Isolation In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

Isolation distances people from society emotionally or physically. As people, this road can become a dismal period in our lives. From time to time we have chosen this life.Still, others have been impelled to survive in the vestiges of society due to their appearance, action, and social position. In Mary Shelly's novel ‘'Frankenstein'' the theme of isolation and abandonment is the most built up throughout the novel. Victor Frankenstein and the creature share different experiences; all the same, they are united by one underlying bond of self-isolation and abandonment.

Firstly, we are introduced to the main protagonist Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is obsessed with the thought of bringing the dead back to life. The desire of his dream

becomes his own sorrow and desperation. Victor experience with loneliness can set up at the origin of the novel with the loss of his mother. ‘'She died calmly, and her countenance expressed affection even in death. I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance. It is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever--that the brightness of a beloved eye can have been extinguished and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard'' (67). This quote underscores the moment victor loses his mother, which filled him with an empty void of sadness and loneliness. The thought of not being able to hear his sweet mother's call was a traumatizing time for him. Ripping away his innocence of life and introducing death. The author emphasizes victors' mothers' death as a key link attaching him to his obsession with bringing the dead back to live.
Secondly, as the novel goes on the protagonist passion of the playing God consequently engulfed his life. Victor alienates himself from the rest of the world. As he goes off to university, he sees himself to be an unknown, socially awkward person that doesn't fit even though there are intellectuals around him. ‘'I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavoring to bestow mutual pleasure, I was now alone.'' (56). He feels alone even when everyone speaks and understands natural science, which forces him to push away any relationship that doesn't fit his case. Moreover, enabling his growth of the creature. His personality shifts from a caring young man with high dreams to man burdened with his work.
The time he spends on the creature erases who he was before. ‘' After days and nights of incredible labor and fatigue... My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement. The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time.'' This quote looks into victor's self-isolation, pushing himself away from the people he loved to complete his task. He has commenced losing who he actually really is anymore... His dream of making life has become a weight, dragging him lower and lower into self - isolation. No more those he finds it exciting, in creating life, but becomes very ill in the process of doing so.Furthermore, we can likewise add that victor didn't want anyone to see what type of work he was doing, afraid that they would eliminate him from society to be known as a delirious man. ‘'Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay?'' (35). The secrets that the protagonist holds on to himself influences his isolation and care of someone letting out his obsession as a sickness or insanity.
. Additionally, when his best friend henry comes to visit he can't find in himself to tell him, forcing him to feel distant and alone knowing what he had created.'' I saw plainly that he was surprised, but he never attempted to draw my secret from me; and although I loved him with a mixture of affection and reverence that knew no bounds, yet I could never persuade myself to confide in him that event which was so often present to my recollection, but which I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply''. (!!). What Mary Shelly tries to clarify with victors isolation is the fact that we all can end up with this burden. Not specifically with the creation of life, but secrets and obsession that lead us astray.Moreover, victor isn't the only who has felt isolation and sadness his creation is beyond saving. He anguish he faces daily is heavy on the heart and mind, which makes you question what society is really made up of. As we transition to the creature we will compare the creatures' abandonment, self- isolation to Frankenstein's experiences. To see what bond to they share with each other, what the author wants us to understand….
The creature has one of the saddest existence in the novel; he is presented to the lecturer as a horrid monster who was born out of curiosity and ignorance. At the instant of his first speech, natural processes , and sight, he is already deserted and alone with no concept of the cosmos. ‘'I had desired it with an ardour 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 and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep''. (-) This was the inaugural bit of the creature's existence; he is already an impediment to society. His own father feels disgusted at his appearance.Yet, this not what makes victor terrified, it's the fact the creature is instantly a thing with conscious thoughts and emotions.The loss having control over the creature also it is able to evolve his own ideas and reasons sends chills up victors spine. That idea terrifies victor forcing him to desert his own for dead. The creature awakening is somewhat of a child at this point in time when he is born, he smiles at his father just like a baby would, tries to speak, and hold his father for affection. Whoever is ultimately rejected and forced to fight for his own. ; He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs( )Already the creature starts off at a disadvantage if his own father can't love him then who can. With the defection of his creator, the beast is left with one alternative, self-isolation living in the mountains. Where he finds victors notes and starts to discover about existence and is horrified by what he is. ‘'I began to study them with diligence. It was your journal of the four months that preceded my creation. You minutely described in these papers every step you took in the progress of your work; this history was mingled with accounts of domestic occurrences. You doubtless recollect these papers. Here they are. Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own horrors and rendered mine indelible. I sickened as I read. `Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. `Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even YOU turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred''. The creature is distraught and disgusted with his own existence that even his own father ‘'You turned from me in disgust'' can't accept what he is. He attempts to find any seeking reason why his own creator would make such an ugly creation. He likewise pronounces that even Satan has his own companions that admire him While he suffers a lonesome end.
As the tale continues he meets the D lacy family, who themselves have been set apart from society.

Watching them display love and affection around them. He hungers for that attention, he desires to be loved and understood, not be judged only by his appearance. I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I go have never seen me, and know little of me. I am full of fears; for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world for ever. The creature fails, which nearly drives him to the verge of folly and illusion. "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery." Again the creature questions his existence, wishing he was never made so he would stop suffering from rejection, isolation, and disaffection. The creature is forced to gratify himself in self-isolation, afraid of rejection, craving knowledge, passion, and

sympathy
W however, is shunned by society, his father, and anyone who considers him.

Forcing him live in the shadows to survive. Whereas victors isolation was a conclusion he made by himself, to further his work in doing so pushing away the people who love him. The abandonment felt by the creature is somewhat of a sad tale, so as victor losing his mother. Both characters experienced sadness at a stage in their existence that changed them into what they are. However, the creature alienation points out how cruel society can be. Mary shelly shows us that in that era, people who were deformed were seen as monsters, driven into exile since they don't resemble God's creation. She expresses that view with the d lacys and victor. When the creature spoke there was no concern, only pity, and sorrow for this wretched being. Even as victor argues with the monster he tries read him and contemplates justice; ‘'I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale, and the feelings he now expressed, proved him to be a creature of fine sensations; and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of feeling and continued ‘'() Without his appearance the creature would have never been treated this way, these quotes shows us that the real monster is society for being so shallow and quick to judge based on

appearance.

Seeing both of these characters has created an interesting viewpoint. At first victor and his creature have so little in common, they share no existence with each other, no thoughts or actions. However, as you read deeper and deeper into the novel, both characters seem as on being. Both of them are shunned, isolated and abandoned by society. Having said that victor chooses his own isolation, leaving his father and lover behind to pursue his understanding of life with the creation of his monster. The creature didn't have a choice, he was forced to live this way. He never wanted to push away man, he wanted to be loved, understood and admired, yet he was discarded away from man.They both experienced isolation and alienation.