In chapter 5 of Frankenstein, Victor has just finished his creation, with seemingly great regret. To begin with, the use of pathetic fallacy allows the readers to gain definite expectations.
“It was on the dreary night of November...”
The fact that this particular scene is set during November, a wintery, cold, dark season, makes it obvious that Mary Shelley is trying to create a chilling atmosphere in order to get the readers to know that an abominable event is bound to happen, creating a Gothic foundation for the rest of the chapter. This way, it fuels the intensity of the climax, which is when the creature finally comes to life. Beforehand, Victor seems to acquire mixed-emotions about his achievement. He calls the creature an “accomplishment” which may suggest his realization that he has reached his objective (to create life from the dead). Nonetheless, he still knows that what he has done is wrong by calling his work “toils”, a word used to define troublesome events. Correspondingly, his description of the creature appears to alter from positive to negative, as if he is constantly overcome by the joy of succeeding his goal (Romanticism), blinding him from the horrific image.
“...his hair was lustrous black...teeth of pearly whiteness...”
On the contrary, he describes the creature having “dull yellow eyes”; the negative use of the word “dull” defines the fact that, to Victor, the creature is the exact picture of death, a person with no identity. There is also his use of sarcasm, as if he is sensing his changing feelings; he stated that:
“...his features are beautiful...”
But soon adding, “Beautiful—Great God!” this may be clarifying that he cannot believe what he just said or maybe even the fact that he just used God, a g...
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...an, therefore, saying that the creature is from the depths of hell, an evil spirit which Victor is trying to avoid. Thus, it is being gothic. Besides that, Mary’s decision on choosing a Coleridge poem may be due to the fact that he is known for creating poems related to purgatory. The definition of Purgatory is when a soul is made ready for heaven, which means that it is neither in heaven nor in hell. This shows the exact state of the creature, he is neither dead nor alive; he is in a limbo between two worlds. Generally, the use of language creates horror by using excessive amounts of vicious words and phrases to describe the monster as well as Victor, allowing the reader to acknowledge that fact that nothing good is going to result from this event, and also the fact that it is humankind that creates the “monster” within the creature (Victor’s abortional attitude).
First, Before the monster is created Victor says that he hopes this creation would bless him as his creator, and that the creature would be excellent nature and would be beautiful. After the creature is created Shelley creates sympathy for him by Victor’s description of him in a unique yet horrific way, “he’s ‘gigantic,” “deformed,” “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” this makes the creature abhorrent to typical humans. When thinking of the descriptions together, Shelley has created a vivid, unnatural image of the monster in the mind’s eyes. The language Shelley uses is powerful and emotive “shall I create another like yourself, whose joints wickedness
In comparisons to the three other sources in my annotated bibliography, this source is the least useful as the details are not in much depth, but the details that are provided cover the whole premise of the gothic novel. As the author of this particular academic journal is Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, the journal is not biased towards any specific detail or character, giving a clear explanation of the novel. Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature provides a great explanation of the novel as a whole, and through the hours of research that is visible through their journal on Frankenstein, their information is very reliable. The goal of this particular source is to give the reader the foundation for the gothic novel Frankenstein, and to begin to explore that Victor’s horrible decisions are a major cause of tragic events in the book, and Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature does a great job of getting their goal across to the
At the beginning or the story, Victor lives in ecstasy, reveling in life’s every joy. Desolation and darkness no doubt had minor roles in his life, but these were glanced over in an instant, as Victor was remembering the times as good and perfect. The harsh dichotomy of this perspective and the perspective he maintained for the majority of the novel after the creation of the creature is stunning. After, he saw the world as always filled with darkness and loneliness. He even stated that he almost caught himself feeling happiness at one point and stopped himself. This distortion that the world became a fruitless wasteland is simply untrue, but it sheds light on how totally our feeling twist our perception of the world. By shoeing the polar opposites, the novel further emphasizes how our outlook on life shapes what we see in the world around us, for better or for
In Shelley?s Frankenstein, Victor brings a monster to life, only to abandon it out of fear and horror. ? gThe beauty of the dream had vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart? (Shelley, 35). The reader must question the ethics of Victor. After all, he did bring this creature upon himself.
When Victor died, the monster wept over his body. “‘But soon,’ he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, ‘I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct,’” (277). This quote from the monster exhibits the void he felt after Victor died. The realization that his creator is dead becomes too much to bear for him, so he proclaims that he will die. This is symbolic to Mary Shelley’s real life.
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “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). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
...e all the evil things they have done. When he goes to Victor's coffin, the creature does the opposite of what a evil being would do. He grieves over Victor despite all the horrible things the creature has done to Victor. The creature even feels guilt over the innocent people he has killed and the torment he put his creator through. Despite Victor's actions leading the creature to commit evil deeds, the creature finds in himself to feel regret in the end.
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
In the first half of the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is the narrator telling his story. Victor tells how he spends night and day for nearly two years working nonstop on his creation. After all his effort and constant dedication, he is only found disappointed in his creation once finished (Britton 5). “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” says Victor (Shelley 55). All of Victor’s hard work was of waste. He has abandoned his health, family, and social life working on creating this monster to only be left shameful (Prince 2). Victor states “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I have finished, the beauty of that dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 42). He is so disgusted with his work, that he does not even want his best friend Henry Clerval to know about his creation that went wrong. He shrieks at the thought of Henry even finding the least bit about this disaster (Shelley 58). Upon entering Victor’s apartment, Victor makes Henry wait downstairs while Victor searches his apartment to make sure the wretch he ...
This was Victor's response to the reaching out of the monster towards Victor on the night of his creation. Victor, who for months had worked on this creation, was suddenly confronted with the results of his scientific pursuit. He had labored night and day in an effort to do something that had never been done by man before. He had figured out the scientific way to bring life to that which was dead, so he blindly went forth and did it. He never really stopped to think what the consequences of his action might be. He knows that the creature he is making is ugly, but he never wonders what will happen to the creature after he is brought to life as a result of that ugliness. The monster is made oversized so it's easier for Victor to work on him, yet no thought is taken about how the creature might feel about such a form.
The Creature, after learning what it is to love, requests that Victor creates a companion for him. Victor rejects the creature’s proposition, as Victor now understands the consequences of animating what shouldn't be alive, the Creature wants nothing more than for Victor to suffer, to feel the pain that he, as a wretch, faces. The Creature does so by devoting his life to the destruction of Victor’s. In chapter 24, the Creature states “But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes the malignant devil.” The creature is viewed as entirely evil by the characters of the novel, despite the scenes in which his benevolent nature is shown. It is ironic that Victor and his creature are foils of one another, yet they suffer a similar fate: their desire to destroy one another led to their ultimate
Romanticism deals with duality through everything, the moon and sun, heaven and hell, and good and evil. The Creature and Victor throughout the story are perfect dual characters that mirror each other. Victor is stripped of all his loved ones by the Creature and the Creature loses his loved ones (the cottagers). They are also thought of as evil, but have good intentions at heart. Romantic examples flood this novel and make it intriguing for scholars even today because of its remarkable ability to give subtle nods to things that strike our inner most emotions.
Although “Frankenstein” is the story of Victor and his monster, Walton is the most reliable narrator throughout the novel. However, like most narrator’s, even his retelling of Victor’s story is skewed by prejudice and favoritism of the scientist’s point of view. Yet this could be attributed to the only view points he ever gets to truly hear are from Victor himself and not the monster that he only gets to meet after he comes to mourn his fallen master.
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally, Victor as a Gothic novel, Victor is at fault, because, he and the creature are two different parts of the same person. If Frankenstein is looked at as a romantic novel, Victor, not the creature, is truly the villain. When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. On page 115, the creature said, "Hateful day when I received life! Accursed the creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust." This line shows the agony the monster was in, because of how he looked when he was created which led to even Victor running away from him. If Victor didn't run, he could have taught the monster and made his life happy. After the creature scared the cottagers away he said, "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter ...
I believe that Victor and the creature are both right about what they want and yet monstrous in their reactions. Victor is right about what he wants; one reason is because he is very committed to his work and in creating life for his creature. On the other hand he is evil because he abandoned the creature and left him on his own: "I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited" (Shelley 57). Shelley shows Victor's monstrous reaction to the creature in the way that he abandoned the creature to his own luck and he shows no responsibility for him.