Through the cruelty he shows buth his own body and the creature we can see Victor's selfishness. He was so focused on getting what he wanted - being able to bring back the dead - that he completely disregarded what he really needed and failed as a guardian to the
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.
Consumed with the idea of creating life, Victor did not think of the effects his actions would create. The creation of Victor’s monster completely changed Victor both mentally and physically. It also changed society because the monster was the reason why specific people were killed. The chain reaction that was started created a whole new world of chaos. The only thing that saved the rest of the world was the fact that Victor kept the secret of life to himself. The monster took over his mind before it was created, affected his life while it was alive, and was the reason Victor died.
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.
Oftentimes people are too afraid of what people might think to show their full potential. This is not the case for Victor in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. In Frankenstein we see the journey of Victor and his creation as they separately get rejected and misunderstood by society. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein supports Emerson’s ideas of self-reliance because Victor shows that fearless people can achieve greatness.
A teenage girl Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein in the 18th century. A Gothic novel Frankenstein deals with two genres, Gothicism and science fiction. Victor, one of Mary Shelly’s characters represents man’s pursuit of knowledge which ultimately leads towards the path of destruction while another character Robert Walton implemented his knowledge wisely to get benefits for the society. Mary is indicating to the society that mankind has to pay full attention to science and scientific innovations in order to avoid the catastrophic events due to misuse of knowledge. The search for knowledge is arduous, to utilize knowledge wisely can be blessings, but
There is a hero in almost every story. A hero doesn’t always necessarily involve physical strength, it can be defined many other ways. A hero is someone who is idealized for their noble qualities, courage and outstanding achievements. In Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, the hero in the story is Victor Frankenstein. Victor sacrifices his family, his life, and other peoples lives for his pursuit of creating life, and attempting to cure diseases. Although Victor fits a few traits of being a hero, he is more of a tragic hero with a fatal flaw. Therefore, Victor’s quest for creating life leads to his downfall.
Previous to the existence of the monster, readers are introduced to an ambitious, benevolent Victor Frankenstein. He exuded an excitement and passion about learning, though only for very specific subjects. “My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn.” (Shelley 19) Though his studies on creating life artificially had eventually grown tiresome—“My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had
Victor Frankenstein chooses to create this monster to help mankind transcend death, but also because he is so fascinated in the science department. On page 77 of the novel, Victor states “and make myself useful to my beings” (77), which backs up the fact that he does it for the good of humanity. At the very beginning of the novel he talks about his enthusiasm and fascination with science. Hence, it was the combination of Victor 's obsession with creating life and the many new discoveries taking place around him such as chemistry that made Victor suppose that he could use all the resources he did to construct his monster.
Although Shelley did not live to experience the wild inventions that have drastically evolved our world today, she did understand that the power of technology will go as far as we allow it to. This is demonstrated in the novel by scientist Victor Frankenstein whose sole focus goes into the extreme desire he feels to create life. He reads philosophers ideas and decides that “natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate; I desire, therefore, in this narration, to state those facts which led to my predilection for that science” (Shelley 26). The philosophers of this time merely discussed the possibility of man creating life that Victor was determined to make a reality. He is the prime example of the hard working people that have innovative ideas today; but they can also learn a lesson from him. Shelley used Victor to show how ideas can advance how society thinks and goes about everyday life, but people must recognize the consequences of these
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.
One could argue that by writing Frankenstein, Shelley was “loftily ambitious”, just like the characters in her novel. It is however, important to note that Shelley wrote this novel at a time when scientific advancements was on the rise. The author, John Green, considers Frankenstein to be the first science-fiction novel in the world. (“Don’t Reanimate Corpses! Frankenstein part 1: Crash Course Literature 205” YouTube, 27 Mar. 2014, http://youtu.be/SyyrwoCec1k). Thus, we can see that Shelley was daring in introducing this new genre in 1818. However, even in today’s society, we are dealing with the rapid advancement of science. Thus, Shelley’s novel is one that is timeless in that it challenges the role of science and technology then and now.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is closely related to the current issue of genetic engineering. Shelley’s main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a scientific engineer who brings different parts of people’s bodies together to make a new creation. This new creation at first seemed good to Victor however, he was eventually overcome by it. Genetic engineering is not only gene manipulation; it is a desire to take parts of an organism and create a new living thing. Shelley was 17 years old when she wrote Frankenstein almost 200 years ago and although young, her perceptions of what is good or evil, what is beautiful or monstrous, are topics today that are discussed in relation to genetic engineering, gene manipulation and mutation. Shelley's view is
Victor is a brilliant scientist who figures out a way to create life from death using galvanism, or electricity. He dedicates his life to learning and eventually obtains the knowledge
After years of Victor’s passion for science and life, his longing passion has finally been accomplished when the creature has come to life. Victor, however, realized that his creation was horrid and rejects it completely by abandoning it. This portrays the downfall of Victor Frankenstein because Victor has defied the laws of nature by acting like God and created life. It impacts the rest of the novel because this crucial moment in the story leads us to upcoming conflicts that Victor has created for himself, and other