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Frankenstein by mary shelley critical analysis
Examples of monsters in literature
Frankenstein by mary shelley critical analysis
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Like Father Like Son
Disfigured, disgusting, despicable are words that we usually associate with monsters. We see monsters as something ghastly and deformed, but there are monsters in the world that are equally as monstrous internally. Victor Frankenstein and the monster in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, are characters that share an array of parallels with one another. The most enthralling parallel between these two characters is the fact that they are both monsters.
Grotesque is the perfect word to describe the monster’s appearance in the novel. There is nothing in the world that could parallel the repulsive physical appearance of the monster. “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then, but when those muscles and joints
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were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived.” – Victor Frankenstein (Shelley, 57) His creator, Victor Frankenstein, stated that the monster was something not even Dante, the man who went through the nine circles of hell, could possibly visualize. The monster is also a spirit of vengeance and seeks to not only cause destruction but also to torment his creator for creating him. “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? … 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” – The Monster (Shelley, 158) This is a prime example of how the monster is filled with rage and vengeance. He is so consumed by his motive to ruin Victor Frankenstein’s life that he is willing to give into wickedness by murdering those his creator cared for. By definition, the monster is clearly a monster through its sheer visage and evildoing. However, Victor Frankenstein is undoubtedly just as equally monstrous as his creation as he is the fuel to the monsters fire. Negligent, vindictive, and sinful are just a few of many words that we can use to describe the cowardly Victor Frankenstein.
Although he lacks the appalling appearance of the monster, his integrity and character atone for his monstrosity. “I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.” – Victor Frankenstein (Shelley, 58) Right after Victor Frankenstein had created and given life to the monster, he rejected it almost instantaneously and abandoned it to fend for itself. Like a pile of trash, the monster was ridiculed. His life’s work lead up to his goal to unlocking the secret of life, and just like that he abandoned it once he had accomplished it. His appearance as a human being is nothing but a mere façade for what he truly is – a monster. Frankenstein is truly despicable especially for never owning up to his responsibility as the creator of his creation. “You have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery.” – The Monster (Mary Shelley, 192) After promising the monster that he would create a wife for him, he starts fulfilling the monster’s wishes. However, filled with vengeance
after the monster murdered those he cared for, Frankenstein breaks the promise. With this treacherous act, Frankenstein had condemned the monster to a life of loneliness. Ultimately, Frankenstein is a cold-hearted coward that could never shoulder any responsibility. He forsakes and hurt his creation for causing himself agony albeit he himself was the genesis of the monster’s hatred. Just like God creating mankind in his image, Frankenstein’s creation reflected his own image of himself internally. In conclusion, both Victor Frankenstein and the monster are monsters. The monster is clearly a monster by his appearance and actions, but Frankenstein is internally just as nefarious if not more heinous than his creation. The monster, which saw Frankenstein as his father, was rejected and resulted in the corruption of his purity. Ultimately causing a cycle of vengeance that neither monsters intended to break.
Victor Frankenstein and the others who have encountered the creature all recoiled in horror at the mere sight of him. He is described by Victor: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! 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 shriveled complexion, and straight black lips” (Shelley, 35). Even his creator shuns him based solely on his looks. Another attribute of the creature that makes him monstrous is his thirst for revenge against Victor and the hateful attitude he develops toward humans throughout the book. While he has not developed the emotional intelligence and experience of other human beings, he has learned to differentiate between right and wrong. Therefore, the murders he has committed are taken into consideration when labeling the creature as a monster. If anything, as I will later demonstrate, the creature is an antihero. He is mostly monstrous in appearance but his thoughts, feelings and circumstances create the ingredients of an antihero, who has doubtlessly committed
Frankenstein is a horror movie that tells the story of Dr. Henry Frankenstein’s experiment. In search for the fame and glory of playing to be god, he reaches a point where he is able to revive dead people. In this version of Frankenstein’s monster we see a selfish and careless scientist that created a creature with his intelligence. The way the character is shown reflects how ambitious someone can be to reach to be known in the world. This movie makes the people who are watching to feel empathy on the poor creature. This poor creature that did not want to live in a life where everyone is going to hate him for having a horrible aspect and not following rules that he has no idea about.
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...
People’s impression of the Creature has become so twisted and turned by time and decades of false film posters and article titles that most use the name “Frankenstein” to refer to the Creature itself, rather than the scientist who created him! It’s a shame, he said! An understanding of literary history is a necessity to comprehend the truth of the Creature’s tragic history and how decades of film adaptations changed him into the hulking beast most people know him as today. Illustration from the frontispiece of the 1831 edition of Shelley’s Frankenstein novel by Theodor von Holst. First of all, Mary Shelley describes the Creature as "yellow skin scarcely covering the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was luxurious black, and flowing; his teeth of 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 Despite his appearance of a "monster" the original Creature portrayal is that of a sensitive, intelligent being rather than a nonspeaking idiot and killing machine.
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.
What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor Frankenstein. The novel looks at “Monstrosity” and “Humanity” in a deeply analytical way.
Throughout the novel, Shelley investigates the idea of monstrosity. She makes the point that a monster does not have to be genuinely evil in order to be considered monstrous. Shelley presents two characteristics of mankind in order to prove her case. The first example is Frankenstein’s creation. Upon first being introduced to his creation, the reader initially labels him as a monster because of his physical appearance. He is portrayed as a man with “…yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath…watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set…shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). Not only does the reader view him as...
In the novel, Frankenstein, a doctor named Victor Frankenstein created a monster. Victor’s monster was created using old human parts, chemicals, and a “spark.” Victor wanted to create this monster in order to benefit mankind, and for the purpose of playing God. Victor thought his creation would turn out great, but in all actuality, his monster ended up terribly wrong (Shelley, 145). The monster was a deformed man, standing eight feet tall, with yellow eyes, black hair, black lips, and skin that did not conceal his internal features (Shelley, 144-145). Even though the monster was very grown, he had the mind of a newborn child, and he was very kind and gentle (Shelley, 327). The monster’s appearance terrified Victor, and he immediately abandoned it. Dr. Victor Frankenstein also never named his creation because he disliked it that much. The monster was longing for love, and since no one loved him, he became very violent. He ended up killing Victor’s brother and best friend out of pure revenge (Shelley, 193). Anytime the monster tried to help people, he was bea...
Peter Brooks' essay "What Is a Monster" tackles many complex ideas within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the main concept that is the title of the essay itself. What is the definition of a monster, or to be monstrous? Is a monster the classic representation we know, green skin, neck bolts, grunting and groaning? A cartoon wishing to deliver sugary cereal? or someone we dislike so greatly their qualities invade our language and affect our interpretation of their image and physical being? Brooks' essay approaches this question by using Shelley's narrative structure to examine how language, not nature, is mainly accountable for creating the idea of the monstrous body.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he creates are very similar. For example, Victor creates the monster to be like himself. Another similarity is that the anger of both Victor and the monster is brought about by society. One more parallel between Victor and the monster is that they both became recluses. These traits that Victor and the monster possess show that they are very similar.
The theme in a piece of literature is the main idea or insight on characters. Most pieces of literature do not limit itself to one but many other themes all collected into one. This is just like in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This horrifying story was produced in 1818 and has several themes that she portrays throughout. The theme of dangerous knowledge is unmistakably seen theme in Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see this theme through three of the main characters, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton and the creature. We can see how their desire for knowledge can take them places and show them eventually what they are looking for. Sooner or later it will take them to dangerous and unwanted places. The desire for knowledge can eventually lead one to its grave. Victor Frankenstein’s scientific endeavor, Robert Walton’s search for the North Pole, and the creature’s kind heart but scary features creates this theme of dangerous knowledge.
In gothic novels tragic figures are symbols of pain to the characters. Victor Frankenstein brings misfortune to his loved ones, which concludes to his overall tragedy. Ironically the monster in this novel is Frankenstein the creator not the creature. He has seven victims including himself and his fall is due to his ambition to be superior.
Gender inequality will always affect the way women are portrayed in society, the weaker, unnecessary, and other sex. It is not just a subject of the past, but still holds a name in society, however in the olden eras the way women were treated and are looked at, in a much more harsh condition. In Shakespeare’s Othello and Shelley’s Frankenstein women’s roles in the books are solely based on the way they are treated in their time period. The way women are portrayed in these books, demonstrate that they can never be in the same standing as men, considered the second option, and therefore will never have the same respect as men. In both Othello and Frankenstein women are treated as property, used to better men’s social standards, and lack a voice,
The movie “Them” (1954) depicted monster as creatures who exhibit similar behaviors to humans, but are stronger and better at surviving. Similarly, the novel Frankenstein portrayed monster as a creature who is similar to a human, as in it has the same intelligences, survival behaviors, and overall body structure, but is stronger than humans. In both cases, the monster are a result of what a person or humans did, and they did not have any say in their creation. For example, Victor created the creature out of his own obsession and the giant ants were a consequence of nuclear material left over from a nuclear test. Furthermore, the creature did not choose to look the way he did and the giant ants did not choose to be giants. However, once their
“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 color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips,” would be classified as a monster.