Similarities Between Victor And Frankenstein

rompts

Spring 2017

Two Peas, One Pod- The like protagonists in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Quintessential to the gothic tradition of literature, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has transcended time, countlessly readapted into television series, plays, and movies the tradition of gothic horror has much owed to Mary Shelley’s work. However, a disservice is rendered to any who ventures not to read the book, Hollywood’s adaption often fails to include a key element in the novel that allows readers to draw parallels between the works of Shelley’s Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Creature, two sides of the same coin, these characters share such similarities that some venture to suggest that they were in fact a representation of the dual elements of

personality within the same individual.
This theory is supported with textual evidence of their shared feelings of isolation. Dr. Viktor Frankenstein, at a young age, was left without his mother after her death and as a result, never experiences a motherly and nurturing bond, "She died calmly...it is so long before the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose every existence appeared a part of our own can have departed forever and the sound of a voice so familiar and dear to the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard." (Shelley, 29).

It can be suggested that the denied relationship between a son and mother is what drove Victor’s ambition to create life. Victor appears to be lonely, in his college years he chose to isolate himself from both his family and friends, consumed with his latest discovery in science: the creature, but argues that his work alone was sufficient enough to comfort him. However, after his creation, comes to life Victor Frankenstein is consumed by the guilt of his creation, and abandons him out of fear and disgust. The creature is left to make his way in the world, however a fright to mankind, he is forced into isolation. The creature’s lonesomeness consumes him, “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 forever” (Shelley, 159). Like Victor, the Monster is also a motherless child, lacking both the nurturing and patience that maternal figures provide to their children. An element that Shelley argues divides men from monsters. Without the guidance of a mother and the abandonment led by Victor, the only father the creature knows, he is denied the happiness that community and society offers. Creature, without family or love to comfort him, seeks Victor to ease his discontentment. The creature wants a wife, and when Victor Frankenstein refuses he pays the ultimate price as the Creature retaliates by murdering Frankenstein’s last living relatives and rendering him as lonely and ostracized from society as the creature is.
Dr.

Frankenstein’s likeness to the creature is further strengthened in their like “God” roles. Life both given and taken is a position of authority, that only God can command. However, Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature attempt to take on this ultimate position of control. Ambitiously, Victor believes he has discovered life, “After days and nights of incredible labor and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley 52), and has taken on the blasphemous activity of creating it for himself, consequently shocked at what he has done when the creature, rendered with the decaying body parts from the grave yard, comes to life. Victor, in fright, and horror states “...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 bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep” (Shelley, 59). Victor creates new life, however rather than assuming his responsibilities as a creator, he chooses to abandons the creature and sets him loose upon

mankind.
The creatures abuse of life, parallels that of Victor Frankenstein, rather than be the giver of life, Creature is the taker of it. Lonely and angry at his creator for abandoning him, the creature avenges himself against Victor by murdering all of his nearest relations, vowing to William Frankenstein, Victor’s brother, “to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim” (Shelley 171).
Though one action is sparked from ambition, and the other from revenge, both characters have committed terrible egregious crimes, that have condemned them to act as the hand of God. Victor in his ambitious desire to create life, Creature, in his anger, to take life away. Both actions are followed by a chain of unhappy events that plague the inner consciousness of both Victor and Creature. Urging mankind not to make the blasphemous decision to act in ways outside the parameters set for men by God.
Despite their differences, Victor and his creature are two sides of the same coin. Both strive to attain the same goals, suffer similar pain, and are destined to the same fate. Perhaps, it is their shared likeness that has inspired Hollywood to merge the two characters into one being.

Work Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. http://www.planetebook.com/ebooks/Frankenstein.pdf

Brianca J Hadnot
March 8, 2017
Texas Southern University
The British Novel; Midterm

Charles Dickens, is a prominent writer during the Victorian Era, whose work can be found in modern day entertainment. In fact, one of the most readapted pieces of English literature to date, is arguably Charles Dickens Oliver Twist. A novel first published in 1837, as a serialized work that documented the prevailing social issues which disturbed England, often cited for its sharp satire and comical characters. Most times, critics focus theories regarding Dickens novels on the more popular trends of the Victorian Era, however upon closer inspection one notices that Charles Dickens relies on a writing style that is inclusive of early literary traditions, such as the Enlightenment period, and the Romantic age in order to influence how certain characters and settings are perceived by the reader.
In order to do this, Charles Dickens used the Enlightenment period’s belief in reason and reality to depict the lower class of Victorian England. The Enlightenment, is a term coined to describe the confluence of ideas and activities that took place in eighteenth century Europe. For Enlightenment thinkers a new age of egalitarianism and progress was made possible due to the advances of science and industry. However, this growth of science also inspired individuals to focus on social issues, many voices began to express criticism of powerful and long established institutions. For the first time in recorded history, the power of political and religious leaders was weakened, citizens felt empowered to let their grievances known. Criticism and argumentation was the new mode of conversation. Dickens incorporated these issues into the scenes of the poor house, the house of Fagin, and the poverty of London. His use of realism, helps to evoke feelings of dismal poverty, isolation, and danger. The conditions Dickens describes in the lower class Victorian England is very similar to actual conditions of London during the 1800’s. Most noted in his description of the orphanage, where he writes “the parish authorities magnanimously and humanely resolved, that Oliver should be ‘farmed,’ or, in other words, that he should be despatched to a branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws rolled about the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food, or too much clothing, under the parental superintendence of an elderly female who received the culprits at and for the consideration of sevenpence-halfpenny per small head per week.”(Dickens 8), a description lacking any imagination at all, because this is exactly how the orphanage operated at this time, and Dickens writing about it is a way to express his genuine dislike for the institution. One can see how Dickens writing style allows readers to perceive the scenes as realistically as possible, and as exemplified in the above quoted passage, is an example of Dickens use of Enlightenment literary traditions-- one noting all the poverty, hunger, poor working conditions, and children deaths in the most realistic way imaginable.
Dickens contrasts the realism used to portray poverty stricken London with the beautiful language of the Romanticist period, an era who placed great emphasis on feelings, emotions and imagination. “Reason no longer held the high place it had held in the eighteenth century; its place was taken by imagination, emotion, and individual sensibility. The eccentric and the singular took the place of the accepted conventions of the age. A concentration on the individual and the minute replaced the eighteenth-century insistence on the universal and the general.; interest in urban life was replaced by an interest in nature, particularly in untamed nature and in solitude.” (Editor). For instance, in scenes where Dickens describes the lives of the upper class, it is cast through rose-colored glasses. His use of beautiful, descriptive and poetic verse, helps to evoke a feeling similar to that of the romantic age. Note Oliver’s short stay with the bookshop keeper, Dickens depicts the scenes as very beautiful, calm and tranquil. The bookshop keeper is determined to judge Oliver on his own merits, and feels that he is a good child, allowing him to care for a complete stranger.
By using both literary traditions in one novel, Dickens is able to create a juxtaposition between the lower class and upper class of Victorian England. While readers perceive the lower class with a sense of ongoing humor, struggling to survive in the midst of great poverty. The upper class, seems to live a life of tranquil isolation, seemingly unaware of the crime, death and starvation that plagued the majority of the city. In doing this, Dickens is able to emphasize the two distinct worlds that existed within England during the 18th century. The upper class, blissfully unaware of the problems of the lower class, and the lower class, so deeply immersed in poverty that they are unable to see the constant injustice that plagued them. In this way Dickens, is able to cast a light on social issues of London, especially institutions, which continued to denigrate and demonize the lower class citizens.