Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Victor frankenstein character analysis essay
Frankenstein mary shelley chapter five analysis
How moral responsibility plays into frankenstein
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Cause of all Miseries
The infamous accident on the voyage across the Atlantic left the Titanic in ruins and hundreds of people dead. After hitting an iceberg, the great vessel gradually split in half and descended to the depths of the ocean. Had the crew better understood their proximity to the iceberg and also been prepared with enough lifeboats for all the passengers, they would not have crashed and, in the case of other possible accidents, easily evacuated everyone from the ship safely. The personnel working the ship failed to fulfill their duty of keeping the passengers and the vessel safe from danger because they were not responsible enough to handle the massive ocean liner nor were they prepared for the worst-case scenario. The actions and lack thereof of the crew and captain resulted in the tragic deaths of many, just as Victor’s actions led to lamentable results in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Victor’s irresponsibility caused his downfall. His lack of preparation and abandonment of his creation turned the creature evil. Once Victor had the chance to prevent the monster’s actions, he did not.
Victor’s determination of creating “life” made him ignorant of properly preparing for how to control his creation. Victor became increasingly immersed in his research, spending “days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue” working towards his goal of “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (38). Victor did not think about nor concern himself with anything besides his work, for he was deeply engrossed in his occupation (42). As he became more disillusioned with the thought of bringing life to a motionless figure, he did not ponder what his actions should be after his experiment was complete. Once his creature had been b...
... middle of paper ...
...or was not thinking of others in his actions, but only of himself. He did not consider the tumult the abnormally large creature could cause in the world, nor what the feelings of the monster would be towards him if he abandoned him. Victor also did not contemplate the safety of his friends, as he had the chance to stop the creature’s misdoings but failed to do so, risking the life of his friends. Therefore, Victor was a selfish being, who only concerned himself with his wishes and never evaluated the situation of his loved ones, ultimately causing their demise. The misfortunate events that occurred through Victor’s life could have been prevented, and also discontinued when Victor had the chance. However, Victor’s irresponsibility overcame these opportunities and he in turn, caused misfortunes for himself as well as his loved ones.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
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
In each of the movies, the comedy and the play, the monster has an abnormal brain and body parts from different people.&n a mind that is controlled by a mad scientist named Dr. Victor Frankenstein. That is why he should be blamed for the tragedy. & nbsp; Another fact that can be observed from the movies is Victor's initial confusion on how best to carry out the project. Since there are different versions, or sources of the story, it is interesting to see how each producer portrays Victor's role in the disaster. In Frankenstein, the play, it is not Victor who has the initial initiative, it is his lab partner. The in the name of science" to justify their acts of violating the dead. At the same time, his lab assistant is slowly getting pushed out of the picture. This is because of Victor's greed. Near the end of the play, it is evident that his lab assistant knows that the experiment is threatening human lives, and that Victor is blinded by his quest. The lab assistant tries to end it by killing the monster, but loses the battle; the monster instead kills him the monster before it kills anybody. Definitely, Victor is to blame. & nbsp; What is very interesting is how all the stories have different endings which relate to who is to blame. The different endings clearly show that the director or writer of each piece of work had a different view on Mary Shelley's original version. In Mary Shelley's version of Frankenstein, Victor loses the monster; the monster wanders off or runs away, and he has to close attention to the monster. The monster encounters William and Henry and kills them. When Victor finally realizes that he has made a mistake by giving life to a dead human, he searches for the monster, equipped with a gun. In the forest, Victor sees the monster, and right before he shoots him, says, "I shouldn't have created you in the first place," thinking that he has killed him. The monster comes back after Victor gets married You hurt me.
Victor is not able to see past the metaphorical clouds that seem to shroud his mind from seeing the truth. Furthermore, Victor is not able to let go of his hatred for the creature. In contrast, the creature admits, “But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless” (275). The creature is able to recognize that he has made mistakes and as a result, he loathes himself.
...s creation as a way of revenge and payback for all the distress he brought to the creature. The creature, beginning as the most innocent, is alienated by his creator and every individual who witnesses his presence. Finally, Victor isolates himself from his beloved ones in order to fulfill his ambitions. All these misfortunes are caused by the lack of moral decision making. Unfortunately, these decisions ruined the life of many people involved in Victor’s life. All these events are the proof of what people’s actions can result into when isolation is a major theme in one’s life.
Furthermore, after his creation breathes its first breath, Victor already despises it, which leads to his health’s deterioration and hatred of his previous love. His love quickly changes to despise when he says, “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardor that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (53). His statement shows how his heart does a complete 1800 and stops loving the monster the moment it lives. When Victor’s “…heart palpitated in the sickness of fear…” (54), it proves how his monster tormented his creator without having to be near him. Which also leads to the teaching of the lesson “think before you act”.
In Frankenstein, a gothic novel by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein has created this monster that has been killing all the relatives to Victor to make him suffer like the monster has suffered. The monster blames Victor for all that he has done, but Victor only created the monster. The monster knew what he was doing when he killed all those people; therefore, the monster should be more responsible for all he has done to Victor, and should be punished for murder.
In the book Frankenstein , Victor goes through many failures and tests to get the monster to come back from the dead. He went through a process of tests and gathering of body parts. First Victor had to learn about the topic of Philosophy and Physiology. In the book victor says, “ I Revolved around these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology” ( Shelly 18). He had to apply himself to different types of science to fully understand the ins and outs of human body which eventually led him to success. Later on Victor also makes discoveries of varieties of different chemicals to further escalate his goal of bringing life to a dead body. In the book Victor says , “ I made some discoveries in the improvement of some chemical instruments “ ( Shelly 18). At this point Victor is getting close to the bases of his project and closer to achieving his
In the story “Frankenstein” Victor Frankenstein is a scientist with little friends and he liked to be by himself. He created the hideous monster Frankenstein an 8 foot tall man. In this story Victor was a villain. He made his monster have a complete disregard for human kind, he had an obsession with playing God, and his selfishness throughout the novel are all evidence as to why Victor Frankenstein plays as the villain in the story.
Victor, impassioned and excited by science, does not realize the power of his actions because he sees himself as truly innocent. When recounting the beginnings of his tragic experience, he calls the words of the professor who inspired him “… the words of fate – enounced to destroy me,” (Shelley, 49), and even claims that “…none but those who have experienced them can conceive the enticements of science,” (Shelley, 51). Victor sees himself as innocent for creating the Creature, and does not care that any terrible deeds the monster performs would ultimately be the product of his own actions, as is he the creator. He claims, “I was surprised, that among so many men of genius who had directed their enquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret,” (Shelley, 51). In all of these cases, Victor blames the wonder of science for the creation of the Creature, and assumes no true responsibility as he could not control his passion and drive. Shelley shows the audience how using innocence in this way is extremely destructive, because it creates a realm in which excuses can be used to rectify just about any deed. Victor is abuses the concept of innocence by using it as a personal tool to gloss over his many mistakes so that he can aim his rage at
The sad tale of the creature begins with its creation. As soon as the creature opened his eyes for the first time, Victor was taken aback in horror and disgust. Victor fled to his room and threw himself on his bed, hoping to forget about the creature, if even for a little bit. When Victor woke up, he saw this: “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs.” (44). This shows just how ignorant Victor truly was to the fact that this creature was even a living being, let alone a humanlike being. The creature later says that he has trouble remembering his very early moments of being, although there is no doubt that this event left some sort of
One of the themes of the novel is judging people by superficial features. Victor's shallowness was his fatal flaw. His inability to look past his creatures appearance lays the groundwork for his destruction. Upon first laying eyes on his creature he says "now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” (35). Rejecting his creature, leaving it to fend for itself, was a tragic decision. His creature, abandoned, was left to the mercy of society, who like himself, rejected it.
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.
For this I had 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. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room…” (34) Victor’s obsession derives from his desire for praise and renown, and once he sees how vulgar and monstrous his creation is, and how the world would percieve him, he rejects it, disregarding the consequences of what he has done. The Creature is simply a victim of Victor’s selfish need for prominence; once Victor realizes the Creature would be of no use to him in his pursuit, he casts the Creature out to the dogs. The Creature is now at a disadvantage not only by his horrifying deformity that Victor so kindly gifted him with, but also he has no one to assist him in navigating the world. This wreckless