Comparing Victor Frankenstein And The Creature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, illustrates an interesting story focusing in on many different themes, but what most readers may miss, is the similarities between Victor Frankenstein and the creature he created. As the story develops, one may pick up on these similarities more and more. This is portrayed through their feelings of isolation, thirst for revenge, their bold attempt to play god, and also their hunger to obtain knowledge. These are all displayed through a series of both the actions and the words of Frankenstein and his creature.

In “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, good intentions are destroyed by ambitious, selfish, and disrespectful behavior. Frankenstein along with the creature, although seemingly different in personalities, have many characteristics that interlock with each other creating a suspenseful plot filled with good intentions that are never fully executed. Dominance is a reoccurring theme in “Frankenstein” as both Victor Frankenstein, himself, and the creature strive to be perfect in every task they preform. Although that strive for excellence may be a quality that many wish to attain, the intentions of both Frankenstein and the creature are shattered due to their behaviors. As Frankenstein embarks on adventures whose outcomes are not what he predicts,

In the novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, the creature and its creator, Victor Frankenstein, share a lot of similarities throughout the story. The relationship shared between the two resembles that of a father and his son. Since Victor created it , the creature inherits certain traits of Victor’s without realizing it. Victor and the creature both have an overpowering thirst for knowledge, a love for the beauty of nature and a tendency to use it as a scapegoat, a depressing feeling of isolation from people, a desire for revenge, and the ability to play God. The relationship between Victor and the creature does not develop like a normal father-son relationship, nor does it develop as a good versus evil relationship. Both characters show hero and villain qualities throughout the novel as their relationship develops.

The contrast and comparison between, Victor and the monster affects the plot, the theme and the character motivation is also affected. The two characters of the book Frankenstein are Victor and the later introduced monster. These two character come from a very different plot each but this small change in the plot affects the story in a big way. Their specific theme of the book also matters in the story in a way that impacts the reader's emotion itself. Lastly the character motivations play a key role in making the characters' do certain things that they may not fully want to have done.

What is a monster? The word "monster" causes one to imagine a hideous, deformed or nonhuman creature that appears in horror movies and novels and terrifies everyone in its path. More importantly, however, the creature described generally behaves monstrously, doing things which harm society and acting with little consideration for the feelings and safety of others. "Thus, it is the behavior which primarily defines a monster, rather than its physical appearance"(Levine 13).

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is the true monster, not the creature himself.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein there are several parallels that can be drawn. One of the major parallels in the novel is the connection between Victor Frankenstein and the creature he creates; there is an interesting relationship between these two characters. Frankenstein and his creation are not blood related, however, their similarities bond the two. Despite their dislike for one another and their physical differences Frankenstein shares many characteristics with his creation, throughout the novel we see each of them find comfort in nature, become isolated from society, and seek revenge towards those who have wronged them. There is significance in these similarities; if Frankenstein’s creation had not been physically deformed they would

In her book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley highlights the fact that society relies more on looks than personality. She shows this by contrasting her characters C and Victor throughout the novel. When Victor Frankenstein built C, he selected C’s “features as beautiful”— but when C actually comes to life, Victor is horrified (47). The man runs to his bedroom, somehow falls asleep, and awakens to find C standing over his bed with an attempted smile on his face. Although Victor’s point of view interprets C’s actions as a threat, which is why he runs, there is more evidence to the fact that C was simply trying to be affectionate to his creator.

This incitement causes the monster to go into a killing frenzy and attack anyone around him, including Victor. With the monster being portrayed in such a feral way, the well developed, intellectual, human relationship that Shelley crafted gets obliterated from this retelling and is instead interpreted with no emotional, human connection between creator and creation. Victor Frankenstein also takes Victor's motive for creating the monster and adds reasons that make the expectation for the success of the monster even more

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, is an inventor who lacks the courage to nourish his monster and allow it to mature properly. If Frankenstein had raised his monster like a newborn son, the monster would have changed the world, proving that you can bring dead bodies back to life. I am similar to Victor Frankenstein, in that I am unable to bring my creation into reality. In the story, after Victor Frankenstein gives life to his creation, he becomes unable to cope with the gravity of the situation and leaves his creation alone in his apartment when his friend Henry summons him.

When men try tamper with the world’s natural state, there are extreme consequences. By unnaturally giving the creature life, Frankenstein violates the laws of nature. To discover the secret of life, he “pursued nature to her hiding places” with “unrelaxed and breathless eagerness,” (Shelley 40). The personification of nature makes the concept of nature seem like a sentient being capable of enacting revenge, which it does. It also shows how nature is the victim of violation by Frankenstein. The life Frankenstein gives to the creature “is all artificiality, the parodied handiwork of a deranged surgeon,” and defies the natural creation process, (Mishra). Due to his unnatural birth, the creature turns out monstrous in his appearance. Frankenstein tries to create something superior to humankind but man-made

An example of this is when the Creature is first introduced to Victor’s younger brother, William, in the fields where the Creature was attempting to seek refuge. The Creature attempts to stop the boy with hopes of befriending him, when instead, the boy screams at the Creature, telling him he was the son of a Frankenstein. This triggers the Creature, recognizing the name an becoming enraged. He proceeds to kill the boy, with hopes “this death will carry despair to [Frankenstein], and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him,” (Shelley 155). These emotions internalized in the Creature cause him to commit heinous acts in order to ruin the life of his nemesis. The negativity of the Creature demonstrates an even further rise in his emotions, giving way to a tension between the characters that is furthered as the text proceeds.

During the duration of the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, the monster is first shown to be no more intelligent or possess and cognitive brain power beyond that of a newborn. While at first this does make quite a bit of sense as he reanimated from the remains of dead tissue and has lost all memory and motor function, throughout the novel he is clearly seen, albeit slowly, learning not only how to read and write but to speak as well. Just like the novel, the movie adaptations also portray the monster during his first appearance as not being able to speak, read or write as well, but as the movie progresses he still shows no signs of being able to read or write nor does he make any attempt to learn how to do so.