Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, is one of the most important and popular novels in the Romantic genre to this day. The novel was originally controversial because it touched on many fragile subjects such as the human anatomy and the development of science. The structure of Frankenstein begins as an epistolary, narrative story told by Robert Walton to his sister in England. Walton’s letters tell us that he is exploring, searching for what lies beyond the North Pole, and he eventually connects with Frankenstein. Shelley creates the protagonist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who has a fascination with life and death. Gensis states; “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.” Humans, therefore, were created as a likeness …show more content…
Through his scientific studies and experiments, Frankenstein decides to attempt to restore a lifeless body to animation. He succeeds in this, but once he brings the body to life he looks into the eyes of his creation and immediately deems the creature a monster. The monster initially has childlike characteristics, and wants to be loved by his creator. However, Frankenstein does not see this and his judgement is clouded by the appearance of his creation. Frankenstein addresses the importance of human relationships in people 's lives through the development of Frankenstein and the Monster. Like a mother, Victor brings a new life into the world, technically making him the father of this creature whose appearance scares him away from showing any needed paternal affection. When a child is growing up, they are in desperate need for the emotional attention and nurturing experienced in maternal reverie, and the monster seeks for that attention from Victor. Despite psychoanalytic suggestions of the mother as the dominant force in child development, the Monster needed …show more content…
Both characters seem to strongly despise one another yet they both also despise themselves for their wrong and disastrous actions. The vivid similarities between these characters is driven by their isolation from paternal figures and society. In pursuit of his scientific studies, Victor admits that he “seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (Shelley 38). Not only are the two characters both subjugated from society through their own personal choice, but they also share interest in the mysteries of the natural world. They both admire nature for its serenity and beauty. For example, when the Monster was exposed to a peaceful natural setting he states: “my [the Monsters] spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future glided by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (Shelley 101). Another common interest between these two seemingly contradicting characters is their strong love of knowledge. Although their love for knowledge is obvious, their inability to control their obsession with it often results in something negative. Victor becomes obsessed with science and studying life. His obsession leads to the creation of the Monster, his biggest mistake. On the other hand, the Monster becomes obsessed with humans.
Literature is a form of escape from the world we live in. Whether it’s for school, or some form of entertainment, more often than not, books let the reader escape from the challenges of now. Even if a novel focuses on a lone person that takes place in a day, the reader forms a sense of compassion and companionship with either the author, or the novel itself. Yet the book of Frankenstein creates a web of intermixing relationships that are eternally altered all because of man’s natural desire to learn more. But how do these broken relations between Victor and his loved ones stem from himself?
Most people know who Frankenstein is—or at least they think they do. Because of the way Mary Shelley’s brilliant 1818 novel has been adapted to f ilm, most Americans think that Frankenstein is a towering, scar-faced monster who brings terror wherever he goes. In Shelley’s novel, however, the real monster is Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who is the monster’s creator. In her story of how Victor Frankenstein creates the monster and what he does after the monster comes to life, Shelley conveys several timeless messages about the dangers of science, the dangers of isolation, and the importance of being a good parent.
Victor’s duty is to teach the monster and raise him. Yet, once he creates the monster he sees how daunting the monster is and abandons the monster (Shelly 35). Victor plays the role of a father to the monster and is accountable to teach and nurture his creation, instead, he is struck with trepanation on how hideous his creation is resulting in Victor wanting no part in the monster’s life. Victor does not let the monster hurt his pride by letting society know he is responsible for creating a hideous monster. During Victor’s whole life he let his sciences and knowledge guide him and does not let the monster intervene in his life.
Frankenstein: the Connection Between Victor Frankenstein and Percy Shelley Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is about one man’s desire to create life, and how it later becomes his demise. Parallels can be drawn between Shelley’s life and her novel. One distinct connection between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein is the resemblance of Shelley’s husband, Percy Shelley, and Victor Frankenstein. While the connection between Victor and Percy has been previously made by literary scholars, this essay will further explore the idea. To begin with, Victor Frankenstein had a passion for natural philosophy, but he also believed in controversial ideas about the subject.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story of revenge and destruction . Shelly takes the audience through satisfying, yet emotional adventures throughout the book. A confrontation between a creator and a creature. In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life “is a search for justice.” A character within the book that responds in some significant way to injustice is Victor Frankenstein.
Isolation and a lack of companionship is the tragic reality for the monster, who was abandoned by his creator and is repulsive to everyone that he comes across. Victor removes himself from society for many months; severing nearly all human contact then renouncing his creation based on the monster's appearance. As the monster matures he begins to understands the relationship the cottagers share with one another, while the monster, “yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures: to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost limit of my ambition. ”(Shelley). Armed with nothing but the longing for a real connection, the monster approaches his unknowing hosts only to be “brutally attacked—by those he trusted...because of their human ignorance.
Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a novel that explores to answer the questions that many philosophers have pondered upon. This book is mostly famous for the richness of ideas it asks mankind to confront—how the uneducated and deprived people are treated, how knowledge could be used for good and evil, and how the influence of technology affects mankind. The novel is about Victor Frankenstein, who is a young, talented scientist obsessed with discovering the secret of creating life. While studying in a university, he works alone in his apartment and creates a living being by recycling old body part from deceased people. At first, the creature created seems gentle and harmless, but because of its grotesque appearance, he is forced to hide away from civilization.
His family and home is everything to him, especially his love for Elizabeth. However, as the story progresses and Victor begins to realize the magnitude of his mistake in creating the monster, his outlook on life changes drastically and shifts to a darker tone. During his trek through the wilderness in search of himself, Victor finds peace and comfort in the bleak and powerful mountains. Specifically “...while rain poured from the dark sky and added to the melancholy impression I received from the objects around me… My heart, which was before sorrowful, now soared with something like joy” (Shelley 67).
After successfully creating the monster, Frankenstein is perplexed by what he has created. Due to the monster’s annoyance with Frankenstein, he acts back against Frankenstein mostly due to his lack of parenting and responsibility. Shelley’s novel strongly connects with the act of parenting. It is clear that Victor Frankenstein did not complete his role as a parent. Due to this, it further led the monster to misbehave and feel as if he does not have a purpose in life.
The Monster believes and mentioned several times that the reason that he is so angry is because of Victor. Shelley writes,
The story of Frankenstein and his monster is one of the most famous horror stories of all time. This story has been retold extensively in numerous cinematic productions. However, the original book Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, may differ from the tale so many think they know. Shelley tells the story of a man, Frankenstein, who lets his scientific ambition lead him to create something unnatural. However, the creature Frankenstein creates, known commonly as his ‘monster’, is not a mindless being.
Frankenstein: the Connection Between Victor Frankenstein and Percy Shelley Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is about one man’s desire to create life, and how it later becomes his demise. Parallels can be drawn between Shelley’s life and her novel. One distinct connection between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein is the resemblance of Shelley’s husband, Percy Shelley, and Victor Frankenstein. While the connection between Victor and Percy has been previously made by literary scholars, this essay will further explore the idea. To begin with, Victor Frankenstein had a passion for natural philosophy, but he also believed in controversial ideas about the subject.
Frankenstein: the Connection Between Victor Frankenstein and Percy Shelley Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is about one man’s desire to create life, and how it later becomes his demise. Parallels can be drawn between Shelley’s life and her novel. One distinct connection between Shelley’s life and Frankenstein is the resemblance of Shelley’s husband, Percy Shelley, and Victor Frankenstein. While the connection between Victor and Percy has been previously made by literary scholars, this essay will further explore the idea. To begin with, Victor Frankenstein had a passion for natural philosophy, but he also believed in controversial ideas about the subject.
Truthfully, the monster is very benign but his experience is blemished by Victor’s neglect and mistreatment of this creature. It is also evident that through Victor’s desires: we can see that he held his creation in the highest regard. It is because of this devotion to crafting the monster that it turns into a very capable entity. When the monster’s power is combined with his personality, a truly superb specimen is created that is worthy of the potential to be the an actual hero. However, due to mistakes along the way, Victor realizes that this prospect did not actualize itself into reality due to several mistakes on his part in the treatment of the monster.
It becomes essential to Victor’s psyche, urging him to run away from it, as he has been running away from his inner desires his entire life. Victor becomes physically ill multiple times, frequently because of the overwhelming guilt, before giving life to the creature, “My limbs now tremble and my eyes swim with the remembrance; […] I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit,” and afterwards, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health […] but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” Consequently, he implodes and falls ill, proving his inability to accept responsibility, and flees. Thus is presented another element of Gothic and Romantic literature, that of the power of nature on the characters. Victor, and the monster, both seek solace through nature.