Mary Shelley, in her novel, Frankenstein, and Oscar Wilde, in his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, describe a monster as the way in which a man takes responsibility for his sins. Shelley defines this as the destruction man causes in pursuit of knowledge beyond human understanding, thus transgressing morality, while Wilde defines a monster as a man who wrongfully surpasses mortality in pursuit of perfection at the expense of his peers.
Frankenstein tells the story of a scientist’s struggle to take responsibility for his living experiment dubbed as the “Creation.” When the scientist, Victor Frankenstein, discovers a book by Cornelius Agrippa on the outdated philosophies of life and how the human system works. He is inspired to pursue the
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For example, once Frankenstein makes the decision to commence his unholy research, he locks himself in his lab, unheard and unseen from human society. His isolation affects the Creature as an embodiment of Frankenstein’s soul. The Creature is so removed from human communication, and unfamiliar to human compassion that he becomes used to alienation. This is important to note because it reveals what Frankenstein is lacking in his relationships with family and friends. By exposing himself to only himself and his passion, he becomes numb to any judgement upon his character and does not realize the consequences of his actions, such as the murder of William Frankenstein, Henry, and Elizabeth. Later when Frankenstein returns to the outside world, his feelings of disconnection live on. Daniel Cottom, in his essay, Frankenstein and the Monster of Representation, states that, “[the] wanderings of Victor… unlike those of the prototypical adventurer, Odysseus, do not return him to society and domesticity, except to tell his story and die” (Cottom 68). Cottom explains that even after having faced society once again, he retreats to solidarity again, further distancing himself from his family. This theme of self isolation carries over into the introduction of the book, when we are met with a stranger writing to his sister from their stranded ship, unable to contact any humans. The isolation …show more content…
Dorian is afflicted with this as he keeps to himself in his estate. Furthermore, without the influence of parents, as stated in the novel that he lived most of his childhood without them, he is offered no other perspective to guide him away from the negative influence from Lord Henry. But as he changes, taking in the influence Lord Henry has upon him, he acts upon his new perspectives without the help of Basil or other peers to turn him back around. This is Dorian’s fault, as he has the outlets in which to redeem himself, just as Frankenstein did, but chose to ignore them, and continued to let their attitudes and passions to get the better of their judgement through
Emotional and physical isolation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the most pertinent and prevailing themes throughout the novel. These themes are so important because everything the monster, Victor, and Robert Walton do or feel directly relates to their poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the three.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.
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.
Once noted, the parallels between Frankenstein’s fears and desires and the reality the monster experiences are many. Now that Victor is in university, he no longer has family and friends to fall back upon in the unknown territory of his university. Frankenstein voices is that “[he] believed [himself] totally unfitted for the company of strangers,” irrational as it may be, and believes himself solely dependent on his family and childhood friend for companionship. Without the love guaranteed to him by his family, Victor believes he is unfit to make companions by himself and destined to a life of loneliness. He places much importance on the fact that his father and Elizabeth love him and are concerned with his well-being.
Frankenstein’s creature initially shows no signs of ill will or malice when first encountering human beings (Shelley 72-73). On the contrary, through careful observation he is able to learn more about human society and personal relationships. He begins to admire the close connection between the people he observes and respects their virtue. This, however, makes him realise what he is missing. Observing the love and affection between others only increases the effect his own solitude has on him.
The first major cause of suffering in Victor’s life was when he received a letter from his father and the letter entailed that his youngest brother, William has been murdered by being strangled to death. The Frankenstein family had been taking an evening stroll in Plainpalais and had extended their walk
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.”
Victor Frankenstein has since destroyed his female creation of the Monster due to his fear that she and the Monster would procreate, lost the life of Elizabeth who he had just married hours before she was murdered, and threw his life away to pursue the Monster in a chase that led him to the North seeking for revenge against all that the Monster has cost him. Victor, alone and near death, is then discovered wandering through the snow and ice by a passing ship somewhere in the Arctic. The crew rescues Victor and brings him aboard the ship where he meets captain Walden. It is upon this ship and in the presence of Walden that Victor says his very last words. After Victor’s death, a mysterious figure takes form from the darkness of the room in which Victor’s corpse inhabits and out slinks the Monster.
Frankenstein Essay Frankenstein shows us the importance of understanding others. Discuss. (Belonging and Acceptance) Nathanim Gebremedhin 215261 8I ‘Frankenstein’ is an award winning novel by Mary Shelley that was published in 1818. It tells the story of a committed young science student, Victor Frankenstein, who performs an unorthodox science experiment, consequently creating a malformed but sentient creature.
The Creature in Frankenstein Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” is an inspirational work of horror and science fiction; it is the narrative of an unorthodox act of creation, of a monster which torments his miserable creator. The author puts forth ideas, and reinforces it through the development of the plot, that mankind is capable of both good and evil. Shelly demonstrates the ‘humanity’ of the creature; his actions and his inclination are like those of mankind. Indeed, even the negative aspect of his character, demonstrated through his quest for revenge, has a parallel in the actions of his human creator. In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” the creature is represented as being vicious and murderous but he is not inherently evil or malicious.
Frankenstein and his monster begin with opposite lives: Frankenstein has everything and the monster has nothing. However, in creating the monster, Frankenstein’s life and feelings begin to parallel that of the monster’s life. Frankenstein is incredibly intelligent with a fascination for science, but ultimately his thirst for knowledge leads to his undoing. Similarly the monster is determined to understand the society around him. But once he does, he understands that he will never be able to find companionship, which leads him to pain and anger.
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, shows how a character who is portrayed as a tragic hero, in the beginning, can become the monster in the end. Victor and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s captivating novel showed how rival enemies share striking similarities. The similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their dreary isolation from the secluded world. A large difference is that they were both raised in two completely different environments but understood the meaning of isolation. Physical differences are more noticeable rather than their personalities.
They ways in which they are affected by this abandonment proves that isolation has grave effects on human interaction and social development. One way that the theme of isolation negatively affecting social development is presented in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is through the character’s separation from their creators. The creature is abandoned by Victor, his creator, as soon as he awakes.
When most people think of monsters, they think of ugly creatures whose purpose is to scare anything that it comes across. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, that is the case. Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s creation is a hideous monster that terrorizes his creator and townspeople. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray depicts a monster as a beautiful young man whose painted portrait starts to look more like a monster than his actual self. Frankenstein and The Picture of Dorian Gray both tell stories of monsters who do evil things.
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