Characters in Frankenstein

Frankenstein puts the monster into a situation that causes him to be one of a kind. The monster had no one to whom he could relate. Victor thrusts the burden of existence upon the monster by creating him, leaving no route for escape from the situation. Frankenstein causes the monster to live a life in solitude, and the monster realizes the contempt others have for him. The monster feels as if he is no different, and believes he “deserved better treatment”(Shelley 114). Through his observations, the fiend ponders whether his existence is truly that of humanity or rather of “a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned”(Shelley 119). By creating him, Victor forces these hardships upon the monster.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has several literary devices- such as structure, imagery, and many intricate details. She perfectly places words and puts them in such a way that the passage has a dual tone. Shelley begins with establishing the monster’s nature as being peaceful, because he wanted to reason with Victor. Him wanting to reason shows the importance of his decision to meet with Victor and shows that even though he has been through a great deal, he is still respectable to others. The audience gets to see the creature’s humble nature and makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him. This creates a peaceful tone to the passage. The monster wants to be loved by “any being and if they showed benevolence to me, I would return them hundred an hundred fold” (Shelley 148). The creature’s begging makes it sound like Victor will answer his plea. Using a broad term like “being”, demonstrates the monster’s need to be loved, putting him in a position with the audience again feeling empathetic towards him. Eventually, Victor’s compassion begins to fluctuate. The desperation the creature has looks like the desperation a human might have. This only gives the readers another reason to relate to him which leads to the other tone, impossible. Victor’s unreasonableness heightens this shared discontent as not only has the build up of the creature’s wistful nature made him an utmost identifiable character, but our views are adjusted in such as way that Frankenstein is seen

The monster, however, had no control over his misfortunes. He was brought into the world with no one to give him knowledge, support, and guidance. He was completely deserted by his creator. When he tried to make friends, everyone either ran away from him or tried to kill him. When he saved a little girl from drowning, he was shot. He provided firewood daily for the De Lacey family, and they regarded him as "good spirit, wonderful" (Shelley 102). Yet when they saw this "good spirit," they deserted their house and the monster and never came back. The being was given no choices regarding these incidents. His rejection and misfortune was not caused by his actions, but rather his appearance, a physical trait that he cannot change. The monster's problem is that he is ugly--deformed. He did not choose to be physically deformed. He was created that way by Victor. Thus, Victor is ultimately responsible for the being's rejection. The reader becomes more sympathetic to the monster as s/he recognizes the monster's helplessness, which is in direct contrast with the self-induced problems of Victor and Walton.

During the family’s hardest times, Elizabeth tends to take the blame and then internalize her feelings so she won’t cause more stress to the family. When they first discover the death of William, she immediately exclaimed, “Oh, God! I have murdered my darling child!” (Shelley, 47). She blames herself although she never laid a hand on the toddler. Elizabeth thinks that the trinket she allowed William to play with was the motive for the murderer to kill William (Shelley, 47). Unknown to the family, it was actually Victor’s creature’s first play against his creator.

Frankenstein will teach you a life lesson on the different ways to deal with anger and to accept love. It is a tale that involves two characters who have, until the onset of this story, dealing with love and hatred in very similar ways. Intensely this book is said to have been, “ A tale so overpowered with sources and origins that it has gained a reputation in literary circles as ‘the most protean and disputable of even Romantic texts.” ( Hetherington 4) Victor Frankenstein is empowered with the drive to do something so great with his life that he creates a monster in this, he believes, will bring him fame and happiness soon. It becomes very apparent that love and happiness are not to found. On the other hand, the scientist loses many loved ones, then the monster seeks to find love and seems always to fall short. Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein and his amazing creation, a “ Monster”, share many characteristics while expressing the emotions of anger and love. This well-known story and its characters portray one of the greatest romantic horror stories of which have ever been written.

carried on throughout the story and can be seen in the point of the De

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

The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley involves the complex issues with the creation of life through an inanimate life. Shelley uses these character archetypes to develop a deeper meaning of the characters intentions. Shelley does an excellent job at allowing the reader to have a peak at the characters inner thoughts and feelings. The archetypes presented in Frankenstein allow readers to identify with the character's role and purpose.

    In any novel the author is free to create and shape their characters in whatever way they see fit. In Frankenstein, Shelley does an excellent job of shaping her characters, be it however minute their part in the story, so that the reader gets a clear picture of Shelley's creations. It seems that each character in Shelley's Frankenstein is created by Shelley to give the reader a certain impression of the character. By doing this Shelley creates the characters the way she wants us to see them. She tells us certain things about them and gives them certain traits so that they will fit into the story the way she wants them to. In particular I will examine the characters of the

Every novel consists of minor characters that may seem to be useless aspects to the story but are actually very important. They have a purpose that helps carry out the main focus of the novel. They may serve as a means of revealing more about major characters as well as to advance or move along the plot. They can be either good or bad, serving as a central part of the story as without them the story falls apart and fail. Justine Moritz is a minor character that reveals more about Victor Frankenstein and becomes the reason for the creature’s desire to want a mate. Whereas Henry Clerval is the one person Victor can confide in who is not in the same emotional state as him and is a foil to his character. Moreover, through the Delacy family the creature learns the way of life and seeks retaliations. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the novel as a whole is brought together with the help of minor character such as Justin Moritz, Henry Clerval and the Delacy family.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley mostly revolves around Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, and the plot focuses on his creation of the monster, the antagonist, and the tragic consequences that arise from his actions. As the main focuses of the novel, both Victor and the monster are dynamic characters, and throughout the story, their actions reveal moral dilemmas. Walton, a ship captain, saves Victor in the North and while he is absent during most of the narration, Walton still makes significant appearances at the beginning and the end of the novel. He is a developed character that serves to contrast Victor’s. The minor characters include Elizabeth, Justine, William, Alphonse, and Henry, and while they make sporadic appearances in the novel, they are still significant. As close friends and family to the protagonist, their unwavering concern for Victor’s well-being ultimately influences some of his decisions. However, due to Victor’s guilt-induced isolation from society, their characters are not focused on or explored in depth. Most notably, they function to add to Victor’s misery, and their unfortunate deaths contribute to the novel’s depressing tone.

There are a few times in the Frankenstein play where we got to see some of Dr. Frankenstein’s characteristics. One of the characteristics is how desolate he is. The tone of the narration is implying that he is accepting defeat and giving up. This is especially noticeable at the end when Dr. Frankenstein is telling Captain Walton to kill the creature for him, knowing that he will not survive to kill himself. He is also regretful. I say this because on page 284 on the first paragraph he says, “Take heed so you may learn from my mistakes.” There were not a lot of parts where the play talked about Dr. Frankenstein himself, but this is not true for young Victor.

   In the novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the characters have been portrayed effectively. Much of the interactions between characters, and characteristics of the characters have been based on events which have occurred in Shelley's own life, or they represent what she believes is important. For example, Victor is portrayed as having a strong passion for science, and a poor understanding of relationships. Elizabeth is shown as a stereotypical woman of the time, who is also very powerless. The monster is depicted as being both beautiful and ugly, and someone who the reader feels sympathetic towards. Through the portrayal of her characters, Shelley has created a very effective

Victor is noted for blaming himself throughout the entire plot, which characterizes much of his personality. He claims, ?I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer? (63). He, therefore, blames himself for the murders of William, Justine, and Henry.