ipl-logo

Dorian Gray And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

1136 Words5 Pages

Choices Distinguish the Individual
A man defines himself by his choices. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley both embody comparable characteristics about selfishness, prejudice, and desiring excess knowledge. The victims, Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein’s creation, become adversely influenced by Lord Henry and Victor Frankenstein respectively in divergent ways. Choosing to ignore his creation, Victor Frankenstein disregards any physical or emotional care needed by the creature. On the opposite hand, Lord Henry subjugates Dorian to his teachings by dominating his thoughts and lifestyle. However, Dorian Gray and Frankenstein’s creation stand in the wrong equally with Lord Henry and Victor Frankenstein …show more content…

Because Victor turns a blind eye to the creation, he vows revenge against him and all the people Victor loves. Even though the man receives little guidance and support, he becomes a monster similar to Victor because of his choices to do evil: murder and take revenge. Critic Magill explains, “His revenge, although excessive, is motivated” (322). The creation could have the decency to move on with his life, but one factor prevents him. His appearance restrains him from having a normal life despite the capacity for love and affection he harbors in his heart. In both The Picture of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein, Shelley and Wilde offer an insight to British people in the nineteenth century; they focus too much on outward appearance versus the character of a person. Dorian asserted that “[e]ven those who had heard the most evil things against him . . . could not believe anything to his dishonour when they saw him” (Wilde 111). Dorian’s acceptance from society comes from his looks, not his actions. Oppositely, Victor Frankenstein’s creation receives rejection from society for his looks, not his actions. If he were to have Dorian’s handsome stature with his own intelligence and kindness, the creation would resemble a positive figure, but that was not the point of Shelley’s and Wilde’s argument. They propose that people should look beyond a pretty face or an ugly one to truly see the man

Show More
Related

  • Moral Ambiguity In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    550 Words  | 3 Pages

    The actions of an individual defines the boundary between sympathy and wickedness. Their behaviors and thoughts change the plot of the story and character identity. Mary Shelley uses moral ambiguity to overlook the unrealistic nature of her story. In Frankenstein, this concept incorporates itself into Mary Shelley’s characters. Ambiguity invokes an attachment between the figures and readers.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Moral Ambiguity In Frankenstein

    790 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.

    Read More

  • Self Deception In Frankenstein

    798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Fighting a Mirror In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, self deception eclipses Victor Frankenstein and clouds his judgment. Victor’s passion in breaking the bounds of nature guides him in making the creation, but when Victor regrets giving life to the hideous creature, he deserts it. The abandonment is just the first step Victor takes to introduce the creation to malevolence followed with Victor’s assumptions of evil and lost responsibility in the results of his own zeal. Victor Frankenstein’s self deception not only forges evil into the creation, but also incriminates him for the consequences of Victor’s ambitions.

    Read More

  • Victor Frankenstein's Views On Society, Justice And Injustice

    648 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout this novel, we learn the views of the creature that Victor Frankenstein created. His views on society, justice, and injustice. When he is first created, he seeks to be accepted by society despite his appearance. However, the events he experiences shape his views. Victor Frankenstein, the DeLacey family, and the father and daughter he meets throughout his journey do not accept him.

    Read More

  • Empathy In Frankenstein

    929 Words  | 4 Pages

    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. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein: Selfish And Selfishness In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1135 Words  | 5 Pages

    In reality, he is disgusted by the sight of his creation so he abandons it leaving it all alone in the world without any guidance and runs away to the next room. Victor himself suffered from being a social outcast and now he bestowed the same feeling onto the creature by abandoning him. By treating the creature as an outcast, “he will become wicked … divide him, a social being, from society, and you impose upon him the irresistible obligations—malevolence and selfishness” (Caldwell). Not only is Victor selfish for abandoning his creature but he is shallow as well. Instead of realizing that he achieved his goal of bringing life to an inanimate body he runs way because of how hideous it is.

    Read More

  • Light And Dark In Frankenstein Analysis

    1868 Words  | 8 Pages

    Light and Dark in Frankenstein Throughout Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the reader is torn between the forces of good and evil, as well as which characters represent which force. Perhaps the most masterful element of this novel is conveying how an individual can not be judged as wholly good or evil, and how having elements of both traits greatly forms the human experience. By using the motifs of light and dark to represent the positives and negatives of humanity, Mary Shelley is able to effectively convey character traits, depict transitions of good and evil within characters, and employ haunting symbolism and imagery into the novel and transform it into a literary masterpiece. The use of light and dark as imagery in the novel could not be

    Read More

  • Blade Runner And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

    581 Words  | 3 Pages

    While some differences between Blade Runner and Frankenstein are evident the similarities are quite clear. In both works the common theme is the hubris of man and how we try to play god and change nature. One of the main differences between these works is the time in which they take place. Frankenstein is the story of Victor Frankenstein who in his youth and arrogance believes he can play god and reanimate the dead. To this end he builds a giant monstrous cadaver of different parts that he recovered from other bodies, he assembles this and uses lightning to try to reanimate it.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Rationalization In Frankenstein

    503 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the protection of his image of self, which is a direct result of a god complex, Victor Frankenstein rationalizes his arguably terrible choices to combat the guilt that stems from his involvement with William and Justine’s

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Victor Frankenstein And The Monster

    1073 Words  | 5 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Jealousy In Frankenstein

    1021 Words  | 5 Pages

    “At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification”(Shelley 80). The Creation of Frankenstein woke up in a world of hate. Since he looked different, the Monster never fit in with normal people. He would become isolated and feared because of his looks. Because the Monster was a hideous creation from Frankenstein, he was isolated and hated by his looks and behaved in an ethical manner when he began his path of vengeance.

    Read More

  • Duality Of Human Nature In Frankenstein

    819 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.”

    Read More

  • Beauty And Ugliness In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1363 Words  | 6 Pages

    Beauty and ugliness is often used to justify the reaction of others in the novel, Frankenstein; in which the relation between external appearance and internal desires are shown to be related. The theme of how appearance affects judgement is often demonstrated through the characters response to the monster’s physical being. Shelley depicts this situation through Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the Delacey family, and through the monster himself. The use of appearance to determine judgement is shown to be a negative habit. By automatically associating ugliness with evil, and beauty with innocence, society unintentionally develops a negative being in those considered ugly, while at the same creating an illusion of innocence over beautiful individuals.

    Read More

  • Character Development In Frankenstein

    1921 Words  | 8 Pages

    The fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost

    Read More

  • Frankenstein And Dorian Gray: A Literary Analysis

    355 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Frankenstein (1818) sees the literary double as a supernatural manifestation outside the control of Victor Frankenstein, later 19th century novels describe the creation of a double as deliberating act. It is presented as a choice of the character who wishes to eliminate any internal separation. Accordingly, the characters presented appear to be rational as they make a conscious choice. Both, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Picture of Dorian Gray, are two novels similar in their illustration of the double which formed out of repressed desires. Henry Jekyll and Dorian Gray are both gentlemen who feel the need to control parts of their inner nature to maintain their respectable public image.

    Read More

More about Dorian Gray And Frankenstein Comparison Essay

Open Document