Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein openly propounds the co-existence of good and evil that yields to inexorable carnage and unrelenting revenge. A maniacal devotion to reason makes Victor the true antagonist of the novel and therefore the real villain in Frankenstein. Victor’s ability to create a life out of lifeless matter unbounded the pious, circumscribed view of God as the creator. Nevertheless, this infringement of propriety leads Victor down a path of revenge, which ultimately sets forth his destruction. Lastly, Victor and the monster are two aspects of the same person. The word creation emphatically implies that there is a creator. This view is static and impossible to augment. Additionally, it’s a common conception that all life is created …show more content…
In other words, Victor is not the victim but the villain. Most of his loved ones are murdered by the conclusion of the novel, who include the following: William, Clerval, and Elizabeth. I dare not to include Justine Mortiz, who is the family servant. Because Victor doesn’t want to save her life. His reasoning is impermissible, but he makes an entirely autonomous decision. In contrast, during his childhood, Victor was governed by social rules and family expectations. Victor states, “No youth could have passed more happily than mine. My parents were indulgent, and my companions amiable … we always had an end placed in view”. There is a certain false myopic idealism present in the statement. In fact, most of Victor’s intents are impulsive and irrational without “an end placed in view”. For instance, Victor is shocked and appalled by his creation since he didn’t follow a scientific method. He rushes headlong towards a preconceived solution. Indeed, Victor’s supposedly indulgent childhood isn’t too often vented upon by Victor, yet it’s the origin of his maniacal devotion to reason. Moreover, the literal monster, Victor’s creation, is brought to evil by experience and civilization. Prior to his cold and unsympathetic experiences, the monster is full of moral sensibility and not one-dimensional. The monsters states to Walton, “For, while I destroyed… [Victor’s] hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned.” The approval of others is the ultimate stimulus to the monster, yet society including Victor continually “spurn” it. The cause of its ostracism is its most hideous appearance. Percy Bysshe Shelley stated in regard to ostracism, “Treat a person ill, and he will become wicked." This is the only explanation for the monster’s disgust of moral values. Also, the monster didn’t have a family – only Victor – due to the alienation
The monster has to deal with solitariness and reclusiveness because he is an outcast and is not welcomed in society. Both of these characters find a sense of healing within nature. Victor states, “These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving. They elevated me from all littleness of feeling, and although they did not remove my grief, they subdued and tranquillized it.” (Pg. 92)
Victor attempts to maintain this autonomy, but it begins to collapse when the murder of William occurs. After William’s murder the responsibility of the monster is revived and now Victor not only faces responsibility for the monster but also the death of William and soon to follow Justine. While Victor is fully aware of the responsibility he holds, describing himself as “the true murder” (Shelley, 109). Victor tries to remedy this responsibility in the same form as he did the first time with the monster, by simpling failing to outwardly acknowledge its presence. He does this at Justine’s trial, in which he would have had the opportunity to speak up in favor of her innocence he instead chooses to “rush out of the court in agony” (Shelley, 106).
In his attempt to create a new being, Frankenstein is successful. That is, he is successful until he allows his creation's innocence to be tainted by the relentless savagery that is reality. As a result, Frankenstein's creation becomes Frankenstein's monster, defiled by hatred and the need for revenge. However, the destruction of innocence occurred not only in Frankenstein’s creation, but also in Victor Frankenstein himself. By the time of his death Victor is a monster consumed by hate and revenge.
Khang Nguyen Jasmine Le Ms. Brooks English 4 P4 February 6, 2018 Socratic Seminar Critical Questions 1.Why did Frankenstein run from his creation? Victor is the type of person that cannot handle responsibility well. We first see this in Chapter 3, after his mother’s death, “My mother was dead, but we had still duties which we ought to perform; we must continue our course with the rest and learn to think ourselves fortunate whilst one remains whom the spoiler has not seized.”
Frankenstein's Monstrous Qualities Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, is well regarded as one of the first science fiction novels for the monstrous creature that young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, brings to life, and for the chilling events that follow this “abhorred” being’s creation. For many, such a brief synopsis implies that the true monster of the novel is the murderous creature, of which is composed of mix matched human body parts. However, others would agree that there are multiple characteristics displayed by Frankenstein himself that reveal a more monstrous disposition than his creation. I argue that, in this case, the difference between being a monster, and being monstrous are blurred, and that Frankenstein is quite monstrous due
The significance of Victor's desire to become a parent lies in the irony of the neglect of his creation. In the text, Victor talks of the joy and happiness a child would bring him. Despite these feelings, Victor fails to live up to these expectations. Victor's failure is probable given Victor's upbringing, as he was raised without any sense of responsibility or obligation. This contrast highlights the dangers of neglect and the importance of fulfilling one's commitments to keep connections and bonds between each other.
Victor realizes that he has lost control of the monster’s actions and regrets not taking the proper precautions in seizing the monster when he has the opportunity. Ultimately, Victor is victimized. After the murder of Elizabeth, Victor reflects on the deaths of his loved ones and says, “The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend” (174). Victor suffers watching his loved ones die one by one, yet lacking the ability to save them. Overall, Victor’s victimization is due to his timorousness dealing with his initial
Throughout the well-known novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein is characterized as being a very selfish man. Contrary to this idea, Victor tells his father, “A thousand times would I have shed my own blood, drop by drop, to have saved their lives. . .” (184 Frankenstein). It is ironic that Victor makes this comment, as it is evident throughout the novel that he does not truly mean this. In other words, Victor did not sacrifice his life for his friends and family at any point over the course of the story.
“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” (Mary Shelley Quotes). Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein in 1818. The novel includes many interesting events. By her choice of words readers are hooked to think Victor is the antagonist.
This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede’” (156). The monster did not end up receiving this gift, as well, and the same can be said about Frankenstein’s pursuit for glory. Though Victor had a loving childhood that never rang with solitude, he still coveted respect and admiration from humanity, only not for his similarities with them—like the monster tried for—but with his superiority. This contrast perfectly displays to the audience
Most people are more inclined to feel sorry for things less fortunate than them. Victor’s monster is no exception. He was brought into this world with no one. The reader feels sympathetic to his loneliness in life, simple innocence, and skewed understanding of the world. Victor made a rash decision when he created his monster.
Duality is shown in Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a gothic tale of a scientist whom looks to advance the life-giving qualities of mother nature. Through this novel, Shelley proves that good and evil in human nature is not always simple to define, and that everyone has both of these qualities within them. The duality of human nature is shown through the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, who are both heroes in the novel while simultaneously displaying anti-hero qualities. Shelley forces the reader to sympathize with them both but also creates gruesome ideas of the two. Frankenstein’s creature places himself in a submissive position when he begs his creator to have mercy on him and asking the creator to “create a female for [him] with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being.”
Truthfully, the monster is very benign but his experience is blemished by Victor’s neglect and mistreatment of this creature. It is also evident that through Victor’s desires: we can see that he held his creation in the highest regard. It is because of this devotion to crafting the monster that it turns into a very capable entity. When the monster’s power is combined with his personality, a truly superb specimen is created that is worthy of the potential to be the an actual hero. However, due to mistakes along the way, Victor realizes that this prospect did not actualize itself into reality due to several mistakes on his part in the treatment of the monster.
He studied in the field of science, sensitive, articulate, and adoring towards his family and friends. At first glance, even his purpose for creating the monster seems noble however, underneath Victor’s elegant and altruistic surface lies a an ugly attribute, which makes you question whether his actual expectations with the creation truly were noble as he would make them out to be (Marklund, 2010).Victor’s real reason for creating the creature seems to be a desire to obtain awe and fame and does not think about any conceivable consequences. Victor is responsible ultimately for the death of his loved ones and struggles with his ego and personality. At first glance, you would presume the fiend is evil, yet it is Victor thereupon creation of the monster avoids his obligation. His first indication of his egotistic behavior is when he embarks on the task of creating life.
Regardless whether they succeeded in helping humanity or not, both Prometheus and Frankenstein were soon punished for their actions. Prometheus, like God, cared for his creations and provided them fire to make their existence better. His actions anger Zeus and lead to his protracted physical punishment. Victor creates his monster out of selfishness, then views his creation as “catastrophe”, and like Satan in Paradise Lost, his creation brings him pain rather the pleasure (Shelley 35). His feels no sense of responsibility nor does he feel sympathy in his heart towards the “wretch” he created, only “disgust” and he quits the room, abandoning the monster (Shelley 36).