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Social norms and their negative effects
Social norms and their negative effects
Social norms and their negative effects
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In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley introduces the idea that willingly isolating oneself in order to achieve a desired goal leads to unintended situations or consequences that can be detrimental to not only oneself but society through Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein initially engages in a willing pursuit of a revolutionary experiment in hopes of achieving greatness through his groundbreaking results. In his particular isolation, Victor willingly focuses on the single goal of creating a man, he hopes will not only enable him to gain a position in society, but a lasting and glorious position. Although in his pursuit, Victor suffers many tribulations, as his “cheek grew pale with study,” and he finds himself growing wearier as …show more content…
he works harder in his pursuit (Shelley 32). Although he faces many sufferings, Victor willingly continues this pursuit because he hopes to shock society with his revolutionary and somewhat blasphemous achievement. However, a shift in Victor’s isolationism occurs once Victor achieves his goal of creation. Once Victor brings his creation to life, he finally sees the fault in his pursuit, and becomes horrified with his own creation, stating, “I felt the bitterness of disappointment; dreams that had been my food…now become a hell to me; and the change was so rapid…,” (Shelley 36).
What once was a willing isolation in hopes of a beneficial creation becomes a forced isolation of Victor’s own ideas and creation from society. This forced isolation comes about from Victor’s unwillingness in sharing his ideas with others within his community, as he fears their negative opinions of his radical ideas would cause people to view him as a madman, and therefore he continues to suppress his own ideas in hopes of preserving himself. Victor’s forced isolation comes from a fear of persecution, one common in history and modern society, as those with views or ideas that are outside the accepted ones are always condemned for their methods of thinking, and in order to escape this condemnation the thinkers isolate themselves from the negative views. However, Victor’s isolation brings himself no benefit and he “bore a hell within [him]” because of this isolation (Shelley 59). As Timothy J. Madigan states in his article “Tampering in God’s Domain,” Victor’s forced
isolation only allows Victor to “shirk his moral responsibility by refusing to disclose his experiments to the community around him,” and this not only leads to the deaths of Victor’s loved ones and Victor himself, but to the destruction of his own creation (Madigan 88). In the end, what once began as a willing isolation in hopes of construction a creation beneficial to himself and society, ended up becoming a forced isolation of Victor’s pursuit and creation that in the end became a detriment to Victor himself, his loved ones, and the creature. 471 words
Victor Frankenstein, a medical student spend two whole years trying to create a human out of body parts in his apartment while studying in Ingolstadt. Frankenstein focused his time and energy on his creation, isolating himself from his friends and family back home and he succeeded in making a human, albeit an abnormal human. Victor at seeing his Creation let his instincts take a hold of him which lead to his demise in the end. Victor flees the apartment in fear of the Creature, “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and … I escaped and rushed downstairs” (59). Due to his appearance, which is grotesque and ugly with scarring and yellowish skin, Frankenstein’s instinct is to flee from the Creature.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the Creature executes extreme and irreversible acts due to his isolation from society. Although the Creature displays kindness, his isolation drives him to act inhumanely.
Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, has several themes imbedded in the text. One major theme is of isolation. Many of the characters experience some time of isolation. The decisions and actions of some of these characters are the root cause of their isolation. They make choices that isolate themselves from everyone else.
Victor Frankenstein, blinded by pride, remained unaware of how his experiment would affect not only him, but the world around him as he formed his new discovery. His secret to creating life only caused more life to be lost. Because of Victor’s reckless behavior, he caused the depressed and lonely world around his own creation, one who, in the end, Victor did not want to take responsibility for making, no matter how remarkable. The Creation, a being of unfortunate circumstance, exemplifies how knowledge has dangerous and everlasting effects if not used safely or for good intentions. Unfortunately, The Creation leaves his own damage behind as well, again showing how knowledge is harmful, by killing Elizabeth, Victor’s wife, Henry Clerval, his dearest friend, and other members a part of Victor’s family and friends. This demonstrates how knowledge, if not used wisely, can lead to death and suffering. The power of knowledge, in Mary Shelley’s writing, is a gift bestowed on those who can handle the power responsibly, as opposed to using it for selfish boasting. In contrast, she uses these two characters to show the importance of being knowledgeable in both science and responsibility and the unforgivable mutilation that comes if you fail to overcome
An idea becomes a vision, the vision develops a plan, and this plan becomes an ambition. Unfortunately for Victor Frankenstein, his ambitions and accomplishments drowned him in sorrow from the result of many unfortunate events. These events caused Victors family and his creation to suffer. Rejection and isolation are two of the most vital themes in which many dreadful consequences derive from. Victor isolates himself from his family, friends, and meant-to-be wife. His ambitions are what isolate him and brought to life a creature whose suffering was unfairly conveyed into his life. The creature is isolated by everyone including his creator. He had no choice, unlike Victor. Finally, as the story starts to change, the creature begins to take control of the situation. It is now Victor being isolated by the creature as a form of revenge. All the events and misfortunes encountered in Frankenstein have been linked to one another as a chain of actions and reactions. Of course the first action and link in the chain is started by Victor Frankenstein.
This shows that Victor chooses to be isolated. No one forces him to isolate himself for the world. When he is in Ingolstadt he builds a laboratory of his own “in a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase” (Shelley 45). He builds this lab in order to do scientific experiments on human life. In this lab he starts building his creature out of dead body parts from the cemetery. He says that the reason he chose isolation is because of the creature. This tells the reader that he will do anything to achieve his, even isolate himself from rest of the world. Only creating the creature does not isolate him, but trying to keep his creation and later trying to destroy it also isolates him again. After the creature comes to life Victor sees his own creation as an ugly monster. Victor abandons the creature right after it comes to life. He says, while describing the monster, “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (Shelley
Isolation is often a result of choosing to seek refuge in solitude, however, in many cases, it is a result of brutality from a surrounding environment. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel, Frankenstein,a gruesome and painful story serves as a cautionary tale in order to prevent another from a similar downfall. Although Victor Frankenstein is the narrator for the majority of the novel, the audience learns of the destruction that has followed his decisions as well as the forced estrangement upon those he has encountered. In Frankenstein, Shelley uses relatable characters that reflect the harsh superficial aspects of society.
Victor Frankenstein finds himself exploring the world of science against his fathers wishes but he has an impulse to go forward in his education through university. During this time any form of science was little in knowledge especially the chemistry which was Victors area if study. Victor pursues to go farther than the normal human limits of society. “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Chapter 4). He soon finds the answer he was looking for, the answer of life. He becomes obsessed with creating a human being. With his knowledge he believes it should be a perfe...
Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, is the victim of his own pride. An ego unchecked is a dangerous thing. But in truth, it really just shows Victor’s humanity. He is privileged, educated, talented, loved, adored, but he is not perfect. His flaw is his own ego and pride. Without doubt, this is the result of a childhood where he was overindulged. Overindulged to the extent he was given a little girl “Elizabeth” as a “present”, whom he considered from childhood “mine only” (Shelley 21). Little wonder the twenty year old Victor would think he could create, control and command life. But Victor as with any indulged child did not take the time to learn much from his parents about parenting and fath...
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, explores the monstrous and destructive affects of obsession, guilt, fate, and man’s attempt to control nature. Victor Frankenstein, the novel’s protagonist and antihero, attempts to transcend the barriers of scientific knowledge and application in creating a life. His determination in bringing to life a dead body consequently renders him ill, both mentally and physically. His endeavors alone consume all his time and effort until he becomes fixated on his success. The reason for his success is perhaps to be considered the greatest scientist ever known, but in his obsessive toil, he loses sight of the ethical motivation of science. His production would ultimately grieve him throughout his life, and the consequences of his undertaking would prove disastrous and deadly. Frankenstein illustrates the creation of a monster both literally and figuratively, and sheds light on the dangers of man’s desire to play God.
Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, isolation presents itself as a formative experience for both Victor Frankenstein and his Creation. Be it willingly, unwillingly, permanent or temporary, both characters find themselves in situations where they experience complete isolation from all of mankind. The effects of this isolation can be only seen as a destructive experience for both characters. During their respective experiences in isolation, hatred and violence embeds itself within them. The development of these emotions leads to the death of both characters, making isolation the driving force behind the destruction of both Victor and his Creation.
There is not anything quite like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that gives us an inkling as to what solitude could do to a person. Throughout the story we realize how solitude breaks the sanity of the characters, how it destroys them from the inside slowly. One could only have a vague interpretation of what certain characters were experiencing as well as how they were able to keep moving forward. This is especially true for the main characters of the book, they are the ones that enter the deepest forms of solitude. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein demonstrates how solitude is a corrosive and deadly thing that destroys a person’s sanity and ruins his/her happiness.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley relates her own struggles onto the characters, giving them the grief and loneliness she feels during her own life. The deaths of the characters closest to Frankenstein reflects in the deaths of her children. She creates an isolating world for many of her characters through loss of loved ones. Shelley portrays both the monster and Frankenstein as lonely creatures but with opposing reasons for their isolation, proving that isolation is universal and unavoidable.
The monster in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, is isolated from humanity due to his frightening appearance. This isolation causes him to become vengeful towards his creator Victor Frankenstein for creating him. The monster goes on a killing spree, targeting everyone that is close to Victor attempting to make Victor feel as lonely and isolated as the monster. It is Society's inherent judgement of someone's appearance that isolates the monster and turns the innocent yet ignorant monster into a rage that turns fatal towards his creator, Victor Frankenstein.
Within Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus, both the Creature and Victor experience isolation in various ways that send them on very different paths. Although considered a monstrous figure, the Creature’s isolation derives from his inability to have any kind of relationship with his creator leading to his destructive and murderous actions.