Isolation In Frankenstein

In the book, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley captures the importance of multiple points of view by showing how different character’s value the feeling of isolation. Both Victor and the creature undergo a state of isolation, but have completely different thoughts about it. Victor’s desire for knowledge causes him to isolate himself from all of his family and friends, while the creature has no choice of his isolation. These two different displays of isolation connect their stories together and amplifies the theme that both types of isolation caused their demise.

By including Victor’s framework, Mary Shelley was able to show how isolation, usually being a negative state, could be wanted by someone. Due to Victor’s desire for knowledge, he chooses

to isolate himself from everyone he knows. At the beginning of his framework, Victor thrives while being isolated, and enjoys the time he has alone to work on his creation. By saying, “I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed,” he knew that to achieve his goal, he would have to devote a large portion of his life into isolation. While creating the monster, Victor’s seclusion caused him to become almost hysterical, but he kept working in solitude. Although he insisted he be left alone, the withdrawal and isolation slowly changed who he was, and lead to his rapid downfall. Victor’s state of isolation was different because he was able to come out of it whenever he wanted. Unlike the creature, Victor had a family that loved him and begged for him to come back home. This creates a sense of apathy towards Victor, because it shows that he was able to prevent the mass destruction that would soon happen. This is an important element Shelley captured because it shows the readers that Victor willingly chose this lifestyle. By choosing to go into isolation, he unknowingly decided his, and his family member’s terrible fate.
Unlike Victor, the monster's point of view showed isolation as a dreadful state to be in.

The many misfortunes of the monster are caused by his total isolation, but dissimilar to Victor, the monster did not have a choice for his lifestyle. While Victor chose to go into isolation, the monster is forced into it because of his horrid looks and features. The monster was first pushed into isolation when he went to a village, and realized how badly the village people treated him. By saying, “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me,” he shows that although he was not trying to cause any harm, the people would not accept him because of his looks. Another major event that made the monster unwillingly go into isolation was when he tried to talk to the DeLacey family. This example was very important because although he felt close to the family, when they saw him, “Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward...in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick.” This shows how different Victor and the monster’s state of isolation was because while Victor chose it, the monster was willing to do anything to get out of it. By using many examples of the monster not fitting into society, Mary Shelley was able to show how two different perspectives can view isolation. While Victor wanted isolation for his studies, the monster shows the opposite look on isolation, and

hated the loneliness.
Victor’s time in isolation was completely his choice and helped him create a living being, but led to the death of many of his closest companions. If Victor had never decided to go into isolation and create a monster, none of his family would have died on his behalf. Victor’s framework shows the readers that even though he chose isolation, it still affected him in a negative way, and resulted in his downfall. The monster’s state of isolation was also the cause of his downfall, because he realized that no one wanted him. As the monster began to understand why he had to go into isolation, he began to get mean, in the hopes of a companion. This caused him to kill many people, and resulted in Victor dying. Because of his involuntary isolation, the monster’s sad life was ruined.
Although Victor and the monster have two very different outlooks of isolation, it connects their stories together and brings destruction to both of them.