Human Interaction In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

All the monster wanted was company, but because he feels alone. He tries to make friends with the people, but every time someone saw him, they would scream and run away from him. When he talks to Frankenstein, he tells him “I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me.”

Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein is a frame narrative of the life of Victor Frankenstein recorded by Robert Walton. It is circled around his creation of a monster that suffered a lonely life and wanted revenge for being created. In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays many big ideas but, one that continues to show importance is the idea of Human Needs and Desires. so, in the novel Mary Shelley presents the idea that all creatures have a basic need for friendship and love.

Separation from others may seem odd at times, but it comes with positive and negative outcomes. For some it allows them to devote time to things they love, while for others it causes them to feel isolated ,and inferior to others. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, both Victor and his monster deal with times where they are separated from society. Like Victor some may take time to enjoy what their passionate about, but others will feel miserable like the monster did. The story is an example of how society impacts people, and the importance of feeling accepted by

Mary Shelley, in her book, Frankenstein, has a reoccurring theme of isolation, in which she isolates the main character, Victor Frankenstein, from the rest of society in order to create a creature. Likewise, the creature that is created is also isolated from the rest of society as he is rejected from his creator as to his appearance. The theme is present throughout the novel as it reinforces Victor’s downfall from a normal boy to a grown man intrigued with creating life as he slowly becomes a madman that everyone soon fears. Isolation causes a loss of humanity as it affects the mind and body. Isolation from society does not teach social interaction, causes regret about oneself, provides one with negative feelings, and causes regretful actions.

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.

he author of Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw, and the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both integrate the theme of creation into their novels. Henry Higgins the creator in, Pygmalion, and Dr. Frankenstein the creator in, Frankenstein, utilize new and innovative techniques to transform their victims into a new creations. They attempt to play the role of divine creator by making breakthroughs that are immoral and unprecedented. In the process they neglect the needs of their victims and focus on self-interest. The Monster in the novel, Frankenstein, and Eliza Doolittle in the novel, Pygmalion, are similar in the way that they both regret their creation and feel rejected by their creators; however, Eliza is able to be integrated into society

There are many themes displayed in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. There are themes such as blind ambition, the dangers of playing God, prejudiceness, revenge, need for love, and many others. Isolation is a major theme that consistently reappears throughout the novel. The aloneness that is displayed in Frankenstein drives the characters to act irrationally. The book Psychology and Personal Growth explains that, solitude or loneliness often refers to our separation from other people. To be alone means to be by yourself and being separate from society. The book also states, “From birth to death, much of life is spent alone” (Arkoff 97). The demonstration of loneliness drives many of the characters to act irrationally has been proven in psychology, is seen after the creature and Victor are immediately abandoned, and after many of the characters have been abandoned for a long period of time.

Isolation and a lack of companionship is the tragic reality for the monster, who was abandoned by his creator and is repulsive to everyone that he comes across. Victor removes himself from society for many months; severing nearly all human contact then renouncing his creation based on the monster's appearance. As the monster matures he begins to understands the relationship the cottagers share with one another, while the monster, “yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures: to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost limit of my ambition.”(Shelley). Armed with nothing but the longing for a real connection, the monster approaches his unknowing hosts only to be “brutally attacked—by those he trusted...because of their human ignorance.”(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). The monsters smoldering hope for friendship dies as he speaks of the injustice that is upon him, “shall each man,” cried he, “find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.”(Shelley). Victor’s miniscule capacity for companionship jeopardises the monster’s chances of a gaining a

An eye for an eye or the law of retaliation is the principle most people live their lives by. 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. However, as Gandhi once stated, “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind” (Gandhi). 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.

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a science fiction story about a creature created from non-living matter, by a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The conflict between society and Frankenstein’s creature is largely perpetuated by a split between those considered attractive, and those who are not. The conflict and language use in Frankenstein demonstrate that most of society judges others based on their physical appearance, which leads to excluding those who fall outside the accepted definition of beauty and sometimes life-threatening consequences for both groups.

Whereas Frankenstein does not properly value the domestic affection he is given until it is violently taken from him, his creation learns that this is what values most in life and yet is not able to gain this affection from others. Francis Bacon says in his essay Of Friendship “I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage”. Shelley highlights the need for a sense of belonging and companionship by letting both her main figures suffer the pain of not having this need fulfilled and, in consequence, they both “quit the stage” (Bacon) and turn their backs on humanity. Social isolation, although through different circumstances, was the predominant cause for both Frankenstein and his creature’s demise. Even Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s husband, wrote in his preface to Frankenstein about the “amiableness of domestic affection” (Shelley 9). By denying both main characters the sensation of domestic affection, or any other kind of social belonging, Mary Shelley highlights the importance thereof. The resulting isolation became the driving force behind both Frankenstein and his creation’s abominable actions which, in turn, shows that trying to avoid isolation and seeking the feeling of social belonging is the primary message of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and of

The monster on the other hand had known only loneliness from the second he opened his eyes. The monster learns through painful rejection that he will never find companionship because humans are unable to see past his ghastly appearance and in anger tears away one of Frankenstein’s many companions. This begins the spiral of anger and loneliness that leads to the monster killing nearly everyone Frankenstein is close to. This, inadvertently, forces Frankenstein to have the same feelings of anguish and loneliness that he first instigated in the monster. Frankenstein never realises that all the monster wants is a companion, he cannot see his own emotions reflected in his creation. Through this Shelley is demonstrating that humans may never have the capability to fully understand the things they create through scientific endeavours, therefore reinforcing her concept that too much knowledge can only lead to downfall. Frankenstein had a wonderful life and in creating then abandoning his monster he destroyed that. The bitter link is the fact that Frankenstein, in leaving his monster, in making his creation go into the world alone, sealed his fate to die alone on the sea, the majority of his loved ones dead at his

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

In literature, a doppelganger is a device used to shape a protagonist’s double. This double exhibits the ability to impersonate their original, but can also possess different morals and ethics that revolve around bringing a dilemma to the protagonist. The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky uses the idea of a doppelganger when the main character, Golyadkin, finds an exact double of himself upon travel. His double ultimately has a goal of destroying Golyadkin’s reputation because he has the social skills that Golyadkin doesn’t, which creates madness in both characters. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein reveals that Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, and his monster each control different aspects that make up one human being. Frankenstein represents the

Isolation and abandonment can cause many different reactions from people. In the words of William A. Sadler Jr., a sociology professor, “We often do not know how to cope. It can make us confused, distraught, depressed, frightened, and even outraged” (Sadler 105). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, several of these effects are presented in Victor Frankenstein and his creation. They both suffer from being isolated from their creator, society, and family units. They ways in which they are affected by this abandonment proves that isolation has grave effects on human interaction and social development.