In the horror fiction novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is ultimately the creation he fears. Victor isolates himself to prioritize his new discovery, refuses to acknowledge the consequences of his actions and becomes so obsessed with destroying his creation that it drives him insane. Victor's ambitious scientific pursuit drags him from a knowledgeable man to a tormented monster. While Victor begins working on his creation, he isolates himself from friends and family, “for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (35). Victor knows his silence “disquiets” those he pushes away. However, this doesn’t impact his focus on creation. Victor deprives himself of rest and health for his scientific pursuit. As a result, his headspace …show more content…
William, Henry and Elizabeth are all murdered by the monster while Justine gets falsely accused and executed for the murder of William. However, Victor doesn’t try to protect his loved ones from the monster and instead tries to face the monster head on. The monster explains to Victor how he is lonely and needs another monster to fill his void. Victor gives into the monster's wishes and creates another monster even after knowing what happened to his mental and physical health the time before. This shows a loss of sensibility in Victor since he started his scientific endeavor. Anyone in their right mind would have just protected their loved ones, rather than creating a bigger problem. At this point, Victor is “unable to endure the aspect of the being I have created.” (36). Therefore, he feels the need to completely destroy it. After the monster destroys everything in Victor's life, Victor's end goal is to destroy the monster for good. This puts Victor in the worst physical and mental state he has ever been in. Victor’s “present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost”
Victor's gradual descent towards the dark side of the human psyche is clearly portrayed through Shelley's writing. As stated in previous discussions, Victor's original motivation in pursuing a career in the science field was purely out of love for the world of science and a true passion for acquiring knowledge. However, as the novel continues, we witness his motives go from authentic to impure. As such, we delve into the dark side. His pursuit of knowledge and his creation of the monster are all on the purer or perhaps lighter side of the psyche. It isn't until he abandons him that we begin to see him cross over. His choices to abandon the creature, to let someone else to die for its crimes, to create it a companion only to kill her, to allow the ones he loved to die at its hand, and to still refuse to claim it in the end are all acts
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
Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.
As he goes off to college, interested in the science behind life and death, he ends up going his own way and attempts to create a living being. Victor “had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (Shelley 43). The being Victor has created does not by any means sit well with him. As victor is away from his family and for six years, he is neglectful to them, which only adds to his sorrow and misery. Victor’s isolation is brought upon him because of himself, however his creation, or “the monster”, is isolated from any connections with humans against his will. To start out, the monster would have had Victor there with him, but Victor is ashamed of what he has created, and abandons the monster. The monster is a very hideous being, which sadly is a contributing factor to his isolation. With nobody to talk to at any time, naturally this will be condescending and frustrating. Although the monster is able to
Victor’s lack of compassion and sympathy towards the monster causes him to become angry instead of guilty. His cruelness to his creation made the monster kill and hurt the people he did but “when [he] reflected on [the monster’s] crimes and malice, [Victor’s] hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation,”(Shelley 325). Without compassion Victor thinks that the only way to stop the monster is to get revenge on him, instead of just giving him the empathy and kindness that monster craved. Victor realizes that "if he were vanquished, [he] should be a free man...balanced by those horrors of remorse and guilt which would pursue [him] until death. ”(Shelley 731).
Victor experiences very little joy at all after the creation of the monster. He suffers from numerous bouts of depression, he most tolerate the deaths of his brother, best friend, and wife, all of which were murdered at the hands of the monster. His friend Justine is executed because of the death of William, for which she is falsely accused and convicted. His father also dies after the murder of Elizabeth, Victor's ill-fated bride. With so much death surrounding his life, how is it possible that Victor could still be cognizant of his actions when he decides to pursue the monster and end its violent fury? He can't. Victor's mind is so clouded by the sorrow and pain of his past that he is blinded to the fact that he is attempting to destroy a creature with far greater physical strength and speed than any mortal. Much of his conflict appears to be created by the monster, when in fact the torment comes from Victor's own hands because he himself created and gave life to the monster.
It is through these actions that the monster acts out his evil doings and murders those that Victor loves. The monster does this because he wants to seek revenge on Victor and wants to make him pay for neglecting him all throughout his life. The monster is seen as awful and evil in every aspect by every person, but if he was nurtured and cared for by Victor, and the human societies didn’t initially judge him based on his appearance, he could have kept the goodness that he originally had when he was
Is there a point of suffering too extreme to recover from? In Frankenstein, the creatures goal is acceptance in society. Victor’s goal is to protect his loved ones, but when the creature kills them all, Victor seeks revenge. Mary Shelley uses characterization, allusions, and metaphors of eternal hell to show escaping suffering becomes impossible once one’s optimism about life is shattered. Is there a purpose in life once all optimism is lost? Characters throughout the book all deal with their own misfortunes and difficulties, but it is what they make of their situation which makes all the difference.
The monster, enraged by the fact that Victor destroyed his female companion, kills Henry and Elizabeth. These deaths causes Victor to fall deeply into despair; his hatred for the monster and his deep grief grows until it completely controls his personality. Victor’s id took hold of his decisions in the form of revenge. Victor states that, “revenge kept me alive; I dared not die and leave my adversary in being.”(171). His id made the decision that Victor should hunt down the monster and kill him at all costs. Without thinking rationally or about the dangers he rushed after the monster into a land of ice and snow. As he chased after the monster he didn’t think rationally or use his superego and ego. His id had overpowered his two other psychic zones and this caused his personality to be unhealthy and unbalanced.Watson was with Victor on his deathbed and he wrote, “His voice became fainter as he spoke; and at length, exhausted by his efforts he sunk into silence...he pressed my hand feebly, and his eyes closed for ever.”(182). Victor unhealthy psychic zones and the stress he put on his body during his chase lead to his
The Monster starts to take action and starts to go crazy/ berserk and later on in the novel begins to kill Victor’s family. The Monster kills Victor’s little brother William out of jealously and confusion. The quote on page 58 states,” William is dead! That sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay. Victor he is murdered!” This quote shows that Victor is starting to feel repent, remorse, and guilt for the death of his brother and that he should be held responsible for his death. The character of Justine is falsely accused of the murder of William and she gets executed because of this. The quote on page 81 says,” The weight upon my spirit was sensibly lightened as I plunged yet deeper in the ravine of Arve,” which probably meant that Victor feels at fault for Justine’s death and that he should be held responsible for her death. Because Victor created the Monster he should be held accountable for the murders of both Justine and William. The Monster is not the actual monster of the novel. Victor is the true monster because he was the individual who created the monster that was responsible for the murder of his brother William and
The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein is a man full of knowledge and has a strong passion for science. He pushes the boundary of science and creates a monster. Knowledge can be a threat when used for evil purposes. Though Victor did not intend for the being to be evil, society’s judgement on the monster greatly affects him. As a result he develops hatred for his creator as well as all man-kind. Victor’s anguish for the loss of his family facilitates his plan for revenge to the monster whom is the murderer. While traveling on Robert Walton’s ship he and Victor continue their pursuit of the monster. As Victor’s death nears he says, “…or must I die, and he yet live? If I do, swear to me Walton, that he shall not escape, that you will seek him and satisfy my vengeance in his death…Yet, when I am dead if he should appear, if the ministers of vengeance should conduct him to you, swear that he shall not live-swear that he shall not triumph over my accumulated woes and survive to add to the list of his dark crimes” (pg.199). Victor grieves the death of William, Justine, Clerval, Elizabeth and his father. Throughout the novel he experiences the five stages of grief, denial/ isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Victor denies ...
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the demented scientist, Victor Frankenstein, drives himself mad after creating a paradox that ultimately destroys his life as well as the lives of those he loved the most. Frankenstein tells his story to a captain he meets by the name of Robert Walton as a warning not to meddle into the unknown. Victor tells him how he wanted this beast to look to him as its God, and how that stimulated his fixation from the very beginning. He allows the power to consume his whole existence.
After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster's solitude, the monster is overcome with suffering and sadness. These feelings affected his state of mind and caused him to do wrong things. He did not deserve to see his one and only mate be destroyed.
He had asked Victor to create him another monster as a companion and if he doesn’t keep his promise, then he will be miserable. When Victor goes to England with the intention of creating this promised monster, his friend Henry follows him. After several months, Victor destroys the half created creature and this upsets the monster very much so because he wants this companion. When he kills Henry, the monster distinctly planned it so that Victor would be blamed for the murder. Through all this confusion on who killed Henry, Victor knew all along that the monster did it. At this point, Victor knew that he must return to Geneva to protect his family whom he loved very much (Shelley 181). Since this monster killed Henry, Victor knew that his family was now is in danger. The monster is very happy that Victor is having to suffer because, Victor is now feeling the loneliness that he feels all the time. Though the monster’s character is not evil, the pain he feels is what he wants his creator to feel. His revenge only increases throughout the book because he is only longing for a fellow companion that Victor can only give him, but yet he is choosing not to create it. The anger that is within the monster is only growing and this is increasing the possibilities of him hurting more
In Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale women are given very little control or freedom, this makes friends stand out even more, as they risk being punished and sent off to death islands. The main character Offred has lost everything she once knew, he family, her job, her freedom, and she is made to live as a handmaid, whose sole purpose is to help the human population reproduce. The regime known as Gilead says they promote the solidarity of women, but in fact because of the way the society is set up and the idea that a woman is only useful if she produces a baby causes a lot of jealousy and distrust, especially among the handmaids. This is precisely what makes Offred and Moria’s friendship so special, as bonds like their do not exist in GIlead, no one dares to get close to another