From Halloween costumes to literary references, Frankenstein's monster has been a staple in American culture for many years. Mary Shelley single-handedly created one of the most well-known characters in history with her chilling, yet fascinating novel about a scientist who wrestles with the effects of creating human life. Throughout Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", the employment of imagery and first person point of view help outline the distraught emotions of Victor Frankenstein in order to display the emotional effects he must face after creating his monster. Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" employs imagery in order to portray the grotesquerie of Frankenstein's monster, which helps illustrate Victor's emotions and why he feels the way he does …show more content…
This, again, helps the reader feel like they are there as Victor Frankenstein, therefore helping them understand why Victor feels that sense of dread. The imagery in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" marries itself well with the use of a first person point of view. Employing this technique, the reader gets to experience what Victor sees, thinks, and feels firsthand, which goes hand-in-hand with the use of imagery. However, outside of the imagery, the reader gets to experience Victor's thoughts as he brings life to his monster. This is seen as Shelley writes, "The grotesque assemblage was a far cry from the grand vision that had initially captivated me. My youthful idealism, fueled by the intoxicating promises of alchemy and the forbidden arts, waned in the harsh crucible of reality. The sheer grotesquerie of my creation now filled me with chilling dread" (2). By using a first person point of view, the reader begins to understand Victor's intent when he first wanted to create this monster, as well as the regret he feels as he looks at it in the present. Additionally, Shelley describes the weight of Victor's fear, "A low rumble of thunder echoed outside, mirroring the turmoil within
‘Frankenstein’ or ‘The Modern Prometheus‘ is a 19th century gothic novel written by Mary Shelley. Shelley’s interest in the physical sciences had led her to writing a novel that is based on creating human life in an unnatural way. Victor is one if the narrators who has an unnatural obsession with the sciences led him to discover the secret of life; creating the abomination that is his monster. Walton serves as the neutral narrator that has no personal impact on Victor’s and the monster’s tales. It is through Walton that the monster was able to express his feelings at the death of his creator.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley introduces the change from good to evil with the attention that guardians give a child. William Crisman, in his critique of Mary Shelley’s work, identifies the “sibling rivalry” between Victor and the rest of his family. Crisman remarks that Victor feels as if he is the most important person in his parents’ lives, since he was Alphonse’s and Caroline’s only child. The Frankensteins adopt Elizabeth and Victor sarcastically remarks that he has a happy childhood. This prompts Victor starts to read essays about alchemy and study natural science. Anne Mellor, another critic of Frankenstein, proposes that Frankenstein’s creature was born a good person and society’s reaction to him caused him to turn evil. Victor’s makes the creature in his own perception of beauty, and his perception of beauty was made during a time in his life when he had secluded himself from his family and friends. He perceived the monster as “Beautiful!”, but Victor unknowingly expressed the evil in himself, caused by secluding himself from everybody, onto the creature (60). In this way, the creature is Victor’s evil mirrored onto a body. The expression of Victor onto the monster makes the townspeople repulsed by the creature. The theory of the “alter ego” coincides with Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry (Mellor). Mary Shelley conveys that through Crisman’s idea of sibling rivalry, Victor isolates himself from society. Mellor describes the isolation during his creation of his creature leads to him giving the creature false beauty that causes Victor to abandon him and society to reject him.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the downfall of certain human characteristics, set to the backdrop of creation, destruction, and preservation. The subtitle denoted by Shelly herself supports this idea, by relating the fact that the title can be viewed as either Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. One scholar, Marilyn Butler, also maintains this by noting, "It can be a late version of the Faust Myth"(302). Shelly uses the story of the main character, Victor Frankenstein, to produce the concept of a dooming human characteristic of which Frankenstein states, "I have . . . been blasted in these hopes"(Shelley, 152). The reader finds, as a result of his thirst for knowledge and infatuation with science, Victor creates a living being by whom he has "suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes"(Shelley, 17). Eventually, Victor realizes this self-destructive trait, but he is not able to save himself stating, "I have lost everything, and cannot begin life anew"(Shelley, 16). Although everything in his life that is dear has been lost, Victor is able to convince one in his same position--Robert Walton--to not "lead [his crew] unwillingly to danger"(Shelley, 151). While addressing the concept of characteristic and self-discovery, it is possible to realize that the monster also possesses the characteristics held by both Victor and Walton; except in his learning, the monster is driven to continue to cause destruction. Most important about the thirst for knowledge is that, as a form of human characteristic or downfall, it leads to large, critical pieces of self-discovery. In obtaining these critical pieces, Frankenstein finds satisfaction in j...
We are shown that this ‘monster’ is a ‘creature’ and more of a human than we think. It is in the complex structure of the novel that Mary Shelley creates sympathy. We shift from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to the monster and finally back to Walton. With each shift of perspective, the reader gains new information about both the facts of the story and the reliability of the narrator. Each perspective adds pieces of information that only they knows: Walton explains the circumstances of Victor’s last days, Victor explains his creation of the monster, the monster explains his turn to evil.
Shelley 94). Victor’s various thoughts of rage and hatred that had at first deprive him of utterance, but he recovers only to overwhelm the creature with words expressive of furious detestation and contempt, as he recalled creature’s misdoings to his loved ones. However, Victor pauses to “conceive,” to “feel,” and to “reason” with monster (M. Shelley 94). As Victor follows his creation, he notices the “air [to be full] of exultation” and “the rain” beginning “to descend,” showcasing Victor’s consent to change his view. (M. Shelley 98). Chapter 10 is exemplary of the Romantic Period where story becomes an allegory for real emotions and struggles. Victor’s
Many authors have different ways of building characters and how they look. It is up to the reader to build their perspective from the descriptions given by the author in order to understand books. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, sculpts the readers’ perspective of her monster through powerful diction and emotional syntax. After Dr. Frankenstein finally accomplishes his goal of re-animating a lifeless human, Shelley uses her strong word choice to fully express the extent of horror that Frankenstein had felt, describing his monster as a “demonical corpse to which I had so miserably given life.” (Shelley 45). Frankenstein’s horror is shared with the reader simply from a well descripted sentence. The detail Shelley put into Victor Frankenstein’s perspective is gradually shaping our own, as the reader’s, perspective. Furthermore, the diction being used adds a more definitive appearance to the monster. It helps us imagine what the monster looks like and additionally, how Frankenstein feels about his success.
So, when he created Frankenstein “the monster” he turned out to be this grotesque and unnatural creature which was different from what Victor had imagined. However, at the site of looking at his creation, Victor is now spooked by his appearance and immediately turned off by his own creation. For example, in chapter 5 Victor says, “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. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, continued a long time traversing my bed chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.” (Page 35). Again, we can see Shelley’s use of Gothic elements infused with the monstrous theme. However, this causes Victor to immediately stray away from the monster because he views his creation as repulsive and upsetting. Which marks the first sign of abandonment that Victor places on his creation. This doesn’t do any justice for Victor because now the monster is trying to assert himself into Victor’s life but yet feels more and more neglected from the absence of love that Victor doesn’t want to give in terms of having a relationship with
I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I know, and could distinguish, no thing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept,” (Shelley 73-74). The use of organic imagery in the quotation is to incite empathetic emotion in the audience. The monster’s use of organic imagery is a second important factor in his persuasion of Victor Frankenstein because he too could express empathetic emotion toward the monster and if Victor Frankenstein has empathy toward his monster, he could be prone, to a large extent, to fulfill the task he was asked to do.
Can you imagine losing all of your loved ones to an evil beast? Or being abandoned by everyone you came in contact with? Mary Shelley portrays numerous emotions in Frankenstein. Sympathy and hatred are two that are constantly shown throughout novel. Mary Shelley enlists sympathy and hatred towards Victor and the monster by presenting them in different viewpoints. The views of sympathy and hatred towards the main characters change as the narration changes in the novel Frankenstein.
Frankenstein has become a symbol in contemporary society. Upon hearing the name, one might imagine a tall, muscular green man with short black hair, a flat head, and two bolts pierced on both sides of his neck. Although that is the Frankenstein present now, the modern Frankenstein is only an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original creature. Shelley’s Frankenstein, 1818, is a gothic novel in which she tells the tale of a man creating life. This creation of Victor Frankenstein’s monster eventually hurt the people he held dear. Following the popularity of the book, James Whale directed Frankenstein, in 1931, which started the movement of Frankenstein’s contemporary image. While in comparison to the novel’s questionable identity of the monster, Whale’s adaptation addresses the creation as the true monster. Whale is able to accomplish his reanimated version of the original creation through a series of drastically different aspects involving both personality and appearance in his cinematic production. Whale’s monster lacks the human appeal of Shelley’s creation through his motivation of his transgressions, lack of speech and physical appearance.
As time goes on, many things tend to change, and then they begin to inherit completely different images. Over the years, the character, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s famous novel, has changed dramatically. The monster, regularly called “Frankenstein,” has been featured in numerous films, such as Frankenweenie and Edward Scissorhands. Although, the characters in today’s pop culture and the monster in the well-known 1800’s novel have similarities, they are actually very different. The many similarities and differences range from the character’s physical traits and psychological traits, the character’s persona, and the character’s place in the Gothic style.
Throughout Dr. Frankenstein's struggle, he is overwhelmed by fear, hatred, regret and his culpability in interfering with nature: "a weight of despair and remorse pressed on my heart, which nothing could remove. Sleep fled from my eyes; I wandered like an evil spirit, for I had committed deeds of mischief beyond description horrible" (Shelly 59). Since such sentiments are all expressed in the first person, it allows the reader to more closely sympathize with his pain and moreover makes the message all the more accessible. These themes are not solely portrayed by the doctor, for the sorrow harbored by his creation outweigh even those of his grief-stricken creator. While Dr. Frankenstein may be lonely in the sense that he is so utterly bound by worry that he cannot interact with those whom he loves, the monster is forced to endure absolute isolation and censure from all people.
, Victor Frankenstein feels disgusted and afraid, yet also feels a sense of power from his creation. In "Frankenstein," by Mary Shelly, stylistic choices such as imagery and symbolism are employed within the work to further the complexity of the narrator. First, Shelly uses imagery various times throughout the work to show the disgusted yet
In the horror fiction novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is ultimately the creation he fears. Victor isolates himself to prioritize his new discovery, refuses to acknowledge the consequences of his actions and becomes so obsessed with destroying his creation that it drives him insane. Victor's ambitious scientific pursuit drags him from a knowledgeable man to a tormented monster. While Victor begins working on his creation, he isolates himself from friends and family, “for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (35). Victor knows his silence “disquiets” those he pushes away.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the motif of monstrosity to convey the theme that a person’s outward appearance is not what makes them a monster but rather their actions or inactions that classify true monstrosity. Despite the fact that the monster Victor Frankenstein creates is a literal example of monstrosity in the novel there are many parts that give meaning to monstrosity within character’s actions. Although Victor appears normal, since he is human his ambitions, secrets, selfishness, and inaction makes him a monster himself. Along with monstrous characters the pursuit of knowledge that is seen in Victor, his monster, and Walton in Frankenstein prove that knowledge can be a monstrosity. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is created using the life stories of different characters in the novel. The novel itself could be seen as a monster created similarly to Victor’s monster.