Victor And Zeus In Frankenstein Essay

Whether atop the baffling Mount Olympus or below in the blank slate of a city being Ingolstadt, a mythological god and a man seek power on their trek to greatness. Both Zeus of the Greek gods in “The Story of Prometheus” and the simple man Victor Frankenstein of the literature work Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, can be viewed as leaders who lost their purpose in their quest for power. Victor possesses more morality in his actions, while Zeus rules with an iron fist and does not care what happens to the ones around him. To understand the beneficial traits and flaws of these characters, one must delve into the stories of their lives. These characters throughout literature show signs of great potential, but also of substantial corruption. Disregarding the feelings of others, along with a

sense of blinding superiority leads to them blatantly abandoning their creations and when opposed, they are led down the dark, dim, and deadly path of revenge.
Sitting in a throne over watching the universe, is the high and mighty Zeus, bearer of the thunderbolt and creator of mankind, while under the sky and stars we have Victor Frankenstein, the one who opposed the laws of Nature. Regardless of stature or position in social hierarchy, both of these characters find a way to let abandonment of another creep into their lives and affect the ones around them. In Victor’s case, the abandonment falls upon the Creature that he created. Once Victor witnesses the “horror” and “wretch” that he has created, Victor wants no part of a life involving the Creature in it (Shelley 42). It is evitable that Victor’s abandonment of the Creature has affected the Creature when it says “you, my creator, detest and spurn me” even though the two are “bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us” (Shelley 83). In other words, even though Victor is the father of the creature, he has still lost all desire, love, and compassion directed towards the Creature.
In the matter of Zeus, the god abandons mankind as a secure measure to retain his power. Zeus does not want the humans to “become strong and wise” like the gods, so he shuns them and vows not to help them again (The Story… 2). The signs that abandonment affected mankind are crystal clear when Prometheus finds the “very poor and wretched” mankind on Earth, as they were “no longer happy” due to their lack of support from the gods of Olympus (“The Story…” 2). After Prometheus consults Zeus in order to help mankind, the chief of god’s intentions are realized when he exclaims he displeasure for the kingdom’s of men. Although the two men find ways to act in similar manners during the abandonment of their creatures, their processes of revenge differ in intellectual purposes and results.
Revenge is ever so clear through the journeys and actions of Zeus and Victor Frankenstein, as obstacles in their way will be evaded or destroyed so they may get their will. When Prometheus finds out that the humans were abandoned by Zeus, he wants to give mankind “fire” so they could “at least warm themselves and cook their food” because without it, they were “worse off than beasts” (The Story… 2). When Zeus finds out Prometheus is opposing him by helping the lowest of the low humans, Zeus becomes enraged. Through means of protecting his power and his status being the ruler of all, Zeus enacts his first step of revenge by unleashing the first woman on mankind, whose curiosity brings disease and hell upon the surface of Earth. The second act meant to satisfy the rage of Zeus, was chaining Prometheus to the top of a mountain and having “fierce eagles” claw at his body with their fierce claws (The Story… 5). These actions were meant to provide a feeling of relief for Zeus and silence any action of the humans becoming equal to the gods, even though he had never directly been affected by the mankind becoming smarter, which was what he riveted his revenge from.
In Victor Frankenstein's case, revenge was directly stemmed from the deaths of the ones close to him.

After abandoning the Creature, it vows “eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” which ends up being in direct correlation with Victor’s life (Shelley 143). The Creature is able to carry out this deed by not directly attacking his creator and abandoner, but the one’s of his creator’s affections. The Creature not only makes Victor feel pain through the killings, but also through the guilt that Victor experiences since he knows that he (Victor) is the reason that all the people are now dead. After all the killings had happened, “yet one duty” remained for Victor, to silence the Creature and all feelings of sorrow rooted from death (Shelley 176). This was Victor’s act of revenge in which only one of the two could live while the other was dead. Victor was so influenced by all the death he had experienced, that his revenge took him to his deathbed. The ending years of Victor’s life had been spent focusing and caring for the matters concerning the Creature and himself, which differs of how Zeus felt about his revenge, as it was only of current importance and had no impact on his

future.
Although mankind and the gods of Olympus share many a trait, Victor is possessed with morality and guilt, which Zeus has never encountered in his immortal life. Whether the trait is in someone or not, revenge made its way as a by-product of the actions carried out in both of the men’s lives, which ended up affecting the one’s around them in ways not suitable for pleasure.