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Victims and victimization
Chapter 3 victims and victimization
Victims and victimization
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Maturity and Accepting Responsibility; Can Victor Admit to the Creation of the Creature? Throughout history society has shown that it is hard to accept responsibility for actions taken by individuals or by society as a whole, for example, the way America likes to cover its harsh backstory involving slavery or Germany and how it supported Adolf Hitler. But it has also been seen that to embrace these mistakes to demonstrate that society is truly mature. In the story Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, Victor is relentlessly unwilling to accept fault for the death of his family by the creature and therefore does not show that he is truly mature. This is shown by his desire to push the creature away, his unwillingness to tell his family about it, and …show more content…
When Justine is put on trial for murdering William, Frankenstein dose not tell his family that it is the creature, but allows them to be the “first hapless victims to my hallowed arts” (Shelly 71). This shows that he does not care about the damage that could be done to his family by not telling them. Also, by not telling them, it leads to the deaths of two of his family members. Later when Frankenstein finally finds the creature again, it mocks at him saying “I grasped his throat (William’s), and in a moment he laid dead at my feet.” (Shelly 122) This confirms his suspicions of the creature killing William and shows how much the creature hates Victor. It also shows that if he would have told his family about the creation of the creature William may have survived along with Justine. Also Victor tells Elizabeth he has a “tale of misery and terror” that he will tell her “the day after our marriage” (Shelly 167) This was a start for Victor towards telling his family by telling his soon to be wife about the creature. However, it was to little to late as it did not stop her from dying by the creature’s hands. By refusing to tell his family about the monster he further endangers the lives of his family and takes blame off of himself for creating the being that has killed his family
The monster tells Frankenstein of the wretchedness of the world and how it was not meant for a being such as himself. At the end of his insightful tale the creature demands a companion of the same hideous features but of the opposite gender to become his. Victor only has the choice to make the monster or suffer a lifetime of horror his creation would bring upon him. Which the creator ultimately agrees to make the female monster to save the lives of his family but gains a conscious that fills with guilt of all the destruction he has created and creating. When the monster comes to collect the female he tears her apart and the monster vows to destroy all Victor holds dear. The monster’s emotional sense is consumed with rage against Victor, murdering Frankenstein’s best friend. Though when the monster’s framing ways do not work to lead to Victor being executed, he then murders Frankenstein’s wife on their wedding night. This tragedy is the last for Victor’s father who becomes ill with grief and quickly passes within a few days, leaving Victor with nothing but his own regret. Shelley doesn’t give the audience the monsters side of the story but hints that the remainder of his journey consisted of being a shadow to that of his creator. It is at the graves of the Frankenstein family when the creature makes an appearance in the solemn and
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
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.
Mary Shelley refers to her most famous work, “Frankenstein,” as her “hideous progeny” (Shelley, 169). Her creation—the novel—mirrors Victor’s since they are both considered “hideous.” Shelley’s terming of the novel reveals her insecurities about her creation, much like Victor about his. Shelley calls the novel hideous like a form of self-deprecation. She let this novel “loose” like Victor let his creature “loose” on society, unsure of how it would be perceived. Her insecurities lie in the fact that she is a female author. Female authors were criticized and considered inferior to their male counterparts. This also displays her insecurities about childbirth, due to the death of her own mother through childbirth and having experienced a miscarriage
Victor Frankenstein is innocent. There is no doubt in my mind that Victor Frankenstein is innocent for the murder of Justine, Elizabeth, and William. They were in fact killed by a man named, “The Creature.” He in fact killed the two of them to get revenge on the man who created him. The Creature was angry that everyone thought that he was ugly, and hated to be around him. It all started when Dr. Henry Clerval told Victor Frankenstein not to make the Creature because he would be one that destroys everything. Victor then got Dr. Clerval’s Journal after he had died, and he started to make the Creature. Once the Creature was all assembles and born he was brought to life by Frankenstein. Frankenstein was then afraid of his own creation and fled the lab. The creature then got out and found some clothes and made his way to the country side where he then found his way to the little house in the woods where the De Lacey family lived.
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 a result of Victor’s secrecy, he becomes completely fixed on the creation of his creature, he does not inform anyone of the danger posed by the monster, and he is unable to tell anyone about the creature for fear of not being taken seriously. Victor’s secrecy during and after the creation of his monster indirectly causes several deaths. While the monster is primarily responsible for the deaths of his victims, Victor’s concealment allows the monster to commit and get away with his murders easily.
As surprising as that is to hear, the way society reacts to events absolutely plays a massive role in the future decisions of those who initiated the original events. For example, “Someone plays a loud movie in a crowded train. Someone litters in a public area. Someone jumps the line to a music club. These are examples of social norm violations with negative consequences for other people in the same group or same environment” (Eriksson). The idea behind this concept is that if someone severely violates a societal normalcy, then someone will speak up against the person who broke the norm. On paper this sounds fantastic, until you apply the same logic to the world of Frankenstein. When talking about littering at a train station, the study “When is it Appropriate to Reprimand a Norm Violation? The Roles of Anger, Behavioral Consequences, Violation Severity, and Social Distance” states “A survey among passengers showed that they tended to believe that the more severe violation should be more strongly reprimanded” (Eriksson). So even after Victor has quite literally played God and left a trail of bodies in the wake of his decisions, it is surprising that not a single person speaks out against him. If no one ever told him that what he was doing was wrong, then he would never learn from his mistakes. Victor continually breaks these social norms because no one ever tells him he
In Frankenstein, Victor’s monster suffers much loneliness and pain at the hands of every human he meets, as he tries to be human like them. First, he is abandoned by his creator, the one person that should have accepted, helped, and guided him through the confusing world he found himself in. Next, he is shunned wherever he goes, often attacked and injured. Still, throughout these trials, the creature remains hopeful that he can eventually be accepted, and entertains virtuous and moral thoughts. However, when the creature takes another crushing blow, as a family he had thought to be very noble and honorable abandons him as well, his hopes are dashed. The monster then takes revenge on Victor, killing many of his loved ones, and on the humans who have hurt him. While exacting his revenge, the monster often feels guilty for his actions and tries to be better, but is then angered and provoked into committing more wrongdoings, feeling self-pity all the while. Finally, after Victor’s death, the monster returns to mourn the death of his creator, a death he directly caused, and speaks about his misery and shame. During his soliloquy, the monster shows that he has become a human being because he suffers from an inner conflict, in his case, between guilt and a need for sympathy and pity, as all humans do.
Victor Frankenstein is a complex character that we have come to learn more about while reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. He is a man that seems to have this fervent desire to do what suits him best without regard to what others may think. Victor’s brother William has been murdered and a childhood friend is to pay the price of his death. After sighting what is assumed as the creature created by Victor, Victor is panged with guilt that these events are his fault. If he is correct, then he would be justified in feeling this way because Victor is selfish, stubborn, and lacks compassion for others around him. Victors actions all lead up to the demise of William and Justine.
Social and Individual Responsibility in Frankenstein Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in a time of wonder. The main wonder was whether you could put life back into the dead. Close to the topic of bringing life back into the dead was whether you could create your own being, like selective breeding, but a bit more powerful. Close to where Mary lived, there was a man named Vultair who was experimenting with putting electricity through frogs to see if they could come back to life. With that going on close to her, as well as the fear of a revolution and the pressure on her to think of a ghost story, it is not surprising she thought of a horror story that would still be popular in the 21st Century.
Victor considers himself to be responsible for the murder of both William and Justine. On the night Victor returns to Geneva, he saw the frightening monster around where William had been murdered (50). Victor concluded that it was all his fault because if he hadn't of created the monster, his brother wouldn't of been killed. The monster framed Justine of murdering William by putting his picture of his mother in Justine's pocket (56). This made Justine look guilty and the court sentenced her to death because of it (60). At the end of chapter 8, Victor Frankenstein bestows the responsibilities of the deaths by directly saying this, "I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts" (60).
He knows that he is responsible for it’s existence from the line, “a being whom [himself] had formed, and endued with life” (Shelley 60) but does not consider himself a factor when it comes to the deaths of William and Justine. At this point of the story Frankenstein mostly talks about how much he hates the monster instead of the possible danger his family is now put in, while he cannot help but feel guilty because the creature that he created has already killed two people he held dearly he still does not acknowledge his responsibility for the monster’s actions.
The novel Frankenstein demonstrates a connection between taking personal responsibility and the snowball effect. Certain circumstances throughout the novel where responsibility is not taking results in a situation in which something good or bad increased at an exponential rate. An example of this from the story would be when Victor Frankenstein did not take responsibility for the monster and the monster began to unintentionally scare and kill people. If Victor were to take responsibility from the beginning, the majority of the monsters actions could have been avoided, therefore avoiding situations from increasing exponentially. Those who took responsibility were also affected, both physically and mentally. The novel Frankenstein shows a connection
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally, Victor as a Gothic novel, Victor is at fault, because, he and the creature are two different parts of the same person. If Frankenstein is looked at as a romantic novel, Victor, not the creature, is truly the villain. When Victor created the creature, he didn't take responsibility for it. He abandoned it, and left it to fend for itself. It is unfair to bring something into the world, and then not teach it how to survive. The creature was miserable, and just wanted a friend or someone to talk to. On page 115, the creature said, "Hateful day when I received life! Accursed the creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust." This line shows the agony the monster was in, because of how he looked when he was created which led to even Victor running away from him. If Victor didn't run, he could have taught the monster and made his life happy. After the creature scared the cottagers away he said, "I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter ...