Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the tale of the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Both Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s creation’s questionable actions lead them both to be considered morally ambiguous figures. Victor is ambitious with good intentions, but his ambition leads to bad results. The Creature is an innately kind and compassionate person who commits abominable actions due to how others treat him. Their moral ambiguity is significant, as it reveals that an obsession with ambition distorts one’s morals.

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.

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.

At the first glance, Victor Frankenstein and his Creature appear as complete opposites with little to nothing in common. Victor seems intelligent and humane while the Creature’s actions insinuate that he possesses uneducated and monstrous qualities. After becoming more familiar with the characters and their actions, the pair still seem to have a few differences; however, they share some key characteristics. Finally, after analyzing Frankenstein and the Creature’s personalities and habits, it becomes obvious that the two experience a shocking amount of affinities towards one another. These similarities include loneliness and persistence. Other more specific examples involve their inclination towards playing God and their hunger for knowledge. Demonstrated by the many examples provided throughout the novel, the identifiable common traits between Frankenstein and the Creature continuously develop as the reader obtains a greater understanding of their monstrous personalities.

Alhough Victor Frankenstein calls his creature a monster, and considers it disgusting and abhorrent, it is in fact Frankenstein who behaves monstrously. He claims to have created the creature for a noble purpose: to defeat death. However, it is clear that his motives

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.

Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley the creation can be viewed as a morally ambiguous character. When the creature was given life he was benevolent and never wanted to inflict harm on anyone or anything. The actions of others shaped the creature to become an individual filled with so much hate towards his creator he wanted him dead. The creature was molded to be a depressed and angry person who wanted to bring pain to those who hurt him but mostly Victor. The creature’s actions show his kindness throughout the novel but he also kills multiple people and feels a strong sense of hate towards Victor, which leads us to believe that he is morally ambiguous. The story of the hopeful scientist Victor Frankenstein and his outcast creation reveals that individuals start

In his interactions with society, the Creature often reacts aggressively, because “[their] purpose [is] to kill [him]” and “do [their] duty towards [him], and [he does his] towards...the rest of mankind” (Shelley 68). As Victor Frankenstein feels a need to end the life of his Creature, the Creature’s reciprocating duty is in turn to defend his life by eliminating the lives of his adversaries. This conflict between Creature and Man generates a state of war which is carried out by the Creature’s following acts of extreme violence: the murders of William Frankenstein, Henry Clerval, Elizabeth Lavenza, and finally, Victor Frankenstein himself. Although the Creature behaves violently in many instances, this cruelty is not the most prominent aspect of his inherent nature. Upon further inspection, Shelley’s stronger support of Rousseau’s theories becomes more apparent. Shelley clearly reaffirms the noble savage idea that “savages are not bad…because…[of] the peacefulness of [man’s] passions, and [his] ignorance of vice” (Rousseau) through her Creature’s

In society, humankind portrays monsters as terrifying beasts and other threatening forces. However, monsters can often be traditional individuals, and should actually be characterized based on their cruel and egotistical intentions rather than their appearance. In Frankenstein, scientist Victor Frankenstein fosters a new life form in order to fulfill his own selfish desires. After repeatedly rejecting his own creation, the creature seeks vengeance in the form of murdering Victor’s loved ones. Although at first it seems the creature is the ruthless evil in the book, Frankenstein is truly responsible for the chaos and death revolving around the plot. While the creature is dynamic and has multiple personality shifts throughout the novel,

A monster is often perceived as an innately evil and ugly creature or human that is sinful and malicious. In “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley the creature created and brought to life by Victor Frankenstein is labeled as the villain and antagonist of the plot at first glance, but upon further inspection things are not always what they seem; appearances can be deceptive. Despite his appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born a wicked beast but was treated as such. After perpetually being seen as a demon along with rejection and mistreatment the creature eventually became what others could only see him to be.

In the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley examines the monstrosity of the characters in the book. The Creature kills many of Victor's family members, while Victor abandons the Creature and takes away his only source of belonging and happiness. Without the use of close reading the creature seems at fault for his actions. However, with a closer look Victor Frankenstein’s true colors of monstrosity and evil have been revealed. Mary Shelley uses diction, in the book Frankenstein, to pursue the idea of Victor being the most monstrous character in the book.

As children, we feared the thing that hid under our bed or the creature that lurked in the shadows. Our young brains generated the idea that all monsters are hideous, terrifying creatures, and that regardless of their size or features, all monsters share a common goal – to wreak havoc upon humanity. We assume that monsters only prove to be dangerous and that we need to stay away. However, not all hideous-looking creatures are initially created evil. As a child, Victor Frankenstein took interest in the fundamental nature of reality, and he felt a desire to discover nature’s secrets. When he is seventeen, he leaves to go study at the University of Ingolstadt, where he becomes consumed by the desire to discover the secret of life. He builds a creature out of scavenged body parts and succeeds in bringing it to life. However, upon seeing the hideous monster that he has created, Frankenstein runs away in fear, abandoning his creation. Now alone and rejected by its creator, the creature spends two years in hiding, where it endures rejection by society. Eventually, it comes to understand that Frankenstein is the cause of all of its suffering. The creature, angry towards its creator, becomes determined to avenge the pain that it had to endure. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the “monster” is essentially a victim whose constant mistreatment causes it to turn to wicked means of vengeance, mistreatment which leads the readers to sympathize for the creature.

In order to understand the concept of evil that the audience sees in the creature, it is important to acknowledge Victor Frankenstein as two people, the father of the

Taking the lives of innocent people is a cruel act usually associated with hate and revenge. It is also loathed by society. However, in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, she gets readers to sympathize with crimeful characters. In this case, specifically, the creature and his irresponsible creator, Victor Frankenstein. Shelley uses convincing words to portray the message that the creature is guiltless. Even as the creature slaughters Victor’s family members readers continues to show compassion towards him. Many questions arise when considering Victor Frankenstein and the creature’s behavior. Why is it that even a murderer can be seen as innocent ? How does that person's environment affect their actions and decisions? Also, how much responsibility does a creator have for what he creates? Although, the creature is referred to as a “beast”. It can be easily proved that the creator of the creature , Victor Frankenstein, is the true cause of the creatures moral corruptness and raged actions. Victor's actions and decisions introduce the thematic topic “responsibility”, leading to the purpose of the novel.