More handpicked essays just for you.
Monstrosity in nature frankenstein 1818
Critical analysis of the novel frankenstein
Monstrosity in nature frankenstein 1818
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The true monster of the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is Victor Frankenstein, as he possesses many of the characteristics which in total define a “monster”. The creation is born like any other child, an innocent baby, who has a goal of fitting in with the rest of society and being a success for his creator. Victor has an obsession of becoming the creator of a superior being and to become a god-like figure, as well as many other unnatural actions which are that of a monsters. Throughout the book Victor shows his selfishness and hostility towards both his loved ones and his creation which projects his monster-like traits. Mary Shelley many times hinted at the fact that Victor himself was the monster and the “evil character” and not his creation.
The creation was born as any other child is born, innocent to the world and from its hate. The
…show more content…
Victor’s creation murdered William leading to Justine being accused, and later executed. “Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause!” (68) Victor refused to tell the truth of who murdered William allowing Justine to be charged with murder. “Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness.” (157) Once again Victor is portrayed as a monster when he deprives his creation at a chance of love and compassion. Victor believes that when the creation tells him that he will be with Victor on his wedding night that it means the creation will kill Victor, not elizabeth. Victor once again lets his selfishness cloud his thoughts and allows the death of Elizabeth and Alphonse. Victor is never able to overcome his selfishness, greed, and hostility, when it came to his creation, making him seen as a monster in the eyes of the
I can't believe that the creature killed himself. In Grus Grimly's Frankenstein, a creature was made by a man named Victor Frankenstein in a laboratory. The creature was created because Victor mother had passed, and Victor wanted to figure out the way of life and death. The creature ends up making Victor miserable since the creature was isolated from everyone and had a lot of indignation inside of him that Victor has caused. The creature didn't have a name he was just called "creature." In my opinion, Victor should have named him because of he, not a creature; if you think about it he was a human.
Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams. Even as a child, he was very intelligent, studying the sciences and scientists of the past. But, as ambition caused the downfall of Julius Caesar, it caused the downfall of Victor Frankenstein. As the creator of his monster, he had responsibilities as a mother has towards her child. Out of pride, he ignored his responsibilities. Even after his ambitious mistake, had he acknowledged his responsibilities, he could have saved himself from destruction. He made significant mistakes out of pride and ambition that brought unhappiness and destruction to himself and his loved ones.
In Frankenstein, everyone treats Victor’s creation like a monster including Frankenstein himself. This leads to the creation accepting that title and going on a murder spree. His creation says “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation” (69). Victor’s creation shows that
Even though all humans run away from the monster, he wants to help Felix’s family as he believes “it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people” despite their being strangers. This show of kindness despite no previous experience of human kindness is truly laudable and suggest that the monster is innately nice. However, in return for the Monster’s kindness, Felix attacks the monster, who now feels betrayed by his “friend”. But the monster is so resilient and kind, he takes control of his emotions and “rushes from his hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved [a young girl] and dragged her to shore.” These acts of magnanimous rescue spring organically from a monster even though nobody ever teaches it the difference between right and wrong. However, Victor always considers himself before others. Even though Victor realizes that Justine is innocent, his first instinct is to protect himself as he declares, “ My tale is not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon with madness.”Besides his reputation, Victor had nothing to lose, but because of his selfishness and recklessness, Victor causes the death of Justine. In addition, Victor is so narcissistic that he does not notice that the monster has been attacking his family and friends, such as his “dearest Henry” and Clerval. When the Monster tells Victor, that he will be with him on his wedding night, Victor immediately exclaims, "Villain! Before you sign my death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe." To the reader, it is obvious that the monster will attack his fiance, Elizabeth, but believing that the monster will murder him, Victor thinks only of himself, and he does not even think about protecting the
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...
The monster of the novel is often misattributed with the name, “Frankenstein.” However, Victor Frankenstein can ultimately be considered the true monster of this tale. His obsession would lead to the corruption of his soul and the creation of two monsters—one himself, and the other, the creature. In attempting to take on the role of God, nature would become a monster to Victor and destroy his life. These elements of monstrosity in Frankenstein drive the meaning of its story.
Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Mary Shelley’s novel, is the creator of the monster. When Victor created the monster, he believed he created the monster for the betterment of humankind, but he actually created the monster because he desired to prove to the world that an average human can do Godly acts. The desire to create the monster goes back to Victor’s childhood. As a young kid, Victor’s passions always lied in science and chemistry and in college; he became obsessed with the idea of creating life out of inanimate objects. He then decided to specialize in Alchemy. Within Shelley’s book Frankenstein, Victor said:
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.
When Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is analyzed, critics comes to a conclusion about Victor Frankenstein's creation. The creature invokes the most sympathy from the readers than any other character in the novel. Because he is abandoned by society which manipulates the creature to do evil things despite his good heart. Therefore Shelley's message throughout the novel is that a person is not born evil, they are made evil.
Victor’s passion is to kill the creature which is contradictory to his responsibility of caring for it. Victor’s irresponsible lust for revenge motivates him to pursue the creature across the world. Victor “desired and ardently prayed that [he] might have him within [his] grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head” (Shelley 186). This shows the reader how dedicated Victor is to killing the creature. Victor fails to recognize that the destruction of his creature will not bring a solution to his conflict. In fact, Victor’s failure to take responsibility for his actions only worsens his conflict. In this situation, it seems that Victor does not even realize what his moral responsibility is. When plotting his revenge, Victor says, “to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence” (Shelley 189). This proves that Victor believes his moral responsibility is to actually kill his creation rather than care for him. As in every other case that Victor makes a poor decision based on passion, Victor must suffer through death. However, this time the life he must mourn is his own. When Victor realizes that he is running out of time to live he tells Walton, “The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed” (Shelley 204). The failure that Victor is
Monsters can come in various physical forms, but all monsters share the same evil mentality. A Monster is a being that harms and puts fear within people. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of how appearance does not determine whether a creature is a monster or not. In the story, Victor Frankenstein tries to change nature by creating a super human being. The being appears to be a monster. Victor becomes so obsessed with his creation and then rejects it. Victor is the real monster because of his desire for power, lack of respect for nature, and his stubbornness.
Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein, is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise. 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.
In the book, the reader comes to find that Victor Frankenstein emulates this human nature, to betray. Victor shows his betrayal by creating life out of death, and by leaving his creation as soon as it is brought into the world- just for being displeasing to the eye. Although the Monster was considered the pinnacle of betrayal, the real monster was Victor Frankenstein himself, and the human nature that he universally
Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams for himself, but this characteristic was the cause of his downfall. He had a ruthless desire to obtain forbidden knowledge- a knowledge that only God was worthy of having. This lead him to lock himself in his laboratory, disregarding his family, friends, and health. His one purpose was to create life. In his quest to create a human being and bestow the power of life, Victor eventually did create a creature, but this lead to a situation
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses the motif of monstrosity to convey the theme that a person’s outward appearance is not what makes them a monster but rather their actions or inactions that classify true monstrosity. Despite the fact that the monster Victor Frankenstein creates is a literal example of monstrosity in the novel there are many parts that give meaning to monstrosity within character’s actions. Although Victor appears normal, since he is human his ambitions, secrets, selfishness, and inaction makes him a monster himself. Along with monstrous characters the pursuit of knowledge that is seen in Victor, his monster, and Walton in Frankenstein prove that knowledge can be a monstrosity. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is created using the life stories of different characters in the novel. The novel itself could be seen as a monster created similarly to Victor’s monster.