Victor Frankenstein, in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, portrays both a Byronic hero and a tragic hero. Characteristics of both of these types of hero archetypes shape Victor by depicting him as a victim, despite the fact that he created the monster, and these characteristics shape the themes of the novel. Victor has characteristics of a Byronic hero, which shapes his character and the themes. A Byronic hero is a “melancholy and rebellious young man, distressed by a terrible wrong he committed in the past” (The Definition of Byronic Hero). Victor is clearly troubled from creating the monster, as seen in:“his stature…exceed that of a man. I was troubled; a mist came over my eyes, and I felt a faintness seize me” (Shelly 93). The way Victor …show more content…
Theses qualities portray Victor as the victim and innocent, which is ironic since he created the monster which caused all the destruction and terror. Victor portraying himself as a victim caused all of the tragedies to occur fairly quickly, because he could have gone to authorities earlier and they might have treated him differently. The “victim” act brings up the complexity of the relationship between Victor and the creature; since he created the monster he should be in control of the relationship, yet the monster is in control and powerful since Victor is innocent. Victor is not a victim of the creature, but a victim of fate and free will, yet Victor refuses to believe that he had any decision in this matter and blames it all on fate. These qualities also call attention to the theme of parenting—since the creature upsets Victor and he refuses to take care of it—and how the lack of parental influence can cause somebody to make bad decisions. This again brings attention to the paradoxical relationship between the creature and Frankenstein, since the creature is more powerful than the creator. Byronic and tragic hero characteristics combine in Frankenstein because Victor is a melancholic man who made a error in the past which causes his downfall. The combination of these two type of heroes allows Victor to be a victim and brings in the theme of
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the tale of the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Both Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s creation’s questionable actions lead them both to be considered morally ambiguous figures. Victor is ambitious with good intentions, but his ambition leads to bad results. The Creature is an innately kind and compassionate person who commits abominable actions due to how others treat him. Their moral ambiguity is significant, as it reveals that an obsession with ambition distorts one’s morals.
Victor is also a villain in a Archetype sense. Victor was trying to play god, when he created the creature, and that is something he shouldn't have done, because humans can't become too powerful, even though they always try. Victor became so obsessed with creating life, that it clouded his judgment, and took up all of his time and energy. On page 66, just before Justine's trial, Victor thought to himself, "During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to be whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings." This line shows two things, first Victor knew that Justine, and William's death was his fault. Also, he knew that his experiments, shouldn't have been done, and were against the laws of nature and god. On page 39, Victor says, "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." This quote shows how Victor wanted to be like a god. He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator. And this want is another reason he was the real villain of Frankenstein.
Victor knew that what he was doing was hurting his body physically and mentally, “My labors would soon end, and I believe that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease” (Shelley 42) Victor felt this way when he was in the midst of the creation of his monster. Victor knows that his decisions were hindering his body and his ruining his limited time that Victor has on this Earth. The hindering of someone’s body and wasting of time is going to be a direct result of Victor’s demise. The actual creation of the monster also took a toll on Victor; Victor describes the monster by saying “No moral could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 44) Another example of Victor’s description of the creation of the monster the night before “I trembled exclusively; I could not endure to think of, and far less to allude to, the occurrences of the preceding night” (Shelley 46) Even the next day, after the monster was created, Victor still was hurt by the creation of the monster which then led to Victor being very sick, only to be nursed back to health by Clerval. All of this could have been avoided by Victor if he would have not of created the monster. But because Victor decided to create the monster, the consequences of these actions were the ultimate demise of Victor with the person responsible for the demise being 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.
In the book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author illustrates similarities between both Victor and the Monster he creates. She draws parallels between the two regarding their feelings on family, nature, on exacting revenge, and how they both become isolated from society. Both are able to demonstrate extreme intelligence. As the novel progresses, Victor and the Monster become more similar to each other. Their relationship turns to one in which each is consumed with getting revenge on the other at all costs.
Mary Shelley makes us question who really the “monster” is. Is it the creature or Victor? While the creature does commit murder, he does not understand the consequences of his actions. He is like an infant who is unfortunately left to learn about the workings of society, and his place in it, on his own. He has no companions and feels a great sense of loneliness and abandonment. The creature voices his frustration and anger and seems to try to project his feelings of guilt onto Victor, as if to show him that he is the ultimate cause of the creature’s misery while he is simply the victim of Victor’s manic impulse. Shelley utilizes words, phrases, and specific tones when the creature vents his misery to Victor and this evokes, amongst the
Throughout Frankenstein, Victor proves to be quite an egotistical person. Victor’s actions will sometimes be selfish and not as noble as he would like others to believe. He creates the monster with a desire to obtain awe and fame and to make sure that his name will be remembered throughout history. “… a light so brilliant and wondrous… that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelley 37). While this discovery of Victor’s may be groundbreaking, he fails to think of the negative consequences, only thinking of himself and what this could potentially
Every story has its hero and villain. Some authors’ works easily clarify the debate between which character is the ultimate protagonist or the antagonist, but sometimes the author tries to toy with readers’ minds. Similarly, Frankenstein’s author, Marry Shelley is one of the authors who is not straightforward about who is the villain in her novel. In Frankenstein, both the Monster and Victor Frankenstein could be considered the villains in the book. Doctor Victor Frankenstein is an alchemist who is obsessed with creating life from the dead. He creates the green creature, also given the name Frankenstein, who is portrayed as the Monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein’s complete disregard for mortal beings, obsession with becoming a God, and his self-centeredness throughout the novel are all good evidence to why he – Dr. Victor Frankenstein plays the role of the villain in the story.
The movie Young Frankenstein is about a neurosurgeon professor named Fredericks Frankenstein whose doesn't want to be known as Dr. Frankenstein grandson so calls himself Fronkensteen. Fredericks grandfather was known for trying to revive the dead, which Fredericks doesn't like when people bring it up so he calls himself Fronkensteen. Fredericks goes to Transylvania after he finds out that his grandfather gave him his castle. Frederick finds his grandfather's secret laboratory and also books on how to revive the dead. With the help of Igor and Inga, Frederick brings life to a dead body. Frederick shows the monster to the people of Transylvania but they are scared of him and the monster is taken to jail and locked up with chains around his neck. Later that night while Frederick is sleeping with Inga, his fiancée Elizabeth shows up at the door. Soon after Elizabeth shows up the monster escapes out of jail and kidnaps Elizabeth and sleeps with her. Frederick lures the monster back to the castle and gives him half his mind. The monster can now think and talk a lot better than before and gets married to Elizabeth. Frederick is now calling himself Frankenstein. We see how Frederick is finding his identity throughout the movie.
As the thunder was rumbling over the immense dark mansion you could hear a maniacal laugh filling the hallways. This laugh was coming from Dr. Frankenstein as he was creating a horrid monster that would soon drive away the entire town. The monster was enormous and had a deep roar that could fill the streets. The monster had no compassion and would soon kill everything in his way and no one I repeat no one could stop him no matter what they did. As you could imagine this beast is a horrid creature that would do the unspeakable and you might be able to predict hi future.
Frankenstein is to be “sometimes considered one of the first science fiction novels” (Fox,stacy ”Romantic and Gothic Representation in Frankenstein”). Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley. In this novel the main characters where Victor Frankenstein, his creation the monster, Robert Walton, Elizabeth Lavenza, Alphonse Frankenstein, and Henry Clerval. Frankenstein starts out with a normal boy named Victor Frankenstein who discovers an early interest in science. Victor later goes off to college to study science and ends up creating a monster. Throughout the novel the monster is stereotyped by his looks and is traumatized and goes for revenge against his creator when Victor refuses to make him a
Although some critics view Victor Frankenstein as a Tragic Hero because of his one essential flaw, his overambitious desire to discover what cannot be known, he is truly a Byronic Hero by definition. Although Victor is of a higher social class than the average person and his essential flaw triumphs all of his others, he has a deeply troubled past, struggles with integrity, secludes himself away from society, and is a willful individual who seeks redemption by carving out his own path. Victor’s many, deep flaws, which often induce the reader to believe that he is actually the antagonist and the Monster the hero, and ultimate redemption in telling Robert Walton his life’s story make him a Byronic Hero.
Dictionary of Narratology). Because if we identify the character of Victor start from his happy childhood, university environment, but since he created the human-like, the complexity of his life getting worse and worse. He tried to struggle and beated down the monster to reconcile his mistake, and went back to his hometown to safe his family but ironically he couldn’t.
In the Romance novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley she illustrates themes of innocence and revenge. The book focuses on a wild scientist named Victor Frankenstein. The novel goes through many stories and perspectives on the life of Frankenstein's creation. Throughout the novel the monster tries to prove to the society that he is not a horrible creature and that his physical attributes do not represent him. Although he tries hard to accomplish this goal, society does not believe him so the monster decides to get revenge on Frankenstein. The society is responsible for the deaths that occurred in the novel because they assumed he was a certain way based on his looks, their violent towards him, and they mentally hurt him with their words which turn him evil and make him obsessed with revenge.