An Analysis Of ' Frankenstein ' And ' The Monster '

     Through the exploration of value attached to friendship in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein';, it is found that Victor, Walton, and the monster each desire a companion to either fall back on during times of misery, to console with, or to learn from. During various periods throughout the novel, it is found that Victor depends heavily on friendship when tragedy occurs to keep him from going insane. Walton desires the friendship of a man to have someone who he can sympathize with. The sole purpose of the monster is to find a companion to learn from and not be a total outcast to society. None of these characters desire to be isolated and when

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, explores the concept of humanity through distinguishing it from that of a demonic nature. This is done through a constant doubling between her two superficially opposing characters throughout the novel. Through the thematic use of nature, knowledge, wretchedness, and vengeance, sometimes as direct comparisons other times as striking contrasts, Shelley blurs the lines between human and demon within her own characters.

Ironically, Walton’s isolation comes by the pride of his own hand in his conquest for glory. In contrast to the doctor, he is ghastly disturbed by his abandonment as he comes to express, “I have no friend, Margaret: when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate my joy, if I am assailed by disappointment, no one will endeavor to sustain me in dejection” (Shelley 5). With regard to the dialogue, the author offers insight to Walton’s arrogance and discontentment which disassociate him from his shipmates and family. His resilience to remain isolated exemplifies his ignorance heavily. Additionally, Walton’s egotism reveals that he is purely motivated by the personal gain a friend will provide him through comfort and praise. Walton portrays the balance between Victor and the monster because he is capable of recognizing the cost of his pride, and yet still desires companionship. Walton makes mention of his self-inflicted isolation as he explains to his sister Margaret, “You may deem me a romantic my dear sister, but I have no one near to me , gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as a capricious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or mend my plans” (Shelley 5). Being a specimen of narcissism, Walton essentially communicates that none of his shipmates are good enough for his company. He irrationally bemoans in his loneliness, while his own

Quote: He stated “I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures such as no language can describe…..I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation–deep, dark, deathlike solitude.”(Page 88).

The feeling of loneliness and longing for a friendship links Walton, Frankenstein and the Creature together. Walton writes in one letter, "I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine . . .I bitterly feel the want of a friend."` Frankenstein hears the same desperate plea for friendship from the Creature when he says "everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy , and I shall again be virtuous." Unfortunately, Frankenstein never offers the same friendship to the creature as he does to Walton. However, Frankenstein did get a taste of the lonely friendless misery felt by Walton and the creature when he was sent to prison for the murder of Clerval.

Victor Frankenstein created life, a monster that was born into this world with no purpose, and no one to love. He did not even have a name, he was called a monster from the start. Just like a normal human baby, he came to life not knowing anything, and had to learn from his surroundings. Just like a person, he watched and learned from others, and tried to understand the world and the people in it. From that, the monster understood that he just wants to find a life for himself, and not be viewed as an evil monster, but there are many things that are preventing that. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author portrays Frankenstein’s monster as a friend through details in his character and his outlook on life.

Alienation is a product of society’s inherently discriminatory bias, catalyzed by our fear of the unknown in the realm of interpersonal conduct. Mary Shelley, in her novel, Frankenstein, dissects society’s unmerited demonization of individuals who defy—voluntarily or involuntarily—conventional norms. Furthermore, through her detailed parallel development of Frankenstein and his monster, Shelley personifies the tendency to alienate on the basis of physical deformity, thereby illustrating the role of the visual in the obfuscation of morality.

“He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more, the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or stars, or feel the winds play on my cheeks. Light, feeling, and sense, will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness.”(161)

Although Frankenstein is a fictional story, I think in many ways it is representative of Mary Shelley personal views in her everyday life. Mary Shelley was raised by her father after her mother passed and because of that they always had a rocky relationship even after her father remarried. Mary fell in love with one of her father’s political followers, Percy Shelley and they got married although her father did not approve of their relationship because of the age difference. Throughout their relationship, they faced many obstacles that made it hard for their relationship to work, but it did. This aspect of her relationship is show through Elizabeth in the novel because it shows how hard women will work to make a relationship work even when

Throughout the novel, “Frankenstein,” the “monster” was seen as hideous. As a result, many including the creator himself did not give the “monster” a chance and portrayed him as evil. Rather than looking at his personality, they looked at his outward appearance, which scared them off and made them assume he was a “monster.” When readers, including myself, read this story, we feel disappointed about how during this time everything revolved based upon looks and not on what really mattered like charisma. Overall he is portrayed as an evil, scary creature. When Victor describes him he is so harsh and cruel it makes him seem to be a monster. “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks,” (Shelley 59) this phrase proves how when Victor describes the monster he did not care to think about what the monster was trying to say because he was too scared of his horrible looks.

Victor Frankenstein had created life with desire of a companion but wanted a sense of love through compassion and sympathy. Victor Frankenstein has lost his mother at a young age and was left with his sister, Elizabeth and his father. Victor had a very keen interest in the sciences and the development from life to death, leading to his creation, Frankenstein. Through the development of his creation, he had felt lonely and was in need of a companion. For example, after Victor had completed the Monster and has seen the final results, he had gone to his friend Clerval to receive a sense of comfort. “But I was in reality very ill; and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life.” Instead of mocking and pushing him aside, Clerval

The monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was unable to overcome his primary obstacle of isolation and loneliness, an obstacle that is also very evident in literary works from a wide variety of different time periods, genres and cultures. The lack of a companion resulted in tragedy, therefore, this is proof that we all need people in our lives to help us through hard times. This is very clear in This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel, The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom, Zebra by Chaim Potok, and Simon Birch by John Irving. Friendship is a very important theme in This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel. One of the protagonists, Konrad, gets deathly ill and the only way to save him is to create the “Elixir of Life”.

Fictionally, the greatest-written villains in history possess attributes that give them cause for their behavior, with the most universal and essential of these core traits being a deep, personal backstory behind their acts. For instance, in classic stories like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Monster presents thorough reason to its Creator in terms of why it has turned to wickedness. The Monster does not kill purely for the sake of being evil, its actions are resulted from its desire to be loved by man, yet failing at every attempt to achieve it. Motivation behind monstrous acts is necessary in works of fiction because non-fictionally, people labeled as monsters by society possesses motivation behind their actions as well, whether it be

Frankenstein was a story written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley while she was on her vacation in Switzerland with her husband. The story got published in 1818 without letting the public about the author. It was in 1831 when the novel revised edition was out and Mary Shelley name mentioned as an author. The novel focused on social, cultural and political facet of the societies during Mary’s lifetime. The fictional character in the novel clearly shows the battle against the pre-established people’s attitude during that time. Religion and science always create a controversy in the society with religion always differencing from any scientific principles and experiments. Shelley’s tried to addresses the above controversy and showed how science and modern technology is sometimes wrong. She tried to show how scientists and inventors are sometimes selfish only care for achieving their plan without evaluating the end result.

Introduction: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a book with a deep message that touches to the very heart. This message implies that the reader will not see the story only from the perspective of the narrator but also reveal numerous hidden opinions and form a personal interpretation of the novel. One of its primary statements is that no one is born a monster and a “monster” is created throughout socialization, and the process of socialization starts from the contact with the “creator”. It is Victor Frankenstein that could not take the responsibility for his creature and was not able to take care of his “child”. Pride and vanity were the qualities that directed Victor Frankenstein to his discovery of life: “...So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein-more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation”[p.47]. He could not cope with this discovery and simply ignored it. The tragedy of Victor Frankenstein and the tragedy of his creature is the same – it is the tragedy of loneliness and confronting the world, trying to find a place in it and deserve someone’s love. The creature would have never become a monster if it got the love it strived for. Victor Frankenstein would have never converted his creature into a monster if he knew how to love and take responsibility for the ones we bring to this world.