The Theme Of Revenge In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The book How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster, is continuously present in Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein. A specific example of this can be found when analyzing the chapter “... More Than It’s Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence”; Foster gives humorous insight to understand the meaning behind violence and death in literature. Conveniently, the concept of life and death in Frankenstein is the most important driving force behind the plot. Victor Frankenstein creates the Monster who continuously feels out of place in the world. The Monster kills several people throughout the novel, and deaths create the problematic situations the characters are forced to overcome.

Vengeance, an act of inflicting pain and suffering on another individual, was used between the two protagonists as a means to resolve conflict. The monster accomplished his revenge by murdering Victor's loved ones, while Victor responded through direct violence on the monster and his creature bride. Ultimately, both achieve their revenge on each other through their own demise. These acts resulted in tragic and devastating consequences for both Victor Frankenstein and the monster. If Victor has created his monster, and integrated him into society, and gave him the knowledge, affection he deserved, then it can be inferred his relationship with humans would have been completely different.

" 'Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy -- to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.” Upon his arrival to Geneva The Monster comes across a ‘beautiful child’, Victor’s younger brother William. The Monster was then enraged, and fueled by vengeance. This is Shelley’s way of revealing the Monster’s true inner character, and reminding the reader of his burning hatred for Victor. The tragic death of young William was 100% caused by the negligence of Victor.

A common definition of a hero is one who defies the given law and creates their own storyline through his or her actions. However, In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, we see Victor Frankenstein go under a complete mentality change due to his curiosity in science, which leads him to becoming what is known as a byronic hero. Shelley shows Victor’s descent into madness by exploiting certain byronic characteristics such as a destructive passion, self-doubt, and loneliness. Victor’s passion ultimately proves destructive as it only causes him and his surrounding people pain and grief. Knowing he is causing said grief, Victor plummets into a self-loathing and lonely period where he must remain isolated.

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley tells a fictitious tale of the scientist Victor Frankenstein executing his dream of forming life. As soon as his creation awakens, Frankenstein sprints away full of disappointment and dread. Consequently, this sparks the beginning of the creature’s infamous attitude of anger. Despite him carrying around the stereotype of emitting evil, the creature counters it throughout the novel. Part of the novel examines his immense kindness and his unavoidable loneliness.

Frankenstein spent many weeks and months on his creation and put tedious amounts of work into his experiment. When his creation truly came to life abandoning the creature is what began the chain of events that would become this wretch. Abandonment made the creature lose trust in his creator, after he was seen as a ‘vile insect’(p.118). The creature makes a promise to Frankenstein stating, “I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friend”, (p.119). Frankenstein’s actions made a monster out of his creation.

Mary Shelley's use of foreshadowing and different thematic elements, is what makes Frankenstein a true horror story.Themes such as fate and deception are prevalent throughout the novel. These themes aide in foreshadowing and allowing the reader to predict what will happen throughout the story. One prediction is that the monster that Victor has created, will attack the town and destroy everything he loves. Frankenstein will have to admit his faults and be outcast from his family and country. A major clue to the course of Frankenstein’s journey is revealed when he states that “..the first misfortune of my life occurred-an omen,as it were, of my future misery.” (18) This foreshadows the tragedies Victor will face for viewing life and death as insignificant.

In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, cruelty is what sets the plot in motion. The rejection of the monster by Victor Frankenstein represents the wickedness that is consolidated with human society. The inclusion of cruelty in Frankenstein functions to capture the creature as abandoned by his creator, withdrawn from mundane society, and a victim of the evil nature of humankind, even when he has admirable intentions. Although the novel was written in the 1800s, there is a strong connection between what we understand of how society treats “ugly” people now and how they were treated back then. In the novel, once Victor Frankenstein completed his creation and it was filled with life, he screamed and fled from him.

Leading to his innovative behavior in creating the monster. Taken in the literary sense, the monster is a tragic hero that pertains to the outcome of Victor's actions. Philosophically, suggesting that a tragic hero obtains characteristics and is faced by certain circumstances. The Monster is destined for failure but so is Frankenstein himself, a quote which The Monster pronounces himself as wretched, leads to believe that Victor’s creation is just a mirror image: But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing.

Iconic. That 's one way to describe Mary Shelley 's legendary horror story, known as "Frankenstein." Her terrifying tale struck fear into the herats of many, and continues to do so today. When Dr. Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the secret of life, he strives to animate the hodgepodge of dead body parts which make up his monster. Because of this dangerous creation, Victor 's closest friend and family are killed.