Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Frankenstein

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. At first, Victor is horrified by his creation but eventually becomes more and more like it. With a desire to destroy each other both are left alone to come up with a plan of revenge since they took each other's most prized possessions.

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.

Aristotle once said that "A man doesn 't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall" (Carlson). In Frankenstein, many argue that Victor Frankenstein himself is indeed the tragic hero of the novel. I believe that the creation of Victor Frankenstein (the monster) is the actual tragic hero. There are several components to being a tragic hero, two of the most important are their tragic flaw, and the component of a tragedy or a tragic ending to the story. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is without a doubt tragic through many characters in different ways, but in my eyes, the creature is the character that sticks out with the most characteristics of a tragic hero.

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.

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster experiences a sense of self-actualization after coming to terms with his “monster” identity. In chapter 13, after Frankenstein’s Monster learns about human history and social norms, he conducted a self-analysis of his current self. He stated, “I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome”. Moreover, when he “looked around, he saw and heard of none like [himself]. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned” (138). Through the knowledge he acquired from spying in on the Felix family, he gained the understanding that his grotesque look doomed him to be marginalized within human society; therefore, his understanding of human history destined himself to be a monster. Although, this self-realization of a monster identity plays a huge role in the general plot and character development of Frankenstein’s Monster, it hints at a subtler interpretation of the nature of knowledge.

“I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” (Shelley 69) Said by Frankenstein’s monster, this quote truly defines him: initially an affectionate, love-seeking creature, he transformed into an enraged killer, angry at humanity for the undeservedly poor way he was treated. Victor Frankenstein is an unique, complex individual who encounters a similar change of nature for similar reasons. The quote—though spoken by the monster—encapsulates the evolution of Victor Frankenstein’s personality; misery—a product of isolation and loneliness—aroused a deterioration of temperament from an initially benevolent Frankenstein.

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

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Hunter, Paul J. Norton Critical Edition. New York: W.W. North & Company, 2012. Print.

The novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley depicts certain ideas that can not be described or written within novels. For example, the telling of the story between three different narrators can teach the reader about putting together “pieces of a puzzle” in order to understand the plot of the story. The three narrators in Frankenstein are Victor, Walton, and the Creature, all with very distinct personalities and character traits. Of these storytellers, Victor could possibly be debated as the most extraordinary. The qualities that make Victor pictured as this unique character, that the fact that he is a dynamic character, and that he is an unreliable narrator. His personality and traits are different and similar to some of the other narrators such as the creature.

Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, is filled with motifs of Nature and companionship. During the Romantic period or movement, when the novel Frankenstein was written, nature was a huge part of romanticism. Nature was perceived as pure, peaceful, and almost motherly. As we read the novel through Victor Frankenstein 's perspective, we the readers can see how romanticized-nature is perceived as by those who find comfort in nature. This novel also contains, in addition to romantic elements, heavy-filled gothic scenes and descriptions. As the creature wanders aimlessly through nature, he comes to find that his version of nature is dark and depressing. The overall feelings and views of Victor Frankenstein and his

This seriously couldn’t be happening. In the heat of the moment, anyone could’ve made the same mistake he had. It was absolutely ridiculous!

Bringing life to objects is something only God can do. However, what if someone decides to play god using the secret of life. Is the result a scientific miracle, or a dreadful miscalculation? A curious scientist, Victor Frankenstein, gives life to a monster after years of studying about science and alchemy. Scared of his newfound creation, Victor abandons the wild beast into the real world. The monster learns to survive, speak, and adapt. Vowing vengeance towards Victor, the monster continues to eliminate Victor 's family to heal the loss of happiness inside his heart. In the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the Id is represented by the monster while the superego is represented by Victor Frankenstein.

The book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a young scientist named Victor Frankenstein who struggles to balance his ego which results to his downfall. Victor Frankenstein started as a normal kid from a noble and well off family. He gets interested in studying natural philosophy, alchemy and chemistry. Consequently, Victor creates a monster that later ruins his life and the lives of those around him in the story mostly due to his poor variety of decisions. These facts proves that Victor’s downfall is most likely caused by his failure of balancing his ego by allowing his Id and superego get to him.

Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a pioneering science fiction work about the story of a young scientist Victor Frankenstein who created life out of dead matter. On the surface, Frankenstein seemed to be only a horror story about unorthodox scientific experiments and grotesque monsters. But by diving deeper into the novel, Shelley also addressed larger philosophical ideas. Throughout the story, Victor Frankenstein and his monster have both parallel and contrasting elements, and their search for identity is one of the most important ones. Identity is defined a “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual” (Merriam-Webster). Family roles, social status, physical appearance, personality, nationality are some of the major characteristics that define each individual’s identity. In Mary Shelly 's Frankenstein, she used the two characters, Victor and his creation, to explore the search for identity through family and social relationships and its devastating effects after failing to do so.

The author of “The Literary Panorama, and National Register, N.S., 8 (1 June 1818): 411-414.” uses the critical analysis to point out the flaws of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein story. Although there have been many re-printings of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley originally wrote and published her book Frankenstein in 1818. When Frankenstein was first published in 1818 it was met with mixed reviews like any good book is. I found my critical analysis on the website Romantic circles run by the University of Maryland under the The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Chronology & Resource Site by Shanon Lawson. The website itself had a couple different critical analysis options to choose from. Unfortunately in all the the information I was able to locate about these posts I was unable to find even one author name in any of the critical analysis that I looked at. With that I decided to do some research and try and find the author anyway. Sadly I still came up empty handed even after finding the article listed or mentioned on a couple different websites. However I do not believe that diminishes the importance of this critical analysis as many sites seem to use this analysis. All things considered the author has some good points of opposition for Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein.