If I had not known right off the bat how guilty he had felt for the creation he wrought on the world, I would have viewed Frankenstein as a selfish, almost conceited character. He is nowhere near a mad scientist, and this makes my heart hurt even more for him. Shelley even manages to make the reader sympathize with the monster. This creature is killing children and torturing his creator’s mind, but we are shown in-depth how hurt the monster had been at the beginning of his life (Shelley, Chapters 11-13). It’s a very strange emotional combination that worked wonders.
The monster is unfettered, that is to say that he hasn’t a care in the world. Therefore, he is prone to harm others, because his actions are without consequences. This gives him power over Dr Frankenstein, whose loved ones – family, friends and himself – were targeted as victims one after the other by the monster. The monster is able to control Dr Frankenstein through his ruthlessness; he uses this power for revenge, but later, as the plot evolved, the
Victor Frankenstein experiences a range of many different emotions throughout this story. He created the very monster that murders Justine and William, so I think he thinks of himself more as a criminal. However, Frankenstein gets physically ill every time he even thinks about the death of another, so the extreme guilt and remorse he feels over their deaths is what he might claim makes him suffer more than the accused party. When the monster begins threatening Victor and demanding that he create a she-monster for him, he begins to feel overwhelmed and guilty because the situation has become out of his control. I personally think Victor is the victim because although he created this monster and kept it a secret from most everyone, he in turn
Whereas the real monster throughout the story is no other than Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein displays many of the characteristics any monster would have. He was cruel and manipulative in order to become and valued like God. However, the odds were not in his favor after rejecting the monster the minute he came to life, "A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly
His appearance scares the people he encounters, and his only desire is love. Further in the novel, there are many situations where the Monster is the victim. Shelley uses words that provide imagery for her readers. Readers will think Victor is the antagonist. He realizes if he would show the Creature love, the Monster would not kill the people.
The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster.
Over the past century, Frankenstein has been analyzed and interpreted in seemingly infinite different forms of literature, film, and television shows. Once solely recognized as the story about a brilliant scientist who creates a creature in whom he regrets making after the creature turns out ugly, Frankenstein now represents an internationally recognized and commercialized pop culture symbol for Halloween decorations and costumes. When analyzing and appreciating the true literary essence behind Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein, one of the most important comparisons to consider remains the underlying influences behind the Creature’s immoral actions and whether or not the blame for these actions belong to Victor or the Creature. When exploring the dichotomy of the Creature versus Victor Frankenstein, one of the biggest and most widely debated questions remains whether Victor should be blamed for the Creature’s destructive actions or if the Creature should be considered guilty for his actions based off of his own free will. Many consider Victor Frankenstein the villain of the story due to his repetitive decisions to abandon and avoid his own “mistake,” the irresponsible choice of creating the monster in the first place, and his obvious negligence of the Creature’s feelings.
The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,
Mary Shelley shows the endless amount of revenge and that it is driven by pure hatred and rage. The monster was not created to be vengeful, he was kind hearted but when he was poorly treated by Victor and then by the Delacey family, he turned cold. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley displays the immorality and destructive effects that revenge can have through Frankenstein and his pursuit of the creature. Immediately after the monster had awoken, hatred thickened and would drive the plot to be all about revenge. The creature illustrates this hatred as he says to Victor, “Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view;
Have you ever been held responsible for the tragedies caused to others? For most the answer is no, however, for some, their actions have led to the misfortune of guiltless lives. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because of the absence of attention and teaching, the reanimated creation Frankenstein is unstable; Victor Frankenstein is who to blame. Two events that he should be accountable for are not training his creation to know right from wrong and abounding the monster which led to the murder of innocent people. Firstly, Shelley uses conflict of “human” versus nature to demonstrate the major idea that Victor Frankenstein is responsible for the loss of innocent lives.
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.
Sticks and strangling will break bones, but words will leave irreparable emotional scars. In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s epistolary novel, Frankenstein, the estranged Victor Frankenstein deprives his re-animated ‘creature’ of a name. The cruel manner Victor treats his “Adam” (Shelley 119) by withholding a name pushes the Creature further away from the belonging he so desperately seeks (148). As atrocities occur at the ashen hands of the Creature, names like “monster”(118) and “wretched devil”(118) bombard him from those he would seek refuge with . Nameless, the Creature is dehumanized and consequences of a negative perception, internally and from society, persist.
In the end the monster says to Walton, “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.” (Shelley, ch. 24) Becoming obsessed with revenge on Frankenstein, the monster was ignorant to his love for Frankenstein. Revenge and hatred caused the monster to commit crimes that he would have never committed in the past, which he realizes when Frankenstein’s life comes to an
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
In many books the villains ' stories are never understood, as in the classic novels of "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley and "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. The reader may feel sympathetic towards the "monster", as it was feared by all, and it wasn 't accepted in the society. He was an 8-foot-tall, hideous creature with translucent yellowish skin, black flowing hair, and glowing eyes. This was shown on page 144 in the book, where it encountered Victor 's brother, William, for the first time. It wished to teach the young boy about its deformity and kind personality, but William without thinking screamed, "monster!
