiences, the further away he sets himself from his family members and friends. Writing letters back and forth with family went from a weekly occurrence, to a monthly occurrence, and then sadly to every year or so. Readers can see the priorities of Victor change right before their eyes. Readers begin to question what really is important to Victor, and if he really meant what he had said about Elizabeth and other family members back home in Geneva. Victor’s character and morals are seriously questioned in the beginning of Volume Two when he is creating the monster. To begin the snowball effect of events, Victor begins digging up graves for body parts to use on his new creation. This is seriously wrong. It is understood that when a human dies and is buried, he or she is permanently laid to rest, and the graves should not be tampered with in any manner. Yet, Victor is so fueled by his irrational want to perform Galvanism, or the “secret of life,” that he never stops to think twice about what he was actually doing. Did he realize this was wrong? Did he realize that he was using somebody’s family member as a lab experiment? There truly is no obvious answer to those questions. Which would be worse? Knowing the damage he is really doing and still doing it, or not even being able to realize what he is doing because he is so focused on his task on hand? This is a key point of indirect characterization that shows change in Victor. Nothing was put into words saying that Victor’s personality and whole demeanor had changed, but as readers it is noticed through his actions. Along with Victor’s grotesque actions comes his inhumane treatment of his own creation. Almost immediately after the monster is sparked to life, Victor is immediately disgusted and horrified at his appearance. Victor knows that the corpse he created was pieced together from multiple different cadavers from multiple different graveyards, but he somehow expected the monster to look pleasing? This makes no sense. Victor instantly gives the creature the title, “horrific wretch,” and completely neglects the creature on day one. The creature does have feelings, and he is hurt by his creators actions. Once the two cross paths again, the creature expresses his feelings and how he longs for a companion and love. This does not phase Victor whatsoever. He continues to neglect the monster that he created even though he knew that it was really hurtful and deeply confusing in the creature's mind. The creature did have the mind of a human, and as a human knowing that one is not wanted or needed can cause serious issues. This shows Victor’s neglectful trait. Along with his extreme obsession with science and his creation of the monster, Victor also struggles to handle the obstacles he himself creates.
From even before the monster is created, readers see Victor begin to slowly but surely lose himself. Victor changes from a very determined and ambitious young adult, to a completely different adult driven by all the wrong reasons. After the creation of the monster, Victor’s actions cause a direct reaction back to him, and the reactions all stem from the creature. Once Victor had made it clear that he would give no attention or companionship to the creature, the creature wanted Victor to feel the same emptiness that he did. Victor began to lose those he loved, the first being his younger brother William Frankenstein. Rather than letting the authorities know what had happened, and who the true murderer was, Victor allowed for his cousin, Justine Moritz, to be framed for the murder and ultimately put to death. While reading this in action, readers patiently wait for Victor to do what is right and ultimately save a family member while he still can and confess that there is a vengeful creature out there and that it was his creation, yet Victor never does. The events that take place after this completely snowball, and it is all because Victor refuses to do what is right. The death of Justine was followed by the death of Henry Clerval, Victor’s closest and dearest friend. The marks on the bodies resembled strangling, and Victor knew that the creature was the murderer of both victims. However, no authorities were ever notified that there ever was a creature, so the rampage continued. The creature was destined to make sure the emptiness was felt by Victor, and so far it didn’t appear to be enough. Victor was selfish enough to allow his younger brother and best friend to be killed, and this was not the end. Following the deaths of Clerval and Justine, came the deaths of Elizabeth, Alphonse, and Victor himself. Once Victor traveled
back to Geneva, he and Elizabeth got married and took off on their honeymoon. Victor had came to the conclusion that either he or the creature would survive after they face off at the honeymoon location, yet the creature had other plans. The creature had followed the couple to the honeymoon destination, and snuck past Victor to kill his newly wedded wife. From the very beginning of the novel, Victor had cared more for Elizabeth than he did for himself, and this was the final straw. Victor had finally had enough, and decided to end everything by killing the creature. This lead to a chase through northern Europe, that came to a conclusion of Victor being rescued by Robert Walton in the middle of the Arctic, but ultimately dying from hypothermia. While on the verge of dying, Victor shows an unselfish character trait. He does not wish for Walton to take up his voyage to kill the creature, but wishes that if Walton were to cross paths with the creature, kill him before he can commit more crimes. In Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein,” readers see a true transformation of Victor Frankenstein’s character through his actions and reactions. Victor could be characterized as selfish and neglectful through his interactions with other characters, and his tragic flaw of obsession would ultimately be his demise.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
His mother's love was shown throughout the beginning of the book so much more than his fathers was. Together the two parents loved him so much it helped him grow and this is why his childhood was so phenomenal. When Victor was sent off to Ingolstadt, he had no real idea of what it was like to be an adult. He was taken care of so well by his mother that once she was away from her parents, her father being at home and his mother being dead, he was not sure what was right and wrong. Victor's curiosity for knowledge is what led him to be a man of science and this is why he came up with the idea to experiment and create a human being from death. Without thinking of the results that were to come, Victor's ambition to become godlike pushed him to finish his project. The end result terrified Victor so badly that even he left him alone. To start, he left him alone in his apartment and when he returned, the monster was gone. “I could hardly believe that that so great a good fortune could have befallen me, but when I became assured that my enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy and ran down to Clerval.” (Shelley 61) This is the first time that Victor does not care for his monster properly. After all of the care that Victor received from his mother, readers would think that Victor would grow up to be just like his parents and be so kind and gentle. Victor is unable to take responsibility of the monster that he created. Victor is prejudiced by the appearance of the monster which leads him to run away from his
The constant desire for knowledge may cause the obliteration of the relationship one has with themselves. Victor becomes obsessed with creating life, and this causes his overall health to decay. Victor has just created the malicious monster and his initial reaction is: “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the soul purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I have deprived myself of rest and health” (Shelley 51). Victor falls in a fever and it takes him many weeks to recover. The hours he spends working on his creature, and trying to attain his goal of creating life, has made him malnourished because he does not stop his quest for knowledge, even to eat! This causes the decay of his health, and makes him very ill. Once he creates the mutant, he is mortified by the spectacle, and feels animosity towards it. His extreme pursuit of knowledge causes him to cloud his judgment. Because Victor is miserable with his creation he even contemplates suicide: “I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake, that the waters might close over me and my calamities for ever” (Shelley 91). His extreme pursuit of knowledge, has proven to be negative, as the very thought of what he creates causes him to want to take his own life. This shows the decay of his relati...
After the monster is born and he has a fit, we see the lowest point so
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
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...
If Victor had stayed around and showed the monster the real world, he might have not have went on to perform violent actions. This portrays Victor as a selfish character and gives more of an insight on his personal life. As a child, Victor is only interested in furthering his own knowledge and not worried about anyone else. He spent much of his time “drawing the picture of [his] early days... when [he] would account to [himself] for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled [his] destiny” (Shelley 34), or otherwise a magnificent creation that would change his future. When constructing the Monster, he put all of his relatives in the back of his mind, and only focused on his own success and victory. This further explains the theme of being selfless and only doing certain things that will benefit
We are introduced to Victor who is found by Robert Walton, now when Victor begins to retell his tragic story he gives us a general view of who he is, where he was born, and what has happened in his life. We then progress through the story and arrive at the rising action which is when Victor returns back to school after his mother’s death and sisters recovery of scarlet fever. Victor sets out to create a living thing upon his return and this is when it all goes down hill, he successfully creates the monster but he is horrified at the site of the creature he then runs like fearful gazelle leaving the creature/monster to wander (very smart Victor). Skipping ahead the monsters causes quite a bit of trouble and strangles a lot of people, and this is all caused by him not being provided with a connection with anyone. Now before he really starts his strangulation spree he spies on a family (the Delacy’s) that teaches him unknowingly how to speak, read, and of general human connection and relationships. This moment of distant watching and learning has left him wanting things even more, he then reveals himself the Father who is blind and he is kind to the monster when the children arrive they terrified and reject the monster. Throughout the tale of the monster is reminded of his indifference by others resulting in him
From the onset of Victor’s youth, his earliest memories are those of “Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember” (ch. 4) This is the first example of obsession that we see in the novel. This drive to learn the ‘hidden’ laws of nature is the original driving force that sets the plot in motion. Without this, Victor would have never embarked on his unholy quest to overcome mortality, thus leading to his creation of his monster.
The monster, unknown to man, is dependent on “that his ‘father’ and ‘god’...assume proper responsibility for him (McClinton-Temple 979). Victor fails to do this, and as a result the monster strives for revenge on all human life. The monster’s first retaliatory act is toward the De Laceys, who he closely observes for several months in attempt to learn more about culture and language. After begin beat up by Felix while trying to interact with the human race, he “lighted a dry branch of a tree...the wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames” (118). Earlier in the novel, the monster talks about how children run away at the sight of him and pelt him with rocks, so there is a clear pattern of mistreatment. The burning of the house symbolizes not only vengeance against Felix and the De Laceys, but toward mankind as a whole. The monster’s next acts of revenges are directly aimed at Victor, as he begins killing off all of those close to Victor. When he sees a little boy in the forest and determines his relation Victor, the monster yells, “‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy-to him toward whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim’” (122). This act is the beginning of the monster’s murder rampage as a retaliation for lack of compassion that Victor shows toward him. The monster next moves on to kill Victor’s friend Clerval. Throughout the novel, Victor appears to spend most of his time alone and does not have many friends, and therefore by killing his only friend, the monster is sending a strong message. The monster finally begins sending direct threats to Victor, saying that he “‘shall be with you on your wedding-night’” (147). Throughout the novel, the monster has sought his revenge purely by harming Victor’s friends, but never before has he been impacted first hand. Victor,
There is a certain passage in the book that helps elude to many of Victor’s negative qualities which helps sum him up as a character nicely. It is towards the end of the book, but it still shows how Victor behaved throughout almost all of the story. “This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten, the threat of a fiend- ‘I will be with
He spitefully decides to try a new approach and vows to get his revenge, beginning with seeking out Victor’s younger brother William and murdering him, since he knows this person means a great deal to him. Because of his shame and failure to admit the creature’s existence, Victor’s cousin Justine is accused of the murder and is executed because no one knows who his true killer was. The monster is now responsible for two deaths in Victor’s family. Later, Victor makes the mistake of going back on his promise to create a partner for the monster. Now more enraged than before, the monster kills his best friend, Henry Clerval, in the hopes that maybe now Victor would understand his need for companionship. Victor never returns to his work on another monster, however, so the monster follows through with his promise that he would be with Victor on his wedding night and murders his bride, Elizabeth. Finally, the monster’s revenge is complete when Victor’s father dies a few days later out of grief. One might argue that the monster’s homicidal rampage made him successful in getting his revenge on Victor. However, the monster is still unhappy. Killing all those people did not make him get his bride that he so desired. It certainly destroyed Victor’s life, but it didn’t make the monster’s life any
One part in the novel that displays this is when the monster speaks its true feeling towards victor and talks about how “unfeeling [and] heartless” he was for “[casting] [it] abroad” after giving “It” “perceptions” that the world was a “[passionate]” and understanding place (pg 229). Because of this, the monster went in the world thinking that “it” would be accepted. When he failed to connect to the humans, he automatically blamed Victor for his perils. Like when a parent helps a child with their homework but it ends up being wrong, the child then blames the parent for it. Another example is when the creature murders Victor’s younger brother William. When “It” learned that William “[belonged] … to [his] enemy… Frankenstein” he decided that William would be his “first victim”(pg 146). Once again the creature’s obsession over Victor caused his actions. If William had not had a relationship with Victor then the creature may have treated him like he did with Felix. But, knowing this connection, he felt that he had to take action somehow. Also, he might not have known that he was killing William since he had never seen death happen before, so he might have meant to inflict pain and not end his life. Those are some of the reasons why Victor being horrible to the monster is why he is remotely responsible for the
He created a life, and then spontaneously he quickly decided to run away from his creation. Victor’s actions after creating what he created were really irresponsible, and did not correctly took care of the circumstance’s he put himself in. The creation was never actually evil, but he felt abandoned by what could had been called his father. Frankenstein, the monster, was only a seeker for companionship. He strongly desired to feel loved, rather than abandoned. Society’s evil behavior toward the monster is what altered the monster’s conduct and followed to how he acted.
Victor Frankenstein created a creature to experiment and when the creature awoke, Victor abandoned him and hated his creature. The creature was at first pure and he love the world. However, when he found out that his own creator abandoned him he became angry and swore to make a revenge to his creator. The creature’s emotion was well represented when he said, “For the first time, the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them; but allowing myself to be borne away with the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death.”(Chapter XVI, page 137). This resentment was made when the creature figured out that his creator abandoned him and when he was betrayed by the DeLacey’s. The creature was very mad and that is what made him to determine to search his creator and afterwards, to make a revenge. Also, Victor once more became selfish when he did not follow what creature has required him to do which was to make a female for the creature. Therefore, when Victor tore the other female creature, the creature got very angry and said, “It is well I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night.”(Chapter XX, page 167). The creature swore to revenge when Victor tore the female creature apart. This sentence that the creature said eventually led to the outcome of Victor’s selfishness. Victor’s friend, father and his wife died as result of his selfishness. At the end of the novel,