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. To begin, Frankenstein goes off to college and immediately isolates himself from society including his family and his minimal friends. This isolation has a negative effect on him, even though his isolation can be seen as his own choice. This isolation and focus on his science evolved into a project to create human life. Through this project, the creature is born and this is when his isolation gets even worse. This secret consumes so much of him and he has no one to turn to.
Contrary to Frankenstein, the creature does not choose his isolation, but it was immediately chosen for him. Society and especially Frankenstein excludes the creature from being accepted, based on his looks and his little ability to act as a normal human being. Within the novel he states, “What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching, and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions.” (Shelley, pg. 110) The creature is aware of this exclusion and through those words a reader can know for sure. The negative effects of the creature’s isolation begins to show within the story through his horrifying acts like murder. Isolation develops to be a motif in the story, which helps a reader truly see that this is a huge similarity between both Frankenstein and his creature. In addition to the isolation that Frankenstein and the creature share, the two main characters also share their
The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley revolves around two characters, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and his creation, the monster. Throughout the novel, parallelism is seen between these two characters, where they both have a pursuit of knowledge, crave revenge, and appreciate nature.
He chose to "avoid a crowd and to attach [himself] fervently to a few [schoolmates]" (Shelley 36). Characteristics like isolation can lead to an unhappy future and cause a person to totally remove himself from society. Though "[Frankenstein's] father had wished him 'to seek amusement in society [he] abhorred the face of man.' ... 'I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse,'" he admits (Goldberg 31). From the knowledge of Frankenstein's past the reader is able to understand the character's behavior and how it develops. Through the years Frankenstein has kept to himself, with a few exceptions, and is heavily involved in his studies. These conditions evolve to a more serious state over time. "Now, he reveals only the 'desire to avoid society' and fly 'to solitude, from the society of every creature.' . . . He is 'immersed in solitude,' for he perceives' an insurmountable barrier' between him and his fellow-man" (Draper 3206). This state of seclusion only adds to Frankenstein's deterioration and to the condition of his creation. Frankenstein's creature takes on the characteristics of his creator, just as children do with their parents. Due to the creator's reclusive habits and characteristics the Creature becomes as isolated and lonely as his creator. After being shunned by Frankenstein, the Creature wonders about lonely, "searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger"
Frankenstein chooses to be isolated from society and his family on his own. He travels away from home for his desire to obtain more knowledge about natural philosophy. He fancied about creating
Human are the most social animals in the world. When becoming isolated, it a signal that emotions have been turned amongst ourselves. If not already there, it is normal to feel depressed, lonely, alone. In Mary Shelley's gothic novel, both the monster and Frankenstein are isolated. Frankenstein will not tell anyone about his creation because he has no one to pour his emotions out to. This causes the loss of his family, friends,and lover. Until the end, he tells his experience to the force but was never really believed so his tale is only really heard by Robert Walton, an explorer with ambitions as strong as Victor himself. In Shelley's novel, she characterizes Victor Frankenstein and the monster as being isolated to convey their misery.
Frankenstein pushes the blame of disregarding his own family onto his father and the pursuit of knowledge. He chooses to not accept responsibility for ignoring those closest to him. He chooses to be apart from all of them. After returning home, Frankenstein?s isolation continues due to him 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.
Emotional isolation in Frankenstein is the most pertinent and prevailing theme throughout the novel. This theme is so important because everything the monster does or feels directly relates to his poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the monster, and indirectly cause him to act out his frustrations on the innocent. The monster's emotional isolation makes him gradually turn worse and worse until evil fully prevails. This theme perpetuates from Mary Shelley's personal life and problems with her father and husband, which carry on into the work and make it more realistic.(Mellor 32) During the time she was writing this novel, she was experiencing the emotional pangs of her
This source goes over the later forms of the horror story and it included the novel Frankenstein. At one point, it touched upon the alienation and isolation that the creature went through and how it had affected him later on.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has a simple origin, compared to other stories. While stories such as It by Stephen king started a several year process of creation, Frankenstein began simply as a campfire story Mary Shelley shared with her writer friends one evening. Although the origins of this novel are fairly simple, it provides an in depth psychological perspective on the darker side of human psyche through the shifting first person perspective. Usually these darker aspects are associated with the character’s personal struggles, but one specific theme in all the characters. The theme of obsession has been consistent and the central focus of the three main characters Victor, the creature, and Robert. With this central theme in mind the author, Mary Shelley shows that obsession leads to the characters suffering negative psychological and physical effects, as well as impair their decision making. This is depicted through the decline of physical and mental health through Victor’s struggles with his obsessions with knowledge and justice.
Throughout the course of the novel, Shelley isolated Frankenstein countless times to develop his character. Isolation is the process “to be or remain alone or apart from others.” Due to seclusion, Frankenstein not only became socially isolated, but also quite lonely. The first moment we see Frankenstein being isolated is when he is engrossed in reading the past alchemists’ books, and wondering about the universe and the human mind; this small remoteness begins before he travels to Ingolstadt for university. This seclusion does not depress him, neither does it make him socially inept, it simply a start push to the journey. The second time Shelley detaches Frankenstein from society is when he is sent to university and is engrossed in his scientific
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
Alienation and isolation have been apparent in society since the beginning of man. When an individual stumbles outside the realm of social normality they are viewed as degradation to society or a threat to normal society.(“Truthmove” 2012) In the gothic tale of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley frequently displays the many different forms of alienation. Victor Frankenstein and his creation were two of the characters in this book that went through alienation and isolation.
Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein and the Creature developed many similarities. Frankenstein and the creature relate in their relationship with nature, desires for family, desire to learn more, and a sense of pain. Throughout the book they became closer to one another although the challenges of the world around them change their relationship with one another dramatically. The differences in between the creator and creature along with similarities show how contrasting can be a positive and negative thing.
Although the Creature and Victor both experience alienation and loneliness, the Creature experiences more alienation and loneliness because society fails to accept him. The Creature first experiences alienation when he wakes up and observes Victor’s scared facial expression. Shortly after creating the Creature, Victor awakens in the middle of the night and notices the Creature staring and grinning at him. The Creature’s facial expression spooks Victor and causes him to “rushed out of the room… took refuge in the courthouse” (Shelly 59). Victor’s abandonment of the Creature creates the first major sign of alienation and loneliness because the Creature’s father figure disappears and forces him to learn and survive on his own. Although the Creature’s loss of a father figure creates the theme of alienation and loneliness, rejection from society creates a deeper isolation for the Creature, further expanding the theme of isolation and loneliness. Later in Frankenstein, the Creature attempts to make contact with villagers. Instead of a welcomed greeting, many villagers, “shrieked… some fled, some attacked me” (123). The Creature’s rejection from the villagers forces him into further alienation because of the fear of further negative consequences when meeting new people. The Creature’s rejection from his creator and society represent theme of alienation and loneliness in Frankenstein. Although rejection from society helps represent the theme of alienation and loneliness, the dark, suspenseful, and death filled plot creates the unique style of gothicism in Frankenstein.