Analysis Of ' Frankenstein ' By Mary Shelley Essay

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 idea of pursuing knowledge clouded Victor’s mind and when his creature is born he is shocked to discover that what he has created is far off his own expectations. Not only did the monster destroy his expectations of developing a creature that went beyond human knowledge, but it also affected his life, dignity, and fears. Victor himself admits to his own mistake when he says, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless honor and disgust filled my heart ” (36). Victor Frankenstein realizes what his obsession with pursuing an extensive amount of knowledge has brought him. His destiny to achieve the impossible with no regard for anyone or anything but himself shows that he is blinded by knowledge when creating the monster and is incapable to foresee the outcome of his creation. Victor’s goal was meant to improve and help humanity, but instead it leads to

Before leaving to Ingolstadt Germany in a quest for the information to create life, Victor Frankenstein was a happy person. Victor in his early years lived in peace and happiness with his family, sailing and exploring the beauties of Switzerland. It was not until Victor began work on creating his monster that his life started to change for the worse. Victor described what he believed a perfect person should do saying “A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never allow a passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility. I do not think that the pursuit of knowledge is an exception to this rule,” (50). Victor on arriving at Ingolstadt had that calm and peaceful mind he described but allowed his passion for wanting the knowledge necessary to

Every work is a product of its time. Indeed, we see that in Frankenstein, like in the world which produced its author, race, or the outward appearances on which that construct is based, determines much of the treatment received by those at all levels of its hierarchy. Within the work, Mary Shelley, its author, not only presents a racialized view of its characters, but further establishes and enforces the racial hierarchy present and known to her in her own world. For the few non-European characters, their appearance, and thus their standing in its related hierarchy, defines their entrances into the narrative. For the Creature, this occurs on the ices of the Artic, when, “atop a low carriage, fixed on a sledge and drawn by dogs, pass on towards the north, at the distance of half a mile;” Walton and his men perceived, “a being which had the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature.” (Shelley 13) Shelley clarifies, even this early in her novel, the race of its principal Other as soon after the intrepid adventurers rescue its namesake, Victor Frankenstein, who, Shelley clarifies, “was not, as the other traveller seemed to be, a savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island, but an European.” (Shelley 14) Later, closer examination of the Creature reveals a visage and figure of near unimaginable disfigurement, with a “shrivelled complexion,” and yellow skin which “scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath.” (Shelley 35) This could be contrasted directly

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.

"A Hermit is simply a person to whom society has failed to adjust itself." (Will Cuppy). In the gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley we follow the life of Victor Frankenstein in 18th century Germany. Shelley displays a recurring theme of isolation and how it drives once good people to do terrible things. If civilization does not adjust itself to a creature of any kind they will be forced into isolation and ultimately self destruction.

In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the creation, made from scraps of corpses, was built by Victor Frankenstein, a man fascinated and obsessed with the knowledge of life. Following the creation’s rouse, Victor immediately abandons him with no desire on keeping or teaching his new being. Because of his lack of nourishment and direction “growing up”, the creation goes through a process of self-deception. He endures a period of deceit by believing that he is a normal human being like everyone around him. But as time progresses, he learns to accept how he is alone in this world and disconnected with everyone. Because of the creation’s lack of guidance and isolation, he grows up feeling unwanted.

Beauty is often the most lethal poison. It intoxicates both the beholder and the beheld. Humans are raised into a society that instills certain standards of elegance and beauty. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the woes and misery of the monster is brought to the readers’ attention as humans constantly berate and abuse the creature for it’s hideous body. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein discusses the advantages and the detriments that an alluring versus unappealing body provides a person, and how that person is affected due to the pressures and assumptions of society placed upon their shoulders. Mary Shelley may have been amongst the first to examine the concept of beauty and the advantages it provides. She insinuates that the conformity of the ideals of beauty place shackles, and struggles upon those who do not fit into such standards.

The power of knowledge has also affected Victor in a negative way. Ever since Victor was a child, he had always been interested in science. As he got older, he got even more interested in specific topics within natural philosophy, particularly the human body. After his talk with his professor, he believed he could create an animate object from an inanimate object, in which this case the object turned into a monster. “My labours would soon end, and I believed that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease; and I promised myself both of these when my creation should be complete” (57). Victor has put a lot of effort into learning the anatomy of a human body and pursues the creation of one, yet he doesn’t realize how small the margin of error would be. Later on in the book, the monster demands Victor to create a

This experiment places him out of society and in isolation for months, showing his obsession with creating something that is his own. In addition, Frankenstein knows he has the ability to create the monster where he "[emphasizes] the necessary deference to nature that empirical science lacked, [Shelley] found her portrayal of Victor's artificial human complicated by the materialism of his genesis" (Willis 2). Victor's arrogance in knowledge led him to create the monster only because he knew he could. The monster is purely experimental and Victor creates the monster because his knowledge overcame his decision between morals and achievements.

When Victor made Frankenstein he was trying to experiment and discover new science. He was young and almost crazy trying to recreate life. When Victor was younger he saw a tree get hit with lightning, from that point all he wanted to do is something involving science. When Victor actually did it and made Frankenstein, he didn’t realize that

This need of power led Victor to create what he believed would be a beautiful human being. But he failed to see that combining the most beautiful human features does not necessarily create a beautiful human being. He was inspired by scientists who ...acquired new and almost limitless powers... (Shelley, Frankenstein, P. 47). Victor sought this unlimited power to the extent of taking the role of God. He not only penetrated nature, but also he assumed power of reproduction in a maniacal desire to harness these modes of reproduction in order to become acknowledged, respected, and obeyed as a father. While bringing his creation into the world he was himself alienated from society, and isolated himself from the community. Isolation and parental neglect cause viciousness within man. Because of his upbringing, Victor had no sense of empathy, and therefore could not realize the potential harm he was creating towards himself and his creation. The sole purpose of his project was an attempt to gain power, but instead of power Victor realized that a morally irresponsible scientific development could release a monster that can destroy human civilization.

It was with these feelings that I began the creation of a human being” (Shelly 48). In creating a living being, Victor is attempting to usurp God’s authority. Essentially, Victor is claiming to not need God because he can get through, and even create, life on his own. Frankenstein uses his knowledge to gain power; “A new species would bless me as it's creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley 49). Additionally, Victor uses his knowledge to bring him closer becoming omnipotent. He covets power. He wants to elevate himself. Frankenstein’s longing for power reaches a point of extreme unhealthiness. He wants to be worshiped. Victor Frankenstein wields his knowledge attempting to become like God.

A father who abandons his child from birth deprives himself of future happiness. In Victor Frankenstein 's case, he abandons the creature he created at birth, which alters his previously happy-go-lucky life to a miserable wreck. To elucidate this issue, the young and inexperienced creature finds himself rejected by society because of his terrifying appearance. His inability to fix his appearance marks the beginning of his self-loathing. Moreover, the creature 's good deeds are always met with hostility, further aggravating his limited patience. He now swears revenge against humanity. At last, the creature 's unrelenting struggle to persuade his creator to bestow him a female companion proves to be futile. Unable to find a being capable of understanding him, the creature swallows what humanity he had left and turns into the ultimate wretch. Accordingly, in Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein, the initially kind-hearted creature becomes a wretched spawn of Satan who seeks retribution against his creator because of his inability to coexist with humans.

Victor feels that his relentless search for more knowledge is the cause for all of his suffering. It is true that his knowledge is what created the creature, but what made things worse is that he never gave the creature what he needed, so the neglected creature set out to find it himself. Victor’s tragic fate was not the result of his knowledge but because he did not take care of his creature. 6. Foreshadowing is seen multiple times such as the night when Victor sees lightning strike down a tree and Victor is fascinated with how much power the lighting has. The monster also foreshadows his own death when saying, “But soon I shall die.. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames..” 7. By not giving his creation a name, Victor didn’t give his creature an identity or a place in society. In society, a person’s name is who they are, people make their own judgment of people right away. The creature didn’t have a name and people judged him right away and identified him as monster and only that, rather than an actual being. 8. During the period in which Frankenstein was written, science was growing and it was seen as anything could be possible with the new research and