Blind Ambition in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay

Frankenstein fulfilled his destiny and made his creation despite his suffering and misfortunes. However, his influence on Walton is paradoxical. One moment, Frankenstein exhorts Walton’s almost-mutinous men to not stray from their path courageously, regardless of danger. The next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. Walton serves as a foil to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him. Walton ultimately draws back from his treacherous mission and returns to England, having learned from Victor’s example how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be.

The reader can immediately see this because the Monster says, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (Shelley 124). He begins to murder members of Victor’s close friends and family. His first victim is William Frankenstein. The Monster has no intentions to kill William, but he says, “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed” (Shelley 116). The Monster shows his frustration with Victor creating him in this way and for making him into an outcast. After Victor breaks his promise of creating a female monster, the Monster murders Henry Clerval. The Monster’s anger continues to build up over time and he believes the only way to face it is by taking the lives of those who have a close relationship with Victor. The Monster kills Elizabeth Lavenza on her wedding night. He takes the lives of the people who are in a close relationship with Victor due to the anger he feels toward him. The violence the Monster uses is his way to try and seek revenge on Victor because he feels that he set him up to fail, to be an outcast, and to be unacceptable to

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.

Frankenstein and the creature’s thirst for knowledge bring them to eventually find what they are looking for but it also takes them to dangerous, and unwanted places. When Frankenstein first encounters Walton, he tells him “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been”(Shelley14). Significantly, Frankenstein became obsessed with science, which led to the creation of a new life form. He

Mary Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein" pinpoints the life of Victor Frankenstein, an intelligent and ardent man to natural philosophy and science, who consequently animates a creature who he believes to be an omen to his existence. The novel introduces Victor's upbringing with an adored family, his contemptible creation of the monster, and the doleful murder of his brother William.

In the early chapters of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the character of Walton is introduced through a series of letters he is writing to his sister back in London (the whole novel is an epistolary structure) as he is on a voyage to the North Pole in hope of fulfilling his goal of a breakthrough scientific discovery and “discovering some of nature’s most profound secrets”. Walton is full of hope and scientific curiosity and a passionate determination that he will achieve his goals “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited,

In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, ‘Frankenstein’, a recurring motif of ambition and the quest for knowledge is present among the characters of Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton and the creature. Victor’s obsessive ambition is his fatal flaw, ruining his life and leading to the murder of his loved ones and eventually his own death. Robert Walton shares a similar ambition

Upon hearing Frankenstein?s story, Walton understands that he is heading in the same direction that led Frankenstein to where he is at. He states, ? I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger ?? (Hunter 151; ch. 7). He recognizes that Frankenstein had put many people in harms way without them even knowing.

There is a myth that every creature on this planet is one half of a whole and must be completed by another half. Sometimes it takes that other half coming into their life to make them realize the truth about themselves and to see hidden parts of their unconscious minds that they otherwise would not have noticed themselves. Mary Shelley, an accomplished writer during the Romantic Era of English Literature, is the author of Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is a young man with a hunger and passion for knowledge and science. He wants to do what no one has ever done before- create human life all on his own. Victor creates an eight foot tall, grotesquely terrifying monster that after continuous rejection from society, decides to take revenge on the man that gave him life. Shelley shows throughout this novel how two mortal enemies can be surprisingly similar and even act as mirrors of each other.

The question “What makes us who we are?” has perplexed many scholars, scientists, and theorists over the years. This is a question that we still may have not found an answer to. There are theories that people are born “good”, “evil”, and as “blank slates”, but it is hard to prove any of these theories consistently. There have been countless cases of people who have grown up in “good” homes with loving parents, yet their destiny was to inflict destruction on others. On the other hand, there have been just as many cases of people who grew up on the streets without the guidance of a parental figure, but they chose to make a bad situation into a good one by growing up to do something

Monsters are not born, but created. In order to become a monster one must have been previously victimized or have a predisposition to violence. The monster is created because he is exposed to violence and rejection, he then breakdowns and becomes malicious. In the lines “Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? (Frankenstein, 124)”. Shelley is showing that by turning against the creature, Victor is deserting him in a strange and uncomfortable world. The creature is miserable and all alone. In corollary, the creature hurts others, because he has been neglected and in turn a monster is created. The creature states that “I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred (Frankenstein, 138)”. I believe that the novel would have turned out differently if Victor had welcomed the creature with

Frankenstein was reflecting on his past when he shares his guidance of knowledge to Walton. He was thinking about his mistake and how different his life would be if he were not creating the monster. He was passing this helpful knowledge onto Walton, hoping that Walton would learn from his mistake or it would help Walton to understand the power of using knowledge unreasonably. Surely, Walton was able to learn from Frankenstein‘s advice and thus prevent his crew from enduring cruel death by turning back and leaving his ambition behind. “I cannot lead them unwillingly to danger, and must return.” (Shelly, Walton, in CONTINUATION, p. 161) Walton was a seeker who learned the limits of seeking.

Ambition is the foundation of success, it drives people to strive for something better, gives them the dedication to improve themselves and their circumstances. Mary Shelley’s character Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenstein” started off as a very ambitious kid yearning for knowledge. However, the line between ambition, obsession, and pride is oftentimes blurred as Victor’s was. Once ambition turns into obsession and pride, it can be a downwards spiral that leads to misfortune and isolation.

In the book Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein was a scientist who made a scientific discovery that resulted to his own destruction. He ended up creating a monster to which he failed to give love and support it expected. The monster was lonely and sad which led him to seek revenge from Victor and eventually be the reason of his death. The revenge by the monster was a just punishment for Victor’s actions because he attempted to give life to the dead which was completely against the law of nature and the outcome of anything against God’s will would ultimately be the nemesis of the one who created it.

He is overwhelmed with these emotions and the only way to release the anger is to bring death to the loved ones of Frankenstein. The monster is deprived of any sort of love from the very beginning of his life; thus, he will make it his goal to replicate this feeling for Victor. The beast does succeed in bringing terror into the life of Victor with the murders of William, Justine, Henry, and Elizabeth. This active desire to harm your creator is something unique about the relationship between the creator and created in Frankenstein.