The Good And Evil In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Victor questions why men so instinctively attempt to become superior to nature when men are also a product of nature. He criticizes that if humans reverted to our primal instincts, “hunger, thirst, and desire” (67) that we’d be free, or content with our lives. This is his subliminal self-reflection as he understands that seeking the secret to life, by creating the monster, did not bring him happiness but rather brought him misery and self-loathing. In this last line of the passage, Shelley highlights a major morale and theme of the story which is using science to tamper with nature, a critique against the enlightenment period. The consequences of Frankenstein’s creation have not only caused the death of William and Justine but will also become the reason for his own inevitable doom

But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world”(24). Victor shows the strong love of family in his childhood “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than [me]. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence” (Shelley,40), he raised with excellent conditions and with parents who loved their children, but we do not see that Victor gives this love to his creature and ignored him, notwithstanding the fact that the two figures shared many characteristics. As a result of Frankenstein 's darkness and ignorance toward his creature, he refused to accept the monster because of his physical appearance and Frankenstein sees the creature as if he were the monster when the creature

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the conflict between Victor and the creature, specifically their predatory relationship in their pursuit of revenge, to emphasize how revenge will consistently push or even exceed moral boundaries. The conflict between Victor and his creature is outlined in Frankenstein through the monster’s attempt to hurt Victor through the killing of William and Victor’s destruction of the creature’s future mate, representing how revenge often cultivates a normalization of immorality. Before William’s murder, the monster had been rejected by the DeLaceys and shot at for saving a young girl from drowning. As a result, the creature’s wish for revenge upon all

In the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, Victor and the Creature are the main references when it comes to the issues of morality. Several themes such as good versus evil, prejudice, and ambition & fallibility, the importance of friendship along with references to other famous texts like the Christian bible are manifested through the use of Victor and the Creature as they interact with each other allowing readers to construe examples of morality. Many debaters may argue the Creature is “evil” since a majority of his actions harm others while Victor is good because he was the victim and seeks to destroy his creation. However, one may counter this argument if they accentuate Victor is evil since he was the Creature’s creator,

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

Conversely, when the monster imagines his creator, Victor, he curses “‘his crimes & malice”’ thoughts of hatred and revenge consume him (Shelley 96). This dichotomy highlights the incompetence of Victor as a parent. This helps to reassert that the monster’s “wickedness originates not with his soul but his treatment,” (Ferguson). Victor’s negligence as a parent, a trait caused by his poor upbringing, caused the corruption of his

Simultaneously, Victor failing to take responsibility for his own creation leads the creature down a path of destruction that manufactures his status as a societal outcast. The creature's dissolution from society, his search for someone to share his life with, the familiarity with intense anguish, his thirst for retribution, each of these traits coincide with Victor as he is depicted throughout the novel. Victor unknowingly induces his own undoing through his rejection of the creature. Shelley foreshadows his downfall by stating that “the monster still protested his innate goodness, blaming Victor’s rejection and man’s unkindness as the source of his evil” (Shelley 62) The creature essentially places Victor at fault for the creature becoming an outcast of society, by expressing this Shelley constructs a very austere portrayal of man’s contact with outsiders.

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.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s creation is at the heart of the plot being the cause of every event and proves to be the most morally ambiguous character in the novel. The creature’s moral ambiguity, especially in regards to social interaction, works towards revealing the meaning of the work as a whole that without proper guidance, we are prone to imperfection. The creature’s behavior throughout the novel is erratic and unpredictable. With absolutely no instruction or education from his creator, he runs into the wild blind to what he may encounter and how to go about those things. Therefore, his morals are purely instinctual and misguided.

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.”

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.

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.

The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein wrote the novel as an attempt to be involved into a group ghost story writing competition what she did not know was the effects it would have on literature for the rest of time. The story Frankenstein is about a young man named Victor Frankenstein who is obsessed with discovering something that has never been seen or done. In seeing a tree being stricken by lightning he gets the idea to create life out of dead skins and body parts of the dead to create this being. What he did not know was going to occur was that this monster would be the death of him. Mary Shelley uses the idea of progress which is the consequences or effects of a person or a thing in another one’s doing. Throughout the book Mary Shelley

1941 ) makes noteworthy statements in her essay ‘Making a ‘Monster’: An introduction to Frankenstein’. According to her, the entire novel is a consequence of “Victor’s total failure as a parent”. Agreeing to the argument, I would like to point out how the entire novel is based on the relationship of the selfish irresponsible parent-Victor Frankenstein and the abandoned child- The Monster. While Mary Shelley creates a horrific creature to physically contrast it to the entire human race, she provides various character similarities between the creator and the created; this provides a new perspective to view the characters from.