In Mary Shelley’s eerie story of the mad scientist Frankenstein and his creation, it is easy to recall the violent crimes the creature perpetrated. It is a common misconception of the reader to deem him as evil based on a few, crucial actions and by his monstrous appearance, but is he the real monster in the story? The creature is created by Victor Frankenstein, who leaves him without any remorse. Victor’s lack of any concern for others allows for the creature to poison his family and friends, bringing death and disaster. Victor Frankenstein’s antagonistic role in the story is supported by his narcissism due to his way of being oblivious to putting his loved ones in danger, his inability to admit his faults, and his refusal to take any responsibility …show more content…
for his actions. Frankenstein is first depicted as a pathological narcissist shown by his infatuation of the idea of bringing inanimate objects back to life.
Victor’s obsession is driven by his belief that he possesses knowledge that no other human can possibly obtain without him. This enlarged ego causes the downfall of his sanity as he becomes consumed in his single pursuit of creating life. Victor believes he has found a way to, “renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (Shelley 32). He falls deeper into his consuming passion, becoming a slave to his own ego, as he attempts to develop a method to cheat death. He slowly drifts away from his family and friends to work on his own projects in isolation. Victor’s true character is made blatantly obvious when he exploits his arrogance saying that, “A new species would bless me [Frankenstein] as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their’s” (32). Victor does not care for the potential positive effects his research could have for the scientific community and beyond. He is solely concerned for the praise and recognition he believes he “rightfully” deserves. Victor craves to receive eternal affection from a “new” species that will see him as the God he sees himself to
be. Frankenstein exhibits the human fault of selfishness as he evades responsibility. The moment the creature comes to life, Victor shudders in horror from the monster’s hideous appearance. He immediately flees his laboratory and starts trying to deny its very existence. Frankenstein again shows his self-absorbed nature when he already refuses to acknowledge his “imperfect” creation. He is unable to admit his failed attempt at what he first thought to be a beautiful work of art. After being abandoned by his ashamed “father,” the creature looks to explore. He stumbles upon the younger brother of Frankenstein, William, while scavenging for food. Startled, the creature goes into an uncontrollable rage and accidently kills William, framing Justine, the innocent servant for the Frankensteins. Justine’s trial was also a test of Victor’s character. He failed miserably because of his refusal to defend Justine’s innocence, or at the least admit the actual murderer. With Justine wrongly accused of killing William, she is set to take the blame since no one is aware of the lurking creation of Victor’s. Frankenstein admits he, “was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of crime" (112), for keeping quiet of William’s murderer. With his ego overpowering any conscience of his, he is unable to take any responsibility or blame for Justine's death. Victor is too preoccupied with being seen in a negative light that he is willing to let Justine die for a crime that she did not commit. After losing his younger brother, it is still very hard to feel for sympathy Victor because of his refusal to take any responsibility for his creature’s actions. His selfish decisions have now already cost the lives of both his younger brother, and a beloved servant to his family. Victor’s narcissistic nature leaves him blinded and his newly wedded wife vulnerable. When the creature vows that, "I will be with you on your wedding-night!" (116). Frankenstein, of course, imagines the threat is directed against him. His ego prevents him from seeing the creature’s true intentions of killing Elizabeth once she is married to Victor. He sees his own death as the creature’s final goal and “top prize” so he proceeds to send his wife off to the bedroom while he continues on a nervous walk outside awaiting his creation. As time passes, Victor, “discovered no trace of him, and was beginning to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces; when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream. It came from the room where Elizabeth had retired. As I heard it, the whole truth rushed into my mind…” (135). It was not up until that single moment, did it ever cross his mind that it could be Elizabeth the creature is after. Clouded by his ego, Victor is not able to see that he is sending his wife to her deathbed. The same ignorance he shows when he originally releases the creature into the world becomes prevalent once again. He is so insistent on remaining “righteous” that he refuses to see the danger he continuously puts his family and friends into. Victor Frankenstein’s narcissistic character is what causes death and disaster, destroying his own being and the people around him in an obsessive and delirious pursuit of divine power. Victor loses all sense of reality and makes his life mission to destroy the very thing he once devoted his entire time to create. Frankenstein’s ego causes him to deny his mistakes and give death sentences to all the people he cares most for. The idea of creating life from inanimate objects was Victor’s ticket to praise, but instead, took a turn for the worst and poisoned any aspirations of godly standings in society.
In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein the protagonist Victor Frankenstein creates a monster. The monster in the novel is deprived of a normal life due to his appearance. Like the creature, some serial killers today are killers due to the same rejection. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that a childhood of abuse and neglect will often result in evil actions.
Victor Frankenstein: The Real Monster. & nbsp; Science is a broad field that covers many aspects of everyday life and existence. Some areas of science include the study of the universe, the environment, dinosaurs, animals, and insects. Another popular science is the study of people and how they function. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is an inspiring scientist who studies the dead. He wants to be the first person to give life to a dead human being. He spends all of his Frankenstein is to blame for the tragedy, not the monster he has created, because he is the mastermind behind the whole operation, and he is supposed to have everything under control, working properly as a good scientist should. & nbsp; Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that followed the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being.  something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and & nbsp; I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I 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. (156) & nbsp; Victor is saying that he has isolated himself for two years and in the end, he is not at all happy because of the bad outcome. He also adds, "Winter, spring and summer passed.so deeply was I engrossed in my occupation" (156). By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, never going out, but mostly worrying about his success, he has got himself crazier. This has made him lose sight of his surroundings and judgment & nbsp; Moreover, the monster should not be held responsible for killing Victor's family members and friends as shown in the book and movie, because it is Victor who has brought a dead creature back to life. He expects the monster to know everything when he wakes up cool, calm, and collected. But when the monster is awakened, he does not know anything. He sees a world different from what he is used to, which makes him get nervous and scared, so he&nb has removed him from dead. With the dawning of life, the monster has to learn about his new environment. In the play of Frankenstein, the monster starts to gradually get used to things. The problems he encounters are with Victor's assistant, Peter Krempe, Victor's friend, Henry, and other family members, including Elizabeth, and these are reactions to how these people treat him. These reactions are clearly shown in the movie of Young Frankenstein, where Victor tries to teach the monster how to live like to show off the monster to an audience in a dance routine of sorts. But then people start to scream, panic and throw things at the monster, so he reacts by attacking them to defend himself. In this case, it is clear that Victor tries to push the monster too hard because he wants to be famous.
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.
The fact that Frankenstein’s creation turns on him and murders innocent people is never overlooked; it has been the subject of virtually every popularization of the novel. What is not often acknowledged is the fact that Frankenstein himself embodies some of the worst traits of humankind. He is self-centered, with little real love for those who care about him; he is prejudiced, inflexible and cannot forgive, even in death. While some of these traits could be forgivable, to own and flaunt them all should be enough to remind a careful reader that there are two "monsters" in Frankenstein.
After Frankenstein discovered the source of human life, he became wholly absorbed in his experimental creation of a human being. Victor's unlimited ambition, his desire to succeed in his efforts to create life, led him to find devastation and misery. "...now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished..." (Shelley 51). Victor's ambition blinded him to see the real dangers of his project. This is because ambition is like a madness, which blinds one self to see the dangers of his actions. The monster after realizing what a horror he was demanded that victor create him a partner. "I now also began to collect the materials necessary for my new creation, and this was like torture..." (Shelley 169). Victor's raw ambition, his search for glory, has left him. His eyes have been opened to see his horrible actions, and what have and could become of his creations. As a result, Victor has realized that he is creating a monster, which could lead to the downfall of mankind. His choice is simple, save his own life or save man.
He toils endlessly in alchemy, spending years alone, tinkering. However, once the Creature is brought to life, Frankenstein is no longer proud of his creation. In fact, he’s appalled by what he’s made and as a result, Frankenstein lives in a perpetual state of unease as the Creature kills those that he loves and terrorizes him. Victor has realized the consequences of playing god. There is irony in Frankenstein’s development, as realized in Victor’s desire to destroy his creation. Frankenstein had spent so much effort to be above human, but his efforts caused him immediate regret and a lifetime of suffering. Victor, if he had known the consequences of what he’s done, would have likely not been driven by his desire to become better than
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.
Victor as the True Murderer in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Mary Shelley wrote the book Frankenstein between June 1816 and May 1817 after a trip to Switzerland in the summer of 1816 with a group of young English writers and intellectuals, during which an agreement between the group to each write a story of the supernatural was drawn. up. Then he was a snob. This agreement was later abandoned by most of the others.
In the classic horror Frankenstein, Mary Shelley distorts the role of the antagonist and protagonist. By depicting her antagonizing character known simply as the creature or at times the monster as a lonesome unnatural being, reluctantly existing outside of society a sympathy is provoked and the murderous creation though frightening, becomes more of an underdog than a villain. In a similar fashion, Shelley's protagonist the mad scientist Victor Frankenstein, who's ambition to create life artificially is fulfilled only for his cruel and superficial behavior to gradually manifest displaying his neglect and distain for his child, becomes less of a hero and more of a villain. Although distorted, the opposing forces of antagonist and protagonist remain true throughout this tragic eighteenth century tale. Though Shelley’s literal monster is not a hero he is made so only when compared to her ruthlessly determined man of science, the monster’s villainous father, Victor Frankenstein.
Because of Victor’s need for fame and desire for power leads to Victor becoming a monster. Victor begins his quest to bring life to a dead person because he does not want anyone to feel the pain of a loved ones death. At first he is not obsessed with his project. As he moves along in the project he thinks about what will happen to him. "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." (Shelley 39) He realizes that he will become famous if he accomplishes the task of bringing a person back to life. The realization that he will become famous turns him into an obsessive monster. He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator. He isolates himself from his family and works on the creature. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I 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 156) By spending most of his time inside on his experiment, he has no time to write or contact his family. He puts fear within his family because they fear for him.
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.
Thesis: In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor’s narcissistic personality inspires his monstrous actions which inadvertently cause nothing but destruction to himself and others; this suggests that a real monster is one who selfishly puts his or her needs before the needs of others, regardless of the cost.
the way home he saw a giant beast running from a barn. He realized this was his
Dr. Victor Frankenstein has always wanted to achieve great things—achieve them and be acknowledged for them. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein’s ambition pushes him to extreme, unorthodox measures, which leads to his obsession of getting noticed. It makes him create a monster from body parts of the dead. To make such a discovery, Frankenstein must possess almost superhuman intelligence and focus. However, once his creature was brought to life, his behavior in his research make it clear that he is remarkably short-sighted and irresponsible on a fundamental human level. When the monster turns violent and vengeful, killing everyone Frankenstein holds dear, it is clear that the monster should not be held responsible.
Victor Frankenstein changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by science into a guilt-ridden man determined to destroy his creation. Whether it is his desire to have the godlike power to create new life or his avoiding the types of sciences done in public, Victor’s lack of humanness is his downfall. He isolates himself from the world and eventually he dedicates himself with a nonhuman obsession will getting revenge on his creation. At the end of the novel, Victor tells his story to Robert Walton and then dies. With multiple narrators and multiple perspectives, the novel gives the reader contrasting versions of Victor: the classic mad scientist, who destroys all boundaries without concern, and the brave adventurer of unknown sciences, who should not to be held responsible for the consequences of his explorations.