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Literary analysis for frankenstein
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Character development in Frankenstein
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The Untrustworthiness of Victor Frankenstein and the Monster
The novel “Frankenstein” is a story of death, darkness, and terror. It was written by Mary Shelley when she was around 18. For this paper I will be talking about two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and the monster. Both Victor and the monster were consumed with what they wanted. This leads them to becoming untrustworthy.
Victor was consumed with trying to find the secrets of life. Being so consumed made him an untrustworthy character. He cared more about his creations and discoveries then he did about revealing his secrets to his family even when it cost people their lives. When Victor told his father, “My dear father, you are mistaken; Justine is innocent.” (Shelley, 53)
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His father replied that if she was innocent, then she would be set free. Instead of telling his father who the murderer was, Victor didn’t say anything. Victor also held back secrets from Elizabeth after they got married.
He did say to her that he had something to tell her, but instead of telling her, he just said “Ah! If you knew what I have suffered, and what I may yet endure, you would endeavor to let me taste the quiet and freedom from despair that this one day at least permits me to enjoy.” (Shelley, 140) He could’ve told her everything he did, but he didn’t. He was deceptive in his marriage. Revealing everything and being completely open with a marriage partner is expected for true love. If Victor could have been completely honest with anyone it should have been his wife. Later in the novel, Victor hesitantly agrees to create a mate for the monster, even though he told the monster he wouldn’t do it. However, he then destroyed it before it was given life. Notice though he still truly attempted to create another monster. Victor is acting independently of any counsel and he is focused on what he wants, or thinks is right at any moment. The story is told …show more content…
in the first person giving us only Victor’s view of himself. He would be a more trustworthy character if we had others views of him shared more in the story too. He was so consumed with what he had done in creating the monster and his studies that he held back truth in critical moments when he should’ve told the truth. Because he kept secrets and wasn’t honest and truthful, Victor is untrustworthy. In the novel, the Monster is consumed with trying to find friendship and acceptance.
His part of the of the story is in from his view point too. The monster did seek others help unlike Victor, but he was not completely honest with them. He allowed his desire for acceptance to consume him and make him bitter. Upon saving a human, then being shot for doing so he said, “This was the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness, which I had entertained but a few moments before, gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted.” (Shelley, 101) In the novel the reader also reads, “If, therefore, I could seize him and educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be so desolate in this peopled earth.” (Shelley, 102) The monster wanted to train William to be his friend. He thought that since William’s mind was young, he wouldn’t know about deformity, and ugliness. The monster even said himself, “I do not intend to hurt you; listen to me.” (Shelley, 102) He had no intentions of hurting William. Yet when William told him he was from the Frankenstein family and started insulting him, he ended up murdering William. Also, in the novel the monster promised Victor that
he would “go to the vast wilds of South America” if Victor created a mate for him to live with. (Shelley, 105) Considering what the monster has done in the past, this does not seem like a trustworthy proposal. A promise that the monster did keep is when he told Victor, “but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night.” (Shelley,123) Because of all the rejection and hatred the monster received, he became untrustworthy. Also, in the novel, the monster stumbled across a village when was wondering. The monster was hoping to befriend the inhabitants in a cottage across the road where he was living. The monster attempted to make friends with them but was violently rejected by them. Later when he found out the family moved out of the cottage, he burnt down the cottage. He was full of rage, unpredictable, and dangerous. Based on his actions, it is easy to determine that the monster is not a trustworthy character. In conclusion, we can see that both the Monster and Victor were untrustworthy characters. Victor was so focused on creating life and his past mistakes that he held back secrets, lied, and wasn’t truthful. The monster was so focused on finding friends and being accepted that upon being rejected he became completely untrustworthy because he became a murderer who was full of rage.
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
On his search for Victor he came across the little brother of his creator and kills him. “‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim’…and in a moment he lay dead at my feet” (Shelley, 131). He killed the little boy to force Victor to feel all of the pain that he had felt. He did not show anymore compassion because all he wanted was revenge from Victor and to make him feel the same way that he had felt. The desire for revenge only strengthened as he approached
In the novel "Frankenstein," Victor Frankenstein is the creator of a "monster." Because of his thirst for knowledge, he goes too far and creates a huge monster, which he immediately rejects. This rejection plays a major part in the monster's hatred for humans. The author, Mary Shelley, supports the theme, loss of innocence, through plot, setting and characterization. This paper will explain the many ways that the characters lost their innocence throughout the novel.
...ou, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor—’” (Shelley 129). Victor feels guilty for the actions of his creation but is too much of a coward to confess to anyone about what he has done. His selfishness and secrecy cause his friends to suffer and also make him a tragic hero within the novel.
Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that follow 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. This is obviously 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 finding out what he is doing. At the end of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor says:
If Victor had stayed around and showed the monster the real world, he might have not have went on to perform violent actions. This portrays Victor as a selfish character and gives more of an insight on his personal life. As a child, Victor is only interested in furthering his own knowledge and not worried about anyone else. He spent much of his time “drawing the picture of [his] early days... when [he] would account to [himself] for the birth of that passion which afterwards ruled [his] destiny” (Shelley 34), or otherwise a magnificent creation that would change his future. When constructing the Monster, he put all of his relatives in the back of his mind, and only focused on his own success and victory. This further explains the theme of being selfless and only doing certain things that will benefit
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a nineteenth century literary work that delves into the world of science and the plausible outcomes of morally insensitive technological research. Although the novel brings to the forefront several issues about knowledge and sublime nature, the novel mostly explores the psychological and physical journey of two complex characters. While each character exhibits several interesting traits that range from passive and contemplative to rash and impulsive, their most attractive quality is their monstrosity. Their monstrosities, however, differ in the way each of the character’s act and respond to their environment. 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.
Victor Frankenstein, the monster’s creator, is the victim of his own pride. An ego unchecked is a dangerous thing. But in truth, it really just shows Victor’s humanity. He is privileged, educated, talented, loved, adored, but he is not perfect. His flaw is his own ego and pride. Without doubt, this is the result of a childhood where he was overindulged. Overindulged to the extent he was given a little girl “Elizabeth” as a “present”, whom he considered from childhood “mine only” (Shelley 21). Little wonder the twenty year old Victor would think he could create, control and command life. But Victor as with any indulged child did not take the time to learn much from his parents about parenting and fath...
In Frankenstein, Shelley creates two very complex characters. They embody the moral dilemmas that arise from the corruption and disturbance of the natural order of the world. When Victor Frankenstein is attending school, he becomes infatuated with creating a living being and starts stealing body parts from morgues around the university. After many months of hard work, he finishes one stormy night bringing his creation to life. However, “now that [Victor] had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Chambers). Right after Victor realizes what he has done, he falls into deep depression and must be nursed back to health by his friend. Victor spends the rest of the story facing consequences and moral problems from creating unnatural life. When he realizes that the ‘monster’ has killed his brother, even though no one believes him, he feels responsible for his brother’s murder because he was responsible for the existence of the ‘monster’. Also feeling responsible, Victor...
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights on the experiences her characters undergo through the internal war of passion and responsibility. Victor Frankenstein lets his eagerness of knowledge and creating life get so out of hand that he fails to realize what the outcome of such a creature would affect humankind. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, highlights on how Frankenstein’s passion of knowledge is what ultimately causes the decline of his health and the death of him and his loved ones.
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
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 ...
Victor was so caught up in his science that he failed to consider that he is creating a monster. Consequently, just because he was ignorant of what he was doing does not alleviate him from all moral responsibility of his actions. In order to be morally responsible, he should have considered that if he succeed, his Monster would be marginalized due to his horrendous looks. Frankenstein never considered what he would do with his creation after it became alive, let alone make him look like he would fit into society. Even Frankenstein realized the immorality of his experiments via the guilt-ridden sicknesses and endless remorse he feels throughout the novel. Victor knew that he was morally responsible, if he didn’t, he would not feel remorse or guilty every time someone he loves
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