An eye for an eye or the law of retaliation is the principle most people live their lives by. As Gandhi once stated, “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind” (Gandhi). For the characters in Frankenstein, this concept is apparent as the main character, Victor, creates a monster and instantly abandons him which sets off the chain of events revolving around revenge. Throughout the novel, the creature and Victor engage in a recurring cycle of vengeance, but these acts of revenge are bittersweet as in the end it destroys both of them. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley reveals how revenge consumes and destroys those who surrender to it. From the beginning, Victor Frankenstein’s abandonment of the creature …show more content…
With hopes of no longer feeling isolated and forsaken, the creature begs Victor to create him a female version of himself, however, Victor declines his request. Upon learning that the creature is responsible for William’s, his brother, death, Victor refuses to bring upon another monster into this world. The creature then threatens to be with Victor on his wedding night if he doesn’t make a female companion for him, illustrating how obsessive the monster has become in his journey for revenge. “it is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding night” (..). Reasoning with Victor, he states that he is only malicious as a result of his misery and promises to quit the company of mankind forever if he complies to his wishes. Not only that, but the creature expresses that the only way to stop his killing agenda is to create him a companion. Stating his vengeance if Victor fails, the creature vows to keep the cycle of revenge …show more content…
When Victor began developing the companion for the creature, the presence of the creature one day in his laboratory enlightens him of the creature’s hostility that it would likely not honor its word to refrain from injuring Victor’s family and friends even after completing the agreed deal. Considering the creature had already killed his brother, how is Victor supposed to trust the creature that he would do no more harm? Therefore, he demolishes the female creature, while the “wretch [watches him] destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness” and places the body parts into a basket and dumps it in the ocean (Shelley 165). In his realization that he has no reasonable basis for trusting the creature, Victor purposely took apart the creature’s companion in his
In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, the reader is presented with multiple viewpoints. Although it starts from an outside character, the main viewpoint is that of Victor Frankenstein as he presents Walton and in effect the reader of his vile creation and history. This instills the reader with a negative opinion of the monster which is changed when the narrative switches to the monster's account of what happened after his abandonment. The viewpoints the author gives help change the readers opinion about the monster. Our first record of the monster is from Victor Frankenstein, who describes the disgusting amalgamation from such beautiful body parts that now animated are in contrast with each other.
The creature stated that he is “malicious because [he is] miserable” (Shelley 174). The creature merely wanted someone to accompany him throughout his life who did not hate him. Hence, the creature asked Victor to “create a female for [him] with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being” (Shelley 174). However, Victor refused and stated, “Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in
His creation of the creature was his own doing and he should have known better than to create something that would cause so much pain and suffering. The creature was created with no soul, which means he has no conscience and can do whatever he wants without feeling any remorse for his actions. He kills people for fun, which is not how a human being should act. The only reason why the creature does what he does because of how Victor made him is because of how cruel Victor was to him when they were together in the beginning stages of their relationship. When it came down to it, even though Victor knew that creating life could be dangerous, he still decided to go through with it anyway despite all the risks involved in doing
Victor understands that if he creates this female then he will be further endangering his fellow man. He makes sure that the female would never live, even if it put everyone he loved in great danger. After this, the creature went on a rampage! First killing Henry Clerval, Victor’s best friend, and later Elizabeth. Victor then went hunting the creature because of the pain that is had caused him.
Upon seeing the grotesque creature, Victor falls ill. Months later, Victor recovers and receives a letter from his father that his brother was killed, so Victor returns home to see the creature. Victor talks to the creature, who is now able to speak, tells him of all that he has learned in his life so far and that killed William. Victor and the creature make a deal that he will make the creature a mate so that he can spend the rest of his life away from civilization. However, Victor breaks this promise when thinking about what this union could entail and
Victor manifests hatred onto the embryonic creation, assuming the creature is programmed with evil nature. Instead, the creature, who desires affection, consumes his aversion and mirrors it. As Victor’s resentment becomes clear for the creation, he too forms animosity, forcing Victor to promise him happiness in the form of a female counterpart. Victor undertakes the promise, but reneges on it. He “destroy[s] the creature on whose future existence [the creation] depend[s] for happiness” and watches the creation, “with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdr[a]w.”
(Shelly 69) What Victor endured in the past still fuelled his hate and anger towards the creature. This hate consumed his whole being leading him to parade such savagery to the creature. Through the cruelty he shows buth his own body and the creature we can see Victor's selfishness.
”(Millhauser). This violent rejection is a repetition of Victor’s lack of acceptance for the monster and attention to his family. Victor knows that the monster will never be able to live within society and that his ability to create life is the only hope the monster has of achieving companionship. Victor's own aversion to companionship surfaces as he, “ fails to give him the human companionship, the Eve, the female creature, that he needs to achieve some sort of a normal life.” (Mellor).
This theme of revenge in "Frankenstein" highlights the destructive nature of vengeance. The characters' desire for revenge blinds them to the consequences of their actions, leading to a cycle of violence and tragedy. The novel suggests that revenge is a futile pursuit that only leads to further pain and suffering. The characters in the novel become so consumed by their desire for revenge that they lose sight of
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.
In Frankenstein, Victor wants revenge on the monster so greatly that it becomes an obsession. Victor states, “Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death” (Shelley 152). Victor Frankenstein wants revenge against the monster because the monster was the cause of the deaths of Victor’s family and friends (152). He is threatening death on the monster and swearing revenge on him. This is the beginning when he wants vengeance on the monster, which then immediately turns into an obsession.
but then again, Victor would not create another Creature as a companion to the original creature because he was worried about if they started their own species. The Creature tells the reader what caused him to snap and start a violent streak. "I am malicious because I am
By Victor taking away what the creature saw at his only chance at happiness, the creature becomes furious and kills Elizabeth, Victor’s wife. By viewing the creature as a child, the opinions based on his image and actions are altered because a child is always considered innocent. The creature had the ignorance of a child when he first woke up. His actions and image then can be blamed on Victor for not teaching the creature like a guardian would teach a child.
In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, ambition evolves into a form of obsession with revenge. But the result of vengeance is a curse to human life and its longevity. Both main characters in the novel, Victor and the monster become obsessed and let vengeance be their downfall. Victor was a very ambitious character who longed for knowledge and the presence of new life. He soon became obsessed with his creation and said,“I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.
However, he realizes how alone he is, so he returns to Frankenstein and demands a female partner. He promises to cease all relations with his creator if he can give him a mate. Victor reluctantly agrees and builds a bride for the fiend he created. However, he destroys the female and dumps the body in the lake, much to the anger of the monster, shown when he states “Shall each man,” cried he, “find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?”