Friendship Over Pleasure - What? Friendships contain such fascinating and multifaceted aspects of everyones lives. When it comes to different kinds of friendships, there is a whole spectrum to explore. A friendship that bases its main purpose on pleasure, based on mutual admiration. Each friendship offers its unique dynamic and rewards. In De Vore’s film “The Elephant Man” and Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein”, both aspects are of all 3 types of friendships. A deeper dive into each friendship will help discover why each of them could mean something. These friendships include ones that are pleasurable, and genuine, and ones that are useful. A friendship that bases its main purpose on pleasure, based on mutual admiration. In Mays' article, he goes …show more content…
When their mother fell sick, she told Victor to protect Elizabeth. Ever since that day, he made a promise to always protect his sister and eventually fell in love with her. Victor describes Elizabeth as “the inmate of my parent’s house—my more than sister—the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures” (Shelley Chapter 1). Victor saw his sister as someone that met all of his needs. He saw her as something that makes him happy, something that satisfies him. Although Victor felt like Elizabeth had completed him, he never broke the promise of protecting her. Even when out on his adventure, he would write her letters, so she would not worry about him too much, and he updated her when he could. Not only did Victor fulfill a true friendship, but the creature he created did as well. The creature felt like the ‘“Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder, I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbors”’ (Shelley Chapter 11). The creature finally felt seen—he typically felt lonely, but now felt
On the night that Victor got married the creature killed his wife, Elizabeth, in order to get revenge from Victor. “She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down” (Shelley, 186). The moment when he killed Elizabeth was not the same as when he killed the little brother. When the creature had murdered Elizabeth it had been much more violently than the first, showing that his desire for revenge had become much more stronger, as it was the only feeling he showed. He had begun to act like the monster that everyone had believed he was, showing no more of the humane feelings he had showed previously in the
The creature starts learning that many people in the town react when they see him and he is not like them but doesn’t fully understand why at this point in the novel. When other humans see the creature, they become scared, agitated, and violent towards him. People in the society and town helps educate him to understand that he is not a human being. Much as John in The Elephant Man, he learns and realizes that he is different from other people by society. John has a severely deformed appearance that contributes to his alienation by society. Similar to the creature in Frankenstein, John is referred to as a “creature” and a “freak” throughout the film. The police officer even says, “Freaks are one thing. There are no objections to freaks. But
Since the original novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, to the multiple movie adaptations, the monster is almost always predicted as the monster of the story. It may be his physical appearance, from his tall, broad frame, to the signature screws in his neck. It may also be his unnatural upbringing and interpreted evil characteristics. We have grown to fear the monster, which ultimately, has masked the true monster, Dr. Frankenstein. With each coming movie, the good side of the monster is brought to light, while the real monster shows his true colors.
At an early age, Victor is introduced to young Elizabeth, who he learns to love. He was left by his creator, his father, without a mother or sibling to care for him. He is like a babe, born in innocence unaware of evil around, “half-frightened” and “cold” in a new and unknown environment (72). The Monster finds a small village and is instantly hated.
Victor had created the creature with the vision from his dreams of a strong, tall perfect being with no flaws. His years of study with the unnatural and science had come to this final conclusion and masterful idea that he was determined to finish. To his surprise, he had created the opposite, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. 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.” (Shelley 35) Victor is saddened by what he thinks of as a failure. He leaves his own apartment to go sleep in his court yard outside following his creation. He begins to isolate himself from the creature because of his fear of the creature’s outward appearance. He loses all hope for the creature without even learning anything about him. The fact that Shelley begins to refer to the being that Victor created as a “creature” shows Victor’s ignorance and lack of acceptance. It is Victor’s prejudice that blinds him of the creature’s true potential due to the unwanted preconception that follows the creature as he finds meaning in
When Victor animates his accomplishment, he is distraught by its physical appearance, stating that, “…no mortal could support the horror of that countenance” (Shelley 52). The outside judgment of the Creation from both his creator, and eventually, the rest of civilization, prevents the monster from fulfilling his emotion in healthy, normal ways. In the novel, beauty is a virtue. Elizabeth, for example, is treated as a tenderly cherished trophy: Victor describes her as a cherub, a “…a possession of my own” (Shelley 14). In a superficial society, the monster revels in his ugliness, forcing him into loneliness without choice, or even intent. When the Creation looks in the transparent pool to see his reflection and states, “…I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification. Alas! I did not yet entirely know the fatal effects of this miserable deformity” (Shelley 88), he realizes that his ostracization is caused by uncontrollable and permanent circumstances. His pain and internal desolation come from the external consequences of his appearance: abandonment from his creator and the rest of mankind. Although the monster is innately kindhearted, no human can look past his looks to understand and sympathize with the sorrow and misfortune he is doomed to
After killing his younger brother, Elizabeth , and his best friend, Victor after having no family left wanted to put an end to it all so he ended up chasing his creation and dying before catching it. After bringing the creature into this world and leaving it behind to fend for itself the creature endured lots of agony and pain from society which drove its rage to Victor and his family and he ended up kill this younger brother and soon to be wife. Both were isolated from society, Victor brought isolation upon himself through locking himself up to create the creature and ignoring everything around him as stated in the article, “The summer months passed while I was thus engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit. It was a most beautiful season; never did the fields bestow a more plentiful harvest, or the vines yield a more luxuriant vintage: but my eyes were insensible to the charms of nature. 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. I knew my silence disquieted them; and I well-remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are pleased with yourself, you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected.” As
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is book about the importance of human relationships and treating everyone with dignity and respect. The main character of the book is Victor Frankenstein who is a very intelligent man with a desire to create life in another being. After he completes his creation, he is horrified to find that what he has created is a monster. The monster is the ugliest, most disgusting creature that he has ever seen. Victor being sickened by his creation allows the monster to run off and become all alone in the world. Throughout Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the theme of human relationships to illustrate the bond that man has with other beings and the need for love and affection. The importance of human relationships is shown throughout the book in many ways. Victor’s mother says to him, “I have a pretty present for my Victor—tomorrow he shall have it”(18).Victor is very excited that he has such a precious gift that will always be his. They become very close and refer to each other as cousins. However, there is a deeper a relationship between the two, and Victor vows to always protect and take of the girl whose name is Elizabeth. Mary Shelley uses this quote to explain how special Elizabeth is to Victor and that she is gift sent to him. Victor’s mother reinforces this again when she says to Victor and Elizabeth, “My children, my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to my younger children. Alas! I regret that I am taken from you; and, happy and beloved as I have been, is it not hard to quit you all? But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign...
Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Creature seem different from each other throughout the whole story, however, they actually share many similarities when the story is looked at deeper. Both the Creature and Frankenstein share a connection with nature, a desire for more knowledge, a need for family, and experiences in isolation.
James Whale's Frankenstein is a VERY loose adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel. The spirit of the film is preserved in its most basic sense, but the vast majority of the story has been entirely left out, which is unfortunate. The monster, for example, who possesses tremendous intellect in the novel and who goes on an epic quest seeking acceptance into the world in which he was created, has been reduced to little more than a lumbering klutz whose communication is limited to unearthly shrieks and grunts. Boris Karloff was understandably branded with the performance after the film was released, because it was undeniably a spectacular performance, but the monster's character was severely diminished from the novel.
“His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). This image is enough to strike fear into anyone and even the creature eventually saw that he was a monster when compared to everyone else. Nevertheless, his request to Victor espouses a side of himself that is anything but monstrous. After an extensive amount of time of hiding and living alone, the creature asks that Victor create a mate for him. Unlike Victor, who left his bride and worried her constantly, the creature desires someone to spend his unfortunate existence with, saying “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede" (Shelley 174). Though the extent of the creature’s opinion on the topic of women is concentrated into this one statement, the contrast between the creature and creator cannot be clearer. Victor’s primary focuses in life are his experiments and fixing his mistakes, while
Victor avoids association with his family and many others during the time which he is developing the creature, and solely interacts with professors at his time at Ingolstadt. The theme of association with others goes hand in hand with the theme of isolation, as Victor seems to prefer keeping to himself. Many compare the creature to Victor and the way they are similar, but the creature longs to be apart of society, and to be loved by others, or by a family. The opposition is Victor’s inability to grasp a relationship with those who seek one with him, while the creature is kept from associating with anyone from the outside world due to the way he looks. Shelley ties together the theme of association with others to isolation, and family as many of the people Victor hides from is his family. The importance of associating or communicating with others for Victor is the less likely chance he will fall ill when isolated. Shelley provides many instances, which she places the importance of associating with others on both Victor and the
If someone were to ask people who Frankenstein is they would probably describe a tall, hideous monster with bolts sticking out of its neck. But long before movies reinvented their version of the monster, there was a novel by Mary Shelley entitled Frankenstein. In her novel, the monster is shown as child-like and uneducated. But what really makes someone a monster? Who is the true monster of Mary Shelley’s novel? Victor and the Creature present similarities and differences in their action and character throughout the novel.
When they finally reached their home, Elizabeth was standing in the doorway awaiting their arrival. The news of a monster in the town performing “tricks” seemed to travel fast. She realized the monster they were referring to was indeed her son, the creature. As Victor and the creature approached the door, Elizabeth’s face was filled with joy. Her infertility seemed to hang over her like a grey cloud, but the sight of the creature seemed to lift
In Maria Del Mar Gallego Duran’s article, “COMMUNITY AND LOVE: UNDERSTANDING THE PAST IN TONI MORRISON'S BELOVED”, she discusses Morrison’s attempt to portray the African American community in the aftermath of slavery. She discusses the fact that characters in the Beloved constantly seek to remove any connection they have with their past enslavement. However, they are unable to escape without confronting their past and understanding their relation to their community and the world around them. She continues on by discussing the obvious front of the novel. She says that in relation to family, a sense of individual survival takes up more of the novel.