Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Mary Shelley, in her book, Frankenstein, has a reoccurring theme of isolation, in which she isolates the main character, Victor Frankenstein, from the rest of society to create a creature. Likewise, the creature created is also isolated from the rest of society as he became rejected by his creator as to his appearance. On a dark, dreary day, lightning hit a tree, which then showed Victor’s new found interest in electricity and the power of nature (Shelley 26). This new fascination guides his studies and leads him to isolation as to create something humanistic. This theme is present throughout the novel as it reinforces Victor’s downfall from a normal boy to a grown man intrigued with creating life as he slowly becomes a madman that everyone …show more content…

The creature murders Victor’s family and Victor creates a new life. The creature does not know that murder is unethical as he was never taught right from wrong as he was abandoned from his ‘birth.’ As a result of the creature’s abandonment, he was never taught right from wrong, so he committed the heinous crime of murder (Shelley 55). Since he was never educated on immoral actions, he sees no harm in what he had done to William. Victor knows that creating life is unethical as it is not a part of nature. When Victor goes to college, he abandons everything in his life to make a new life (Shelley 27). The creation leads to a loss of humanity as Victor creates something that should not have been created. Abandonment and creations lead to unethical happenings, without proper teachings, one will not know if their actions mean well and the creation of life breaks the laws of nature.

Even though negative actions take place throughout the novel, there are ethical reflections and actions that also occur. Ethical reflections that occur are the idea that you can create something never created before and the importance of yourself. While Victor was in isolation, he was able to create the monster (Shelley 57). When in isolation, he was able to make something never known possible. Another reflection to be made is finding the importance of yourself. When the creature was isolated from society, he was able to reflect on the meaning

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