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.
When people hear the word “monster”, most people imagine a massive, horrid, and grotesque figure that haunts people. While pondering what a monster is, mankind thinks of the outward appearance. Seldom do people think of man’s internal qualities as being barbaric or gruesome. Authors allow readers to create their own images of these terrifying beings. Frankenstein is a thought-provoking novel that empowers readers to have their own opinions about who the actual monster is and what it looks like. Readers can conclude that Victor Frankenstein is the actual monster in Frankenstein because of how he views himself, how he creates destruction, and how he destroys himself.
Beginning with Victor abandoning the creature at birth, the series of revenge and hatred-filled events begin to occur as both attempt to find justice and retribution. The creature stole the lives of everyone beloved by Victor, and Victor stole the monster’s chance at happiness by abandoning him. As the characters continuously harm each other, their isolation increases as well as their sanity. In the end, numerous family members perish, Victor Frankenstein dies of physical exhaustion, and the creature conveys his desire to
This section of the text where Frankenstein is in “some remote spot of Scotland”(186) alone with no one shows a shift in his character. Victor Frankenstein is now in a land where “the soil is barren… a few miserable cows and oatmeal for its inhabitants”(186) and “there were but three miserable huts.”(187) this description of the land through the use of the words “barren,” “miserable,” “few” and “huts”(187) show just how empty the land is, which reflects Frankenstein's emotions at the time. He has discover the truth about his brother, he has been threatened by the creature and has failed to complete the task of creating a female creature. Frankenstein is alone in the middle of Scotland with nothing but the fear of the creature he carries, instead of standing up to the creature or following through with his promise he is running away, cowardly. This is important to the novel because the reader can see Frankenstein feeling the same emotions the creature has been feeling, lonely. The setting and the connection between the setting and Frankenstein show this lonely and desolate feeling. Once again in Mary Shelley's novel a character has changed, in this case Frankenstein is changing from a scientist to a lonely coward, running away from his fears. In the novel is there a good guy and a bad guy? The characters change so drastically can either character be called the hero or
Frankenstein is a classic by the awesome author Mary Shelley. The story follows Victor Frankenstein as he makes a Monster. The monster ends up kill people from Victor’s family and even his best friend. All the monster wants is for Victor to make him a wife so he is not so alone in the world full of humans. He is tired of being the only one of his kind and having no one to share his life with. Throughout the book the death of Victor's family has taken a toll on his mental state and he starts showing signs of mental illness. Much like Mary Shelley had mental illness because of the horrors that happened in her life. The illnesses that Victor starts showing signs of depression, paranoid schizophrenia, and anxiety.
“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.
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.
How does Mary Shelley’s construction of the secondary characters reflect upon the protagonist? Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, character parallels and analogies between Victor Frankenstein and the creature are strongly emphasized. More evidently, the character doubles between the creator, Victor, and his creature are presented through their demeanor, their desires, and their demands. Shelley emphasizes parallelisms of nature, alienation and vengeance to underscore their similarities, leading some readers to interpret Victor and his creature being so similar that indeed, they are the same person. Both lonely and outcasts in the world, Victor and his creation live forlorn and dreary lives, hungry for the love of another, desperate for
Several traits distinguish whether or not a character is a Romantic and Gothic protagonist in a literature piece. Romantic Goth characters have the talent to both see and feel the beauty in the dark and obscure, which often inspires them to react differently to a given situation. Romantic Goth inspired actions can often have large and unfortunate consequences, which may affect the people around them, especially very loved ones. In the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, someone whose actions have large and unfortunate consequences, is a Romantic and Gothic protagonist because he has one main goal that gives his life purpose, is interested with the past, and shows an uncontrollable amount of emotion.
Knowledge has the capability to be used for both good and evil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a consistent message throughout the novel showing the dangerous and destructive power that knowledge can have. Two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, are shaped through their obsessions with knowledge and the power and responsibility that it brings. Ultimately, Victor’s downfall is a result of his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, and is brought about through the monster which is the embodiment of his obsession.
Frankenstein’s mother, a character who’s non-existent for most of the novel, plays a big part of Victor’s ultimate demise. Soon after her death, Victor felt as though he could 've done more as if he could 've saved her. The absence of his mother drove Victor to invest into his interests and go to Ingolstadt. While at Ingolstadt, Victor became interested in the studies of science. “But this state of mind had place only in the first steps towards knowledge: the more fully I entered into the science, the more exclusively I pursued it for its own sake.” (30). Victor becomes enamored with science and ideas that come with the subject. Victor wants to unlock all of the knowledge that science brings for the sake of his own enrichment. This leads Victor to become obsessed with the idea of creating life and soon finds a way to do so. “ It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being.”(33). His drive to create a human being circulates around the idea that he wants to preserve life and keep loved ones alive. On the night of the creatures creation, Victor was at a loss for words. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?” (35). Catastrophe? This is everything that Victor Frankenstein wanted and more. He created life, he beat death, but was that worth the monstrosity that he created? Victor did nothing but question his belief and sacrifices he made. “I had
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.
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
Frankenstein is a book written by Mary Shelley about a man named Victor Frankenstein and his life and how it came to be. He had created a monster and brought it to life by studying and learning natural philosophy. Mary Shelley brought the emotions forward from the main characters by the amount of detail she put into the book. Most of the detail was brought in by the suffering that happens throughout the book caused by Frankenstein’s monster. The monster in this story is a tragic figure that is the main cause of suffering that occurs to everyone.
Macbeth. Othello. Lex Luthor. All notable characters; all notable downfalls. Important characteristics and attributes are essential to a well-rounded and dynamic character. Undesirable qualities, although unwanted, are necessary in the main characters for character development and advancement. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has attributes that are still discussed, researched, and theorized about today. This fact is no small feat, considering Mary Shelley had no prior knowledge of modern psychology. He suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and depression; these two disorders are evident throughout the novel. A reader can analyze through Victor’s actions and decisions. It is clear that he suffers from these