Causes Of Villain In Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley´s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, the Monster once claimed, “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” Frankenstein, since the 1910 film adaptation, has known a series of several adaptations that changed drastically, not only the plot but one of the main characters, the Monster, from stealing its creator´s name to being portrayed as a cold villain. Though, in the original storyline, the biggest threat to society is the creator itself, the one pretending to play as God, Victor Frankenstein. This essay will discuss the nature of the main characters of the novel and conclude who is the “real monster” in the end.

Mary Shelley’s literary masterpiece, Frankenstein, relates the story of Victor Frankenstein and his unnatural creation, told in three distinct narratives that eventually lead to Frankenstein’s disastrous end. One narrative in particular, that of Frankenstein’s creation, highlights the creature’s conversion into a true monster rather than an almost human being as a result of a terrible injustice upon him. The access to his narrative allows for a deeper understanding of the creature’s very nature and the impact the injustices in his life have on him. The creature that Frankenstein creates is not a monster by nature; rather, the misfortunes that befall upon him and the injustice that he feels cause him to become a heartless monster on a

Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .

The tragic figure in Mary Shelley’s horror novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, is truly an instrument of suffering for his loved ones in his life. Frankenstein’s Creature horrifies Frankenstein and sets off a series of events that corrode his relationships and harm his family and friends; furthermore, Frankenstein’s actions cause the innocent characters to suffer the most, which contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.

The creation exclaims to Victor’s dead body, “If thou wert yet alive, and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better satiated in my life than in my destruction”(161). If Victor continued to live and seek revenge upon the creation, he would be able to live as long as he would get to watch Victor continue to suffer. However, as Victor is now dead, there is nothing to seek retribution for, and instead, all his feelings of isolation and anguish return to the creation’s mind, as there are no other emotions to blind him from his true feelings: he is truly and utterly alone. This causes the creation to go on and say, “But soon… I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt”(161). Without the existence of Frankenstein, he sees no point in living, and would much rather join Victor in death rather than face his own agony and isolation on Earth. Neither Victor nor his creation win in the battle of revenge they sought out against one another; in the end, they both die losers, without having what they truly needed to be satiated: companions. In making both characters losers, Mary Shelley explains the perils of revenge, and how it never truly one’s desire, but rather a way to compensate for failure to obtain one’s true desires. Revenge blinds the true motivations of one, and even when they achieve the highest form of vengeance, their souls continue to thirst for other

The role of victor is subverting the mythical norms in Frankenstein. Usually the creator is considered superior and perfect in his attributes however, in this novella, the creator himself is flawed he fails to own his own creation. On the complete contrast, Mary Shelley portrays the Creature to be an isolated figure that spends his life desiring a companion and friendship. The Creature is so rejected by society, so abandoned by Victor and the people he encounters, that he becomes filled with hatred towards everyone, particularly for the one who placed him into this terrible state in the first place – Victor. The first abandonment occurred right after the “birth” of the Creature. The Creature, born as a neutral being,

Mary Shelley’s ability to create such multidimensional characters in Frankenstein proves that writing is a powerful tool that has the ability to provoke vastly different opinions amongst readers. Even though each individual reading the story is reading the exact same words, their interpretation of those words often leads to opposing views in regards to the fate of the characters. The creature, in particular, has been a popular topic of discussion when conducting a close read of the novel due to his arguable versatility as a victim and villain. The concept of the villain has evolved over the years, however its basis still rests upon the simple fact that as a character in the story, their actions are a result of malicious intentions

Many years have passed since the novel “Frankenstein” was published for the common readers, yet it gave a huge impact in the society’s point of views and beliefs about what kind of monster Victor Frankenstein created. Even in present day, the novel has influenced, in many ways, how to shape the opinions of the society. Although, it has many argumentatives elements, they are all based on how the monster develops in the story from a victim to a villain.

     Though education in this novel helps to form some of the bonds between characters the bonds that do not form play an important role in Frankenstein. The most prevalent relationship that does not ever truly form is that between the Victor and his creation. Victor, during his making of the creature, is so proud and infatuated with the idea of what he is bringing to the world; but when life flows through the veins of the creature Victor is terrified and abandons him. He could not stand to see the wretch of a being that he created. Before the creature was alive he was beautiful to Victor. This abandonment set the relationship out on thin ice in the beginning. Victor had no one to tell him how to handle the problem and take care of the creature so in turn he ran from the creature. This situation is like that of a parent but Victor's idea was more of possession, ownership, and success of the creation itself. Victor's character was not one that could cope with what he has done.

In the book they both suffer the same fate dying alone which is a fear Victor and his creature especially had. Victor always prided himself around his family, and was always the most wretched when they passed. The creature wanted a mate to bond with no matter how miserable the conditions were because at least he would have someone to love and die with. Victor failed in doing this, and suffered the consequences for his failure to comply to the simple needs of his creation. To further analyze, T.J Madigan explains “If Frankenstein can be faulted-as indeed he can – it is not for hubris, but rather for the very qualities he mentions above, cowardice and carelessness. For he performs his operation without telling anyone else, and when his creation comes to life, he rejects it by running away and hoping the creature will die. This rejection of what he has brought about his failure to share his findings with the scientific community, or the people around him ultimately leads to tragedy” (Madigan). Victor was too afraid of being ousted by the scientific community if he shared this. If Victor had done so, he may have been either taken as a joke or an evil doer. Victor may have had help to control his creature and avoid death all over, but it is because of the ridicule of the society that stopped him from sharing his

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the unnamed creature brings terror to civilians and commits horrific acts against his creator, Victor Frankenstein. However, his redeemable acts of kindness makes his character morally ambiguous. He struggles between doing well and causing trouble because of isolation, the excerpts of society, and his pursuit for love.

Who is the real monster?” acts as the dominant question throughout the novel “Frankenstein” written by Mary Shelly as the reader explores the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and his nameless creation. As the novel progresses, the reader notices how the relationship between the two characters goes far beyond a neglectful creature and resentful creation, for the two influence the thoughts, actions and emotions of each other. Furthermore, the creature’s physical appearance acts as his purpose throughout the novel as well as a mirror of Victor Frankenstein’s true identity. Additionally, the creature’s lack of identity begins to initiate Frankenstein’s shame towards his own identity, revealing the flawed character of Frankenstein and determining the resolution to the question “Who is the true monster? Who is the true catalyst of destruction?” During the novel, the reader is able to identify the creature as the most effective foil for Victor Frankenstein because the creature causes: Frankenstein to view the action of the creature as his own work, the shift between pride and shame in Frankenstein, and his physical appearance demonstrates his purpose to reveal the true character of Victor Frankenstein.

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.

Victor does not take responsibility for his creation. Victor disrupted the natural order of things by creating the monster. He also knew that leaving the monster was wrong but he did anyway because he did not want to deal with the repercussions of being the person who created the monster. Victor neglects his own moral responsibility in this book. He leaves the monster with no help, no care, and no love (“An Overview of Frankenstein”). Victor is an irresponsible character and that ultimately leads to the major downfall of the book. If Victor would have been there for the monster and taught him things then maybe the monster would not be so angry with the world and would have refrained from killing innocent people. The monster was not trying to hurt these people all he was concerned about what was getting back at Victor for leaving him behind. Victor was obviously a smart man he just made a careless and selfish decision by leaving the monster. He was looking out for himself and watching his own back to protect his reputation and not have to deal with criticism from other people.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a literary classic that tells a story of a young scientist Victor Frankenstein who created a monster that tries to live in society but is rejected. The monster will later seek revenge by going after his creator. In this essay I will be evaluating two critiques about the novel. Beginning with Professor Naomi Hetherington’s critique and the second critique written by Professor Sherry Ginn.