In Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein,” main character Victor Frankenstein creates a monster that would later on parallel many aspects of his own life. This creature had many shared characteristics with Victor such as their anger, wish to be reclusive, and their wish to help others in the beginning. Their shared quality of anger can be seen through the way Victor becomes mad at himself for creating another monster so he immediately tears it apart right in front of his original monster. This causes anger to arise in his original monster which is taken out on Victor’s best friend Henry. Henry is then found dead which devastated Victor and causes him to struggle with death himself. Both of their wishes to be reclusive can be seen though the way …show more content…
The monster maintained a safe distance from the family he watched, the DeLacey’s, throughout most of the story which shows that he did not mind being alone. Their shared wish to help others can be seen through Victor’s efforts to console his family after the death of William and during the time of Justine’s trial. It can also be seen from the monster by him cutting wood and placing it on their doorstep while they slept during their times of struggle. Victor and his monster displayed many of the same characteristics throughout the story, however, they also had some differences as well. Some major differences include Victor having a family who cares about him, the way Victor and the monster deal with tragedies, and their physical appearances. From the time Victor was born he had a family who valued him and was always well taken care of. The monster, on the other hand, never had a family and instead was abandoned and forced to figure out every aspect of life on his own. The biggest difference I feel between Victor and his monster is the way they deal with tragedies. Victor reacts to tragedies with illness and
In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley displays revenge. She does this by making the being turn its back against his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Victor is traumatised with the guilty knowledge that the monster he has created is responsible for the death of two loved ones, William, his younger brother and Justine Moritz, a girl who had been adopted by the Frankenstein household. The monster kills Elizabeth, Victor’s wife, on their wedding day. This is because the monster begged Victor to create a female friend for him but Victor destroyed it when he remembered what a danger they both could have been to themselves and to everyone around them.
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 phrase, “opposites attract” occurs in the thoughts of all the hopeless romantics available in the world. However, what is factual in life is also disturbingly accurate in books. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley encompasses the thoughts that hinder the sleep of many individuals across the world in her novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Victor Frankenstein’s foil, or opposite, happens to be his childhood friend Henry Clerval. Their relationship portrays the themes of life, or existence, and the pursuit of science.
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
Both characters from the novels Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein were similar because they were both intelligent. Victor loved science, he sued to go on journeys to seek more information about life and death, because at home he had nobody to teach him.” My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge. (Victor Frankenstein quotes on education). And he even studied abroad to see more knowledge on his favorite subject. This created major conflicts with his professor at the university but also admiration among professors and peers.
In Frankenstein, Victor’s monster suffers much loneliness and pain at the hands of every human he meets, as he tries to be human like them. First, he is abandoned by his creator, the one person that should have accepted, helped, and guided him through the confusing world he found himself in. Next, he is shunned wherever he goes, often attacked and injured. Still, throughout these trials, the creature remains hopeful that he can eventually be accepted, and entertains virtuous and moral thoughts. However, when the creature takes another crushing blow, as a family he had thought to be very noble and honorable abandons him as well, his hopes are dashed. The monster then takes revenge on Victor, killing many of his loved ones, and on the humans who have hurt him. While exacting his revenge, the monster often feels guilty for his actions and tries to be better, but is then angered and provoked into committing more wrongdoings, feeling self-pity all the while. Finally, after Victor’s death, the monster returns to mourn the death of his creator, a death he directly caused, and speaks about his misery and shame. During his soliloquy, the monster shows that he has become a human being because he suffers from an inner conflict, in his case, between guilt and a need for sympathy and pity, as all humans do.
Both Victor and the monster suffer tremendously both physically and emotionally throughout their life. Victor’s physical suffering was brought on by his inability to cope with his tremendous guilt and secret. The monsters physical suffering was due to the abuse inflicted upon him by society’s fear of him. Both also suffered emotionally; they were both alone, Victor due to his secret that caused isolation and his inability to admit and disclose what he had done. The monster suffered emotionally because of his creator’s rejection and society’s inability to get past his grotesque looks and accept him for who he was.
The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein is a man full of knowledge and has a strong passion for science. He pushes the boundary of science and creates a monster. Knowledge can be a threat when used for evil purposes. Though Victor did not intend for the being to be evil, society’s judgement on the monster greatly affects him. As a result he develops hatred for his creator as well as all man-kind. Victor’s anguish for the loss of his family facilitates his plan for revenge to the monster whom is the murderer. While traveling on Robert Walton’s ship he and Victor continue their pursuit of the monster. As Victor’s death nears he says, “…or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him and satisfy my vengeance in his death…Yet, when I am dead if he should appear, if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes” (pg.199). Victor grieves the death of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and his father. Throughout the novel he experiences the five stages of grief, denial/ isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Victor denies ...
The monster does not resemble Victor physically; instead, they share the same personalities. For example, Victor and the monster are both loving beings. Both of them want to help others and want what is best for others. Victor and the monster try to help the people that surround them. Victor tries to console his family at their losses, and the monster assists the people living in the cottage by performing helpful tasks. However, Victor and the monster do not reflect loving people. The evil that evolves in Victor’s heart is also present in the monster.
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 had asked Victor to create him another monster as a companion and if he doesn’t keep his promise, then he will be miserable. When Victor goes to England with the intention of creating this promised monster, his friend Henry follows him. After several months, Victor destroys the half created creature and this upsets the monster very much so because he wants this companion. When he kills Henry, the monster distinctly planned it so that Victor would be blamed for the murder. Through all this confusion on who killed Henry, Victor knew all along that the monster did it. At this point, Victor knew that he must return to Geneva to protect his family whom he loved very much (Shelley 181). Since this monster killed Henry, Victor knew that his family was now is in danger. The monster is very happy that Victor is having to suffer because, Victor is now feeling the loneliness that he feels all the time. Though the monster’s character is not evil, the pain he feels is what he wants his creator to feel. His revenge only increases throughout the book because he is only longing for a fellow companion that Victor can only give him, but yet he is choosing not to create it. The anger that is within the monster is only growing and this is increasing the possibilities of him hurting more
Victor begins his life as a relatively privileged child with very little experience of hardship which sets him up to be somewhat of an unrelatable character as most of what could have been detailed as a hardship was left out of the overall summary of his childhood, so either it was irrelevant or forgotten. When the reader is putting perspective on Victor’s encounters with the Creature, they usually use details from how the narrator (if first person like Frankenstein) reacted to form their own opinion about the situation. Victor, being as emotional as he is, makes this tough as there are possibilities for over dramatization, adding in the speculation that the situations that Victor encounters are maybe not as bad as they were made to be. This in essence, “sets up” Victor to be the “bad guy” of the story with his actions being comparable to that of an abusive parent and their child. The main relatable point to draw for the reader is not necessarily about Victor himself but rather the relationship between him and the Creature. This causes the reader to view all of Victor’s actions/feelings towards the Creature in this way when the relationship is clearly under different circumstances and therefore appears to dehumanize Victor as a result. This prevents Victor from being seen as normal to the reader so we view his actions different to those of a normal person in the same circumstance. This convinces the reader that Victor is more of just a pawn who fits in the role of driving the story forward and almost functioning as a “part-time
The vivid similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their isolation from the secluded world, which refuses to accept those who are different into society, by hatred, and most importantly by the absence of motherly figures in both Victor’s and the Creature’s lives. As Victor had stated, “I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit.” (Shelley 40) as he described that he lost all touch with the world due to his work. Both figures seem to strongly despise one another yet strangely enough, they both also despise themselves for their wrong and disastrous actions. Family ties and vengefulness are truly one of the most significant aspects affecting the resemblance of both Victor and the Creature. At a young age, Victor was left without his mother after her death and as a result, he never got to experience the true feelings of a mother’s warm touch and love. “She died calmly...it is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose every existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard.” (Shelley, 29) Just like Victor, in his own time, the Creature never got to experience not only the love of a mother but the love of a father as well. These driven characters thrive for the same goals, feed of similar pain, and feel the same
Victor has had a nurturing and educational upbringing while the monster had to learn everything on his own and be able to survive while looking different from the rest of society. However, the combination of nature and nurture make the monster who he is. When Victor first
When Victor finally completed the monster, he first instinct was to leave it. Alone, the monster when out and tried to figure the world out. When it does venture out, everybody that he comes across is afraid of his ugly appearance. In addition, due to the fact that at this point the monster knew nothing of the world he lived in, he acted more like a wild animal than a human. However, the monster was not all that stupid.