A writer named Nikita Gill once said “When you see a monster next, always remember this. Do not fear the thing before you. Fear the thing that created it instead.” This quote can be related to the novel Frankenstein where instead of the actual creature being perceived as the monster, the person who created it deserves to be called one. Using the archetypal lens, Victor can be seen as the real monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from his cruel characteristics, continuous patterns of monstrosity, as well as symbols and themes involving nature. Throughout Frankenstein, most readers will notice how egocentric Victor appears from messing around with his own monstrous creation as well as the people he cares about. Victor doesn’t realize what …show more content…
Every action the monster takes reflects back on Victor, the one who invented him and then abandoned him at birth. Victor realizes how “[he] loved [Henry] with a mixture of affection and reverence that knew no bounds, yet [he] could never persuade [himself] to confide in [Henry]” (Shelley 55). The monster Victor created is pushing him away from Henry since Victor left his creation feeling useless, just like an archetypal evil-doer would to anyone. Victor is keeping his monster a secret as well as everything he knows about “awakening the dead”. This doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do especially when there are people who’re oblivious to the monster roaming the streets. Also, kudos to Victor for making his fiend feel like "an unfortunate and deserted creature; [The monster looks] around [with] no relation or friend upon earth.[...][He’s] full of fears, for if [he fails] there, [he’s] an outcast in the world forever" (Shelley 122). Because of the villagers, the monster had become more educated, finding an efficient way to escape his eternal isolation. He first chose to confront the blinded man since he had no reaction when the monster approached him. Unfortunately, the De Lacey kids came back home to find the so-called horrifying monster. His isolation escalated, making him feel like there was no hope for him left. Now that he had to leave the people he referred to as his ‘protectors’, he was alone and it was all because Victor deserted the only thing he was responsible for and he couldn’t even do that. When Victor meets up with his creation, he declares “‘Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness’” (Shelley 157). Anyone who sees the creature tends to act the same way just because people find him to be unpleasant to look at. But for Victor,
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Show MoreVictor is compassionless in the sense he did not consider how the Monster’s appearance will serve him in a negative way. The Creature is left to reside in a dark shack and begins to learn about himself like his strengths and weaknesses, knowledge through the books, and becomes his emotional attachment to the De Lacey's. He observes the family and even helps them out through bringing supplies and cleaning the snow off their driveway. However, the De Lacey family did not reciprocate these feelings. When the Creature finally gets the courage to introduce himself, Felix “with supernatural force tore [him] from his father” yet again leaving the monster to feel bitter anguish and neglect.
While being a coward is not inherently bad, Victor’s cowardice and inaction in intense moments leads to the trouble that the Monster causes. After being cast out by society, The Monster finds the De Lacey’s cottage and realizes that he has been harming them: “I had been accustomed [...] to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained” (Shelley 102). The Monster does not let the hardships of his early life corrupt him into an evil being, and it even helped establish this kindness in him because he realized that the De Laceys were wretched creatures just like him. The Monster’s empathy after the adversity he faces displays his resilience and mental fortitude and shows that the Monster does not let his appearance stop him from making ethical decisions. After destroying the female Monster,
The creature saw cottagers and brought the firewood without them knowing. He was being kind but he was beaten with a stick in return. He tried to be a good person but was shamed for the way he looked. If Victor would have been by the monster's side the whole time, he wouldn’t have been so insecure of the way
Victor and the Creature are both social outcasts. Since Victor is so intelligent and interested in science he often does not relate to other people and he does not have many friends. Since the monster cannot be around people without scaring them to death he tends to also act as an outcast around
Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.
This shows the humanity in the monster and his tendency to be amiable. He was also able to learn from his mistakes. For example, the creature realized that he needed to stop stealing the family’s supplies after he noticed how much they needed them. Victor, however, didn’t learn from his mistake of creating the monster, and created another. The monster also refers to the family in the cabin as “[his] friends” when they didn’t know of his existence (103).
Victor does not handle his monster, or his fears, well. When Frankenstein first sees his monster, he immediately “escaped, [from the room the monster was in] and rushed down stairs. p50” As the monster is an externalization of Frankenstein’s fears, this escape, this inability to so much as look at the monster, can be interpreted as Frankenstein’s inability to acknowledge his fears and anxieties. Like with anxiety, denying the monster’s existence only causes him to grow more destructive.
Victor’s creation is described as a “monster” in the story of Frankenstein. He is immediately considered to be evil because he has committed murder, even though he meant no harm. He wrongfully forges his identity according to how others see him; as an evil monster. He forges his identity on how others view him, which is an evil monster (Lall 36). At this point, he is growing out of the mental stage of an infant and is beginning to learn how to take care of himself.
Victor’s parental figures in Frankenstein poison him by surrounding him with countless indulgences. From childhood, Victor was given all of his desires without question and this led to him becoming self-centered and dependent on the service of others. Victor describes his childhood with
Victor is stirred by his work, but not in a positive manner. He goes on to explain his feelings towards the creature by saying, “… my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred” (136). Victor is so bewildered and repulsed by the creature that he misses key signs of violence, from the creature, that may have saved Victor’s family had he not been so
Archetypal Character Frankenstein just like many falls under the archetypal horror character. One might compare Frankenstein to other characters like Shere Khan from the Jungle Book and Long John Silver from the movie Treasure Island. So the question stands, how does the creature Frankenstein fit into the archetypal horror character? Mary Shelley more than likely created the creature to fit the archetypal character to separate him from the other characters.
Victor had two loving parents that gave him everything he ever needed or wanted to fulfill his physiological and emotional needs. Since Victor did not do this for his monster, the monster would kill all of Victor’s family and friends that he loved which would bring destruction to Victor’s life. For the rest of his days, Victor would go on a search for his monster to destroy it or die trying. Unlike Victor, the monster was never loved because of the way he looked. He was left alone, even by his creator, and lived a miserable life always escaping people that would “attacked [him], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (Shelley).
This much is true for Victor’s failure to take responsibility for not only teaching his creation about life but also failure to take responsibility for the actions of his creation. “Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy… you shall be my first victim” (153). Victor’s knows that he is responsible for the death of William because he abandoned his creation and made the monster learn the hard way that he would not be accepted into society. But he has no choice but to let Justine take the fall for the death of his brother because he fears being seen as a madman.
Finally, Victor shatters his life when he ultimately causes his own death. As a result of his mind being consumed with grief and revenge, he becomes morose, melancholy, and eventually lifeless. Victor allows the monster to rummage his head, and he permits his creation to drive him crazy; consequently, he slowly kills
“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.