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, …show more content…
Victor creates the Creature with the ideals of making it a paragon as he states, “[...] I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” (60), however, he was in a state of semblance believing his creation was preeminent. Victor selfishly creates the Creature to gain prestige, pretentiously claiming himself as a human god when he succeeds and saying it was for the sake of humanity. In reality, he creates a grotesque being and abandons it the moment his illusions shatter, making the creature a victim because he denies the responsibility of raising it causing hardships for it. Victor also believes the creature is a reprobative individual since it kills his brother and foists Justine’s execution, thus he acts inimical towards it throughout the whole novel as he invectively exclaims, “Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou art! The tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes” (93). He is fully aware he the root of all problems, yet he believes the Creature to be censurable and denying to give it a chance of salvation when he breaks his promise and destroys the female creature he was working on; his actions result in his father and Elizabeth’s deaths. This also makes the …show more content…
Examples such as prejudice and guilt are very conspicuous between Victor and Creature; their actions cause them to view each other as a target of hostility and anathema as Victor says, “ For this purpose I will preserve my life: to execute this dear revenge will I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth, which otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever” (173). Both despise each other for their actions, Victor desires the Creature’s death since it brutally murders his friends and families leaving him tormented, while the Creature wants Victor to experience its pain from loneliness and retaliation destroying the female creature who would be his salvation. In the end, guilt from their actions plagues both of them resulting to their ends. Christian bible references consisting mainly of God, Satan, and Adam and Eve apparent throughout the Creature as it compares itself , “[...] no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator [...] He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him” (119). The Creature is immensely influenced by “Paradise Lost” using many references to relate itself to its scenario.It finds itself more similar to Satan since both have diffilcuties coping with rejection from their Creators. However, the Creature shares more similarities to Adam since
The creature went on to terrorize Victor’s family and life by killing William and blaming Justine. “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be they Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel. Whom thou drive from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded…” (87) The monster compares himself to devil.
The actions of an individual defines the boundary between sympathy and wickedness. Their behaviors and thoughts change the plot of the story and character identity. Mary Shelley uses moral ambiguity to overlook the unrealistic nature of her story. In Frankenstein, this concept incorporates itself into Mary Shelley’s characters. Ambiguity invokes an attachment between the figures and readers.
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.
Victor manifests hatred onto the embryonic creation, assuming the creature is programmed with evil nature. Instead, the creature, who desires affection, consumes his aversion and mirrors it. As Victor’s resentment becomes clear for the creation, he too forms animosity, forcing Victor to promise him happiness in the form of a female counterpart. Victor undertakes the promise, but reneges on it. He “destroy[s] the creature on whose future existence [the creation] depend[s] for happiness” and watches the creation, “with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdr[a]w.”
He fulfills this and creates the creature. Victor is horrified by the monster's appearance however. He later abandons the creature despite being his own successful creation. What does this say about the creature? If its own creator was horrified, then the rest of society would be horrified as well, but the creature does not know this.
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.
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. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.
Victor conveys that any human cannot withstand the ugliness of the face of the monster. A simile is used to compare a mummy risen from the dead is not even as close to disturbing as the despicable monster he created. The Dante references to Dante’s Inferno, Dante has come across many demons in hell but, even Frankenstein’s monster is viler than any demon in hell. In response to the monster being born Victor flees in horror. He wants nothing to do with the monster it frightens him so that he deserts it to fend for itself in his apartment not caring about any sort of trouble the monster can cause: “I then reflected, and the thought made me shiver, that the creature whom I had left in my apartment might still be in there, alive and walking about.
Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.
The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley says a person is responsible for their actions if they do not weigh the possible consequences of their actions before making their final decision. Throughout the novel, Mary Shelley shows the consequences of actions that are done without proper thought beforehand. Victor Frankenstein wants to create life, he wants to be god, and his lust for this goal overtakes his common sense. Victor rushes into making his creature and then makes rash decisions which also contributes to his demise and the death of several of his close friends and family. The monster should be held responsible for his actions to a certain extent, however, his actions are influenced by Victor’s initial impetuous decisions.
We all like to think that evil is not born within us, but rather nurtured into us; while this may be true for some, others have evil born directly into them. When man toys with the powers reserved for only God, God strikes back with a wicked evil to show man the power that they truly lack. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains a prime example of a being born of unnatural causes and thus having these evil urges that they cannot control. Frankenstein’s monster is a highly intelligent being, and hence he is very manipulative.
Victor creates the Creature, but there are many situations throughout the novel where the Monster displays as the victim. He seeks love from different people, but everyone treats him bad. His anger towards his father drives him to kill Victor’s family. The Monster later feels devastated for the murders he commits. All the monster wants is love.
From the moment Victor decided to create the Creature, he begins his assertion of dominance over the Creature. By creating a “monster” solely for his own
The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,
The monster tells Victor of his feelings when he states, “You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains…I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.” (153) After months and months of the monster trying to connect with the world, he eventually realizes that the efforts are worthless and vows to do to his creator what his creator did to him. To make Victor isolated would give him the same curse the monster has suffered through for its entire new life. Later, the creature asks himself, “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” The creature easily could kill Victor if that was his desire but its real desire was to make Victor suffer as the monster did.