Character Foils: Victor And The Monster

Primarily, Victor Frankenstein’s home life had a formative influence in his early life since it molded him into who he became as an adult. Victor was born into a very wealthy and distinguished family, who did not let their social status and wealth define who they were in society. His family remained generous and noble. By being the affectionate people they were, Victor’s parents raised him as their plaything which left him with a large amount of confidence, and the belief that greatness is part of his destiny. This makes Victor unusually determined and ambitious (his ambition becomes great and he crosses the boundary of mankind and experimenting). Victor grew up to become a very loving, affectionate and humane individual, due to the love and

Parenting is needed in every child’s life. It is one of the most important things that will help a child grow. In the same way though, children need good parenting. Parents need to love their children and show them right from wrong. Without care from a parent, children may feel lost or lonely like the monster did in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Shelley analyzes the psychology of parenting through Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster, by comparing their behavioral and psychological development as a result of the parenting they receive in their childhood. Because Victor was loved and had a great childhood, he was able to grow as a person, psychologically and emotionally. As though Victor had a good childhood,

Change is the one thing that nothing is immune to. This is clearly shown throughout Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein. The novel tells of a scientist, Victor, who just wanted to make something with his life. Victor spends many years of his life in college where he figures out he has the ability to give life to an inanimate object and sets off on a path of creation. A few years later, Victor completes his task and gives life to his grand creation. Victor’s first look at his “masterpiece” horrifies him and he proceeds to run away; leaving his “child” all alone. The paths both Victor and the monster will lead will be obvious as the story progresses. Through indirect characterizations, it is obvious that, both characters undergo changes as the story furthers.

In the fiction novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the Creature that Victor Frankenstein created was originally good at heart. When he was first brought to life he had good intentions and just wanted to be loved. Although, the Creation sought acceptance from humans, he soon realized he looked monstrous and no one would ever care for him. Many humans look at him disapprovingly, and, they judged him without knowing his kind heart. The judgmental humans are what lead to the Creature 's downfall.

Power, the one thing everybody desires, plays a major role in the lives of the characters of Frankenstein. Throughout the story, Shelley frequently emphasizes the theme of power and the constant struggle that the characters face to gain power over themselves and others. The two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and The Creature, show the most struggle for power throughout the story, both internally and over each other. They look to gain power of knowledge, power of themselves and power over one another. This struggle for power creates a constantly shifting dynamic amongst characters.

When people hear the word “monster”, most people imagine a massive, horrid, and grotesque figure that haunts people. While pondering what a monster is, mankind thinks of the outward appearance. Seldom do people think of man’s internal qualities as being barbaric or gruesome. Authors allow readers to create their own images of these terrifying beings. Frankenstein is a thought-provoking novel that empowers readers to have their own opinions about who the actual monster is and what it looks like. Readers can conclude that Victor Frankenstein is the actual monster in Frankenstein because of how he views himself, how he creates destruction, and how he destroys himself.

To begin, his creator abandons him. Victor creates Frankenstein, but is afraid of him. “He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed down stairs” (Shelley 44). Victor cannot put up with the sight and deserts him. Frankenstein is left to learn everyday skills, such as reading, speaking, and eating all on

The monster tells Victor of his feelings when he states, “You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains…I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.” (153) After months and months of the monster trying to connect with the world, he eventually realizes that the efforts are worthless and vows to do to his creator what his creator did to him. To make Victor isolated would give him the same curse the monster has suffered through for its entire new life. Later, the creature asks himself, “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” The creature easily could kill Victor if that was his desire but its real desire was to make Victor suffer as the monster did. To make Victor experience the feeling isolation, the creature sets out to destroy what he hold most dear, Elizabeth. Victor describes his spouse as the “body of Elizabeth, my love, my wife, so lately living, so dear, so worthy.” Nowhere else in the novel does Victor come even close to describing another human in this manner. Once the monster escaped, Victor realized how important it was to be near people he loved, he had learned the terrors of isolation. The creature then uses this against him by killing the person who brought Victor out of isolation, pushing him back into an even deeper sense of isolation from which Victor can never

The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in.

In most fiction stories, there are always two characters that do or do not represent different sides of the same character. Frankenstein is a short gothic horror story written by Mary Shelley. Shelley writes about a scientist who created a being from dead body parts. Victor Frankenstein as the protagonist of the story created a monstrous character that was a reflection of himself. In Frankenstein, Shelley presents two characters who represent the different sides of the same character. The monster was a clear reflection of his creator because; they had the same development, same pain and suffering, and were recluses. Victor and the monster did not physically resemble each other, but they had the same personality and traits, therefore,

Several traits distinguish whether or not a character is a Romantic and Gothic protagonist in a literature piece. Romantic Goth characters have the talent to both see and feel the beauty in the dark and obscure, which often inspires them to react differently to a given situation. Romantic Goth inspired actions can often have large and unfortunate consequences, which may affect the people around them, especially very loved ones. In the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, someone whose actions have large and unfortunate consequences, is a Romantic and Gothic protagonist because he has one main goal that gives his life purpose, is interested with the past, and shows an uncontrollable amount of emotion.

In literary works, authors often use minor characters to accentuate certain characteristics of a main character, often traits that are going to be important down the road. Justine, the family servant, is accused of murdering Victor’s young brother, William. Even though she pleads guilty to this crime, her and Victor know she’s innocent. However, Victor knows that his creation is responsible for the murder but doesn’t say anything, letting Justine take the fall for it. When people only think of themselves, others often innocently suffer for those actions. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Justine is used as a foil for Victor to highlight his flaw of selfishness, and how their relationship foreshadows the devastating deaths of Victors loved ones

There is no other creature in existence that is as communal and gregarious as human beings, due to this, whenever one feels deserted or segregated by the rest of society, they tend to become cold and bitter. In Frankenstein, or, The Modern Day Prometheus, Mary Shelley portrays the monster, as well as its creator, as outcasts from society. Although, Victor has a family, and a wife while the creature does not, Victor feels he is emotionally detached from the rest of his loved ones. Due to his emotional confinement, Victor feels that he cannot trust even his wife with the knowledge of the horrible creature in which he has created. This sense of being an

reation enslave him and spends from the moment he brings the creature to life to the day he dies running from the bondage he unintentionally creates.

In 1818 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a novel that follows Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious man on his journey to defy the natural sciences. In Volume I of the novel, Victor discusses his childhood, mentioning how wonderful and amazing it was because of how his family sheltered him from the bad in the world. “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me” (35). When Victor brings up his childhood, he suggests that parents play a strong in how their kids turn out, either "to happiness or misery" (35). In particular the main character was sheltered as a child to achieve this “happiness” leading to Victor never developing a coping mechanism to the evil in the world. Throughout the novel, Victor does not have a healthy method of dealing with the negative scenarios that life throws at him. He does not deal with his problems directly, rather he runs away from them literally and figuratively. As a child Victor was sheltered from loss and his surroundings, which restrained his character from establishing a true coping mechanism for dealing with his problems, he is left to manage these happenings using the only form of survival that he knows-running away.