Jose Cantu
Susan Sibbach
English 4
11 December 2015
Why do you think you are God?
Victor Frankenstein goes all throughout the book to busy doing things for him and no one else as if he had the power of God to choose all the right things for him but wrong for other people. God in a lot of religions acts as someone who will be by your side and always with you but Frankenstein creates Creature and then abandons him and never worries about him. Creature gets judged so frequently and feels so unwanted that it takes a blind man to actually show Creature what love is. Also Victor could create Creature but refuses to create a companion for Creature and why does he have the right to choose to create life or not? Frankenstein has the chance to save a few lives if he would have told the truth but he does not and that shows why he fails at portraying a good form of God. Victor will fail at trying to act like God and it will all come back to him.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Victor goes through an experience that changes his life. The lightning that strikes the tree while he wonders outside gazing at the world literally strikes Victor and at that moment he realizes that lightning can create life and that he shall do. Frankenstein will create Creature but he treats him the wrong way. “Besides being creator, God in the Hebrew and Greek Bibles is judge” (Wolfsehr). Victor will judge him all throughout the book by abandoning Creature just because of his looks and also and by not creating
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it... God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:27, 29) Unlike God and his love for his creation, Victor despised and was disgusted with the creature he had created. He showed no love or appreciation for his creation, leading the creature to believe that all society was identical to his creator, or that there might be a diamond in the rough, as John Fletchers, the playwright, would put it. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character Victor sees himself as a god in the idea that he is creating life. Victor
Victor Frankenstein in the book Frankenstein faces many terrible situations and has to face many consequences for trying to play God’s role in creating life. Victor seen and dealt with many situations as a young boy that will lead to his madness and obsession with science. Victor has always been intrigued with science and life ever since he was a boy. He studied natural science endlessly trying to master how to create a creature that could sustained life. When Victor finally creates his creature, he becomes disgusted with how it turns out. Victor runs from his creation failing to teach him any social or moral qualities. The creature haunts Victor killing many of his family and friends. Victor will try to run from the many problems he has caused. This causes Victor’s misery throughout the book. Victor becomes the true murderer in the book for trying to play God and create life with science.
"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.
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
Victor Frankenstein played the role of God in hopes of getting rid of death and disease so no one else would know the suffering that he felt after the death of his mother. He is a learned man and became fixated on acquiring the ‘secret of life’. Finally he finds the secret, but is unhappy with his results, a foul mangled monster. As a result, Victor is enraged, guilt ridden and consumed with the lust of destroying his creation. As a result of Victors remorse and anger the monster is ridden with suffering and sadness. Henceforth the monster and Victor make a deal for the monster to obtain a companion. Be that as it may, Victor goes back on his part of the deal and the monster is enraged and wishes to make Victor feel
Victor Frankenstein, a man obsessed with scientific oddities since his youth, finds a way to reanimate the dead. In the hope of creating “a new species [who] would bless me as their creator,” (33) he designs what he hopes to be the creation of a man-made human being. However, his attempt produces merely a living being, a being which Victor grows to despise and fear, despite his initial claims that “darkness had no effect upon [his] fancy” (31). However when faced with his creation later within the novel he describes his experiment as a catastrophe when he “saw the dull yellow eyes of the creature open” (Shelley 35). In an attempt to be accepted by Victor, the creature journeys into the village to learn the ways of the humans. However
In the story of “Frankenstein”, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature. When the creature awakens Victor is so disgusted in his creation, he runs away and becomes severely depressed.. The creature searches for Victor, but ends up finding a little boy who turns out to be Victor's little brother, William. The creature kills William, and Victor comes home for the funeral. This is how the creature finds him. While reading the book you notice that all the Creature ever wanted was for Victor to love him. He kind of saw him as a god, and as his creator he must have to love him. The Creature soon realizes that Victor despises him. So he proposes a deal, Victor creates a wife for him and he’ll leave. In the process of creating his wife victor stops, he tears all the pieces apart. The creature slowly ruins Victor's life. When Victor is on his deathbed the Creature comes to him and cries. The Creature ends up killing himself shortly after. Throughout the book we learn to understand why the creature did what he did. He hurt Victor because Victor hurt him. He just wanted to be accepted by Victor, above anything else. We see the story through Victors and The creatures perspectives. Victor hated that he created the creature and he thought that he was his biggest mistake, and the creature just wanted to be
Cursed, be the hands that formed you! You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! Relieve me from the sight of your detested form” (115-116 Shelley). Here Victor has totally changed his opinion on creating life. He states that whoever created him, Victor, should be cursed. “I had hitherto supposed him to be the murder of my brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion. For the first time, also, I felt what duties of a creator towards his creature were and I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness” (116 Shelley). After all that has happened it is not unclear who the dominant of the relationship is. Frankenstein is a cautionary tale warning mankind of the consequences of unbridled ambition triggered out of one man emulating God (Wood). Because Victor did not set himself as the parent of god figure in the beginning the creature has now taken control of Victor and is now ordering him around. It has also led to the killing of many people, which could have been avoided if Victor had realized that humans and gods are not equal. This is a clear reason as to why humans can not be God, because for people to be god they must be all
Victor Frankenstein played with the secrets of nature and life, ultimately usurping the role of God and creating a living creature from dead human parts. Frankenstein, however, was not a good god, in that God is supposed to love his creations, regardless of what they look like. However, Victor judged his own creation as monstrous because when the monster threatened to hurt Elizabeth, Victor knew then that he had created a monster that wasn't in his control. He also knew that it was his fault that the monster turned out to be what it was because of his own shunning. If he had accepted his creation, the monster wouldn't have turned into evil.
During Frankenstein Victor’s mental state was altered after witnessing the power of nature firsthand when he saw lightning destroy a tree near his home in Geneva.This observation leads him to study philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt where he became obsessed with anatomy. Victor takes God’s power into his own hands, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it.” (Shelly 32) He has the gruesome idea to create his own human from the remains of the dead. Victor sneaks into charnel-houses, digs into graves to collect limbs, disturbing the resting corpses, and studies uses them to find the answer how to make life come from death. During the process of creating his monster, Victor
Throughout Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, the characters of the novel parallel to biblical allusions. Victor takes on the role of God, as he works to “pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (33), thus displaying a God-like power. The power Victor holds allows him to create a being solely from his own imagination, therefore giving him similar characteristics to God in the “Story of Creation”. However, Victor differs from God as Victor does not allow the Monster to stay in his life, as Adam and Eve stayed in the Garden of Eden, but abandons the monster directly following its animation. The abandonment significantly affects the
The relationship between Victor and The Creature shows a distortion of selfhood and human behavior in society as they both internally aren't individuals at all and they don't realize what choices are right from wrong. To create and conquer , you must have a reason and a mindset . Victor Frankenstein created “The Creature” with a godly desire. Ever since he was young , he had an interest in science and the balance of “life and death” " A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.
However, this was not the case for Frankenstein’s Creature. He has now created life from death and no longer can be the role of God, leading to his depression and disgust. Terrified by its appearance, Victor runs from his new creation, believing that nothing should be as ugly as what he created. By leaving the Creature with no guidance, Victor is setting free this human being with no sense of morals, language, or explanations.
Throughout the story the Frankenstein’s monster is referred to as a true monster because of the different acts that he has committed, yet throughout the story the reader is made aware of the compassion and morality that Victor’s” creature possesses, like a real human. Victor is the true monster in this horror novel, because he possesses many of the characteristics that would define what a monster is. Victor Frankenstein created his monster due to his eagerness for alchemy and his unnatural obsession with being like God. Victor does not take into account the consequences of his actions. Victor rejects his creation the moment he lays eyes on it, and this caused the monster to perform the acts that he did. The cruel rejection is what begins the a journey that will soon enough be end of Victor. After Victor decides to go back on creating his monster a mate, he then destroys the half made creature which anger Frankenstein’s monster and this cause him wreak revenge on his creator. The monster tells Victor that he will be at his wedding night and the killing spree beings, Victor loses his father, and his friend Henry Clerval because of what Victor had done. In my opinion I believe that should have stuck to creating his monster a mate and this would have made things easier for him and
Many of the ideals proposed in Frankenstein, written in the late nineteenth century by Mary Shelley, can be applied to modern day practices. She proposes that an abundance of knowledge and technology can be threatening to individuals and all of humanity if used incorrectly. Shelley 's novel provided society with philosophical insight of the impact of morally questionable scientific and technological research.