Death As Depicted In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The desire to belong is natural in most humans. Even though we understand the struggle of belonging, we, as humans still persecute others who are different. This exclusion is, in itself, a form of bullying. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley exemplifies this phenomenon of human behavior when she shows the maltreatment Frankenstein’s monster receives for his unattractive physical features and how he attempts to communicate with others in order to put an end to his isolation. Despite the monster’s benevolent nature, he is still alienated because he is different. Through the use of the monster and his discrimination, Mary Shelley shows that humans are not that different from the monster in the way we seek others; and those that persecute others are the real monsters.

Throughout the novel, “Frankenstein,” the “monster” was seen as hideous. As a result, many including the creator himself did not give the “monster” a chance and portrayed him as evil. Rather than looking at his personality, they looked at his outward appearance, which scared them off and made them assume he was a “monster.” When readers, including myself, read this story, we feel disappointed about how during this time everything revolved based upon looks and not on what really mattered like charisma. Overall he is portrayed as an evil, scary creature. When Victor describes him he is so harsh and cruel it makes him seem to be a monster. “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks,” (Shelley 59) this phrase proves how when Victor describes the monster he did not care to think about what the monster was trying to say because he was too scared of his horrible looks.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the character Frankenstein and his monster make many decisions that prompt the question of whether or not they did the right thing. One example of this was when Frankenstein's monster told Frankenstein his life story after he made it out of his apartment. This along with the threats of what would occur if he did not, got Frankenstein to agree to the monsters terms of creating him a female monster companion, and in return the monster would leave humanity alone. He promised to live in harsh environments, never stealing from, harming, or even seeing a human again. In fear of the monster breaking his promise, the female not obeying the promise, and in fear of them reproducing, Frankenstein broke his promise and did

As Friedrich Nietzsche argues: “If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you”. This is precisely what happens to the titular Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel. What begins as a journey for knowledge soon turns into tragedy as the creation of Victor’s monster leads to the deaths of everyone he is close to. Knowledge is not always worth its cost, as evidenced by Victor’s downward spiral towards monstrosity, the creature’s dissatisfaction and hatred with his own life, and Robert Walton’s wasted expedition to the Arctic.

One’s nature has always influenced his or her actions. Everyone has his or her unique attitude but there are different attributes that make up one’s attitude. Arrogance, overconfidence, greed, selfishness, selflessness, benevolence, and fear are among these attributes. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley empowers her characters with these attributes. In the gothic novel Frankenstein, the character Victor creates a creature in order to fulfill his ambitions. This creature is abandoned by Victor, which causes the creature to be overwhelmed with loneliness. Everyone judges the creature by his appearance and this causes the creature to disdain his master. The creature murders Victor’s family and later both of them duel each other in order

Terrified by the life he has created out of the remains of death, Victor flees and leaves his 'child' to fend for himself. His secret of life seems to have been effective, for his creation is an intelligent creature capable of surviving in wild regions that would be inhospitable to most humans, and learning through watching others being taught. However, he's also lonely at being the only undead creature of his kind and demands that Victor create

When Clerval had been murdered Victor was the one put up for blame as he was out on the water that night dumping the body of the second monster. When he was taken to jail after seeing the dead body of his best friend, Victor was very ill, he was an emotional wreck because he knew this was the work of the monster and he was indeed guilty of the crime because he foolishly decided to create the monster then discard it’s only true way to be happy. In the quote, “A fever succeeded to this. I lay for two months on the point of death; my ravings, as I afterwards heard were frightful; I called myself the murderer of William, of Justine and of Clerval.”(pg167.C21) Victor is ridden with guilt and turmoil over the deaths of his loved ones, he feels personally responsible for the deaths. Clearly his state of mind is miserable, he feels that he should just die and he even says, “Why did I not die? More miserable than an ever was before, why did I not sink into a forgetfulness and rest?”(pg167.C21) Victor's words of death are very crude and gives a sense of suicidal thoughts racing through his

Frankenstein is a gothic novel that many people know the horrors of this creature. Frankenstein, the character was conveyed by the agony that Mary Shelley received from her huge loss several occasions. She was born in London in 1797, her mother died after she was 11 days old, sister committed suicide after she married with Percy Byssche Shelley. She was happy, but afterward she had 3 miscarriages and lost her husband when she was 25. It became a nightmare which is hard for anyone to receive painfully. This tragedy was inspired to write about the Frankenstein. The character, Dr. Frankenstein, a man who engrossed to put life to the dead by bringing several parts of the corpse to sew together. Finally, he made the inhuman live as the monster that

If handled poorly, knowledge can cause devastating problems in society, or it can change the world positively. When someone decides to interfere with the creation of life and the unknown, the interference pushes the boundaries of morality. It is human nature to push knowledge beyond normalcy because the public wants to use it to help the world. For example, doctors and nurses are using the knowledge they have to find ways to lessen psychological problems and birth disorders. Also, different inventions are created every day to make the world less polluted and plagued. However, when helping the world, experiments can go wrong and create disasters. For instance, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, after Victor Frankenstein finishes the creature,

What does it truly mean to have human consciousness? In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the exploration of this question, acts as an overarching theme throughout the novel. Starting from the creation of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster in chapter V of the story, Frankenstein himself has to come to terms with the fact that he truly believes he has created a monster, and the creature itself has to begin to understand why he has this label of a "monster," even after he begins to see the humanity within himself. Though the assumption throughout the entire novel remains that this creation does not have any sort of humanity, that fact cannot be argued as easily, as his morality, ethics, intelligence and emotions come to light in chapters XV and XVI; all very traditionally human characteristics. Soon the only truly unhuman traits about the monster is his unorthodox entrance into the world in a lab and his discomforting physical features. Whether or not this creation is truly a monster can no longer be easily discernable and what truly characterizes a human soon comes into question. In our world today we must address the same conundrum. As artificial intelligence becomes more advanced and continues to progress into thinking and feeling on their own, what should their treatment involve in our world? If advanced artificial intelligence fits the criteria of human consciousness, why should they not have the rights we do as human beings? My essay will first explore the criteria for human

While Frankenstein was creating what he would imagine to be a beautiful creation, turned out to be something that began to haunt him. As Frankenstein went out and about finding and studying the anatomy of the human body, he would go to charnel houses to collect bones, as well as butcher houses to get all the organs he needs. Amongst all the corpses that he went through he, explains that he found the best of what there was, the most beautiful parts that he could find. Once he got all the body parts assembled, he brought the monster to life only to be horrified by the end result of what is supposed to be a human but it’s clear yellow skin and big yellow eyes and black lips, make the creature look terrifying.

Thinking about death and dying is a very difficult subject to approach. There are movies, television shows, songs, books, and real life situations that basically force us to think about death and dying daily in one way or another. When we consider real life situations either involving our loved ones or ourselves, we must think about the ways in which we may be treated and how this treatment may affect our understanding of death and our role in the process. I am going to address this as well as how the ways in which people treat those who were dying many years ago compared to in our modern time is significantly different. There is also a phrase that is commonly being used in the United States known as the “medicalization of death”. I am going

According to study.com, Human nature is the core psychology, emotions, and behaviors of the human race. There are different viewpoints on human nature; some believe our nature is capable of kindness while some believe it is selfish and evil. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley reveals her belief that man is benevolent in nature, but corrupted by hate and self-interest. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein brings life to a creature he made in his attic and becomes disgusted with the creature as soon as it opens its eyes.

Victor hurried around his lab scraping and scavenging around his for all the tools and parts that were needed. The tools were his future in the flesh. He was glistening with sweat from running around in circles clockwise around the table, breathing heavily, panting, tried ready to faint from exhaustion. He must finish before the monster comes to collect his prize, and Victor’s ticket out of this mess. Victor sewed her skin together. He put organs together like a huge puzzle, like a puzzle of life. Hew sewed her milky translucent skin together, parts of many other people before her. All was left to do was flip the switch. The switch that was so dependent on his fate, his future. He decided to pulled it, he had to do it. With a flip of the big, black, switch the creature rose.

By depicting his environment as an enabling force behind Victor’s evilness, Shelley asserts that nature is a driving force for redemptional acts. While making his decision to not create a female companion for his monster, Victor operates under the dark of the night. However, instead of doing whatever he pleases whenever he pleases, he waits for an opportunity where “the moon” is “overspread by a thick cloud”, and “[takes] advantage of the...darkness” to finally rid himself of both his new creation, and his guilt (161). As an avid nighttime worker, the moon functions as a sun-like object of sorts for Victor, as it illuminates his world, and allows him to work. However, just like when there is a lack of sun, a lack of moonlight symbolizes a shift