Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley

This novel reflects Shelley’s own childhood, which consisted of her feeling obligated to rebel against her own father’s wishes and his choice for her marriage. Frankenstein is a way for Shelley to tell her own experiences with parental conflict and how she feels she was affected by her demanding father and the environment she grew up in, by comparing herself to Victor’s monster. Shelley analyzed her own characteristics, and the characteristics of her father, and placed them within Victor and the

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has undoubtedly withstood the test of time. Frankenstein’s direct association with fundamental Gothic literature is extremely renowned. However, the novel’s originality is derived from the foundational thematic values found within the relationship (or lack there of) between Victor Frankenstein and the monster he had created, in combination with a fascinatingly captivating plot. Understandably, Frankenstein can often be associated with a multitude of concepts; however, in this particular instance, the circumstances in the book seemed remarkably coherent with Shelley’s Romantic beliefs in preserving the natural world, and one’s natural existence. These values present themselves as metaphorical symbols that

Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man 's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation 's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.

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.

Woven throughout Mary Shelley’s renowned novel Frankenstein, are threads of regret, lonesomeness, and rejection. Throughout the story, similarities and diversities are exemplified between Frankenstein and his creature. Both Victor and his creature suffered greatly, but their responses to their suffering is where the differences lie. Victor rejected his creature. The creature had to cope with the rejection. Rejection, demands, similarities, and differences are all portrayed throughout the book.

The novel Frankenstein, tells the life of Victor from his early childhood to adulthood. It follows him on the highs and lows of his life. In the novel, Victor begins the construction of a creature. He believes this creation will be a wonderful being. However, the monster begins to haunt Victor’s life with his own problems.

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.

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.

What purpose does it serve to have multiple narrators telling a story? In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, three main narrators tell the story about the creation of a monster and the events that follow. The job of narrator shifts between Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster that Victor creates. As each narrator shares his own recollection of the events that occurred, new facts are introduced to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Although Frankenstein uses multiple narrators to tell the story, it is important to look at the effects it might have on the stories accuracy. In this essay, I will closely examine the motives, differences, and similarities of each narrator to see what influences, if any, they have on the narrative.

In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with achieving his goal, which is discovering the origin of the secret of life. Victor spends a great deal of time researching and experimenting ways to create life. During Victors time in isolation and intensive research he creates a creature out of body parts he takes from graveyards. Prior to the moment when the creature comes to life, Victor is praising his work constantly. Once the creature comes to life, Victor’s emotions change dramatically from astonishment to horror. Victor is horrified of the creature because he sees it as evil and violent. Moreover, he fears what his creation might entail for his lives of his family and friends.

The creature similar to a newborn, was unfamiliar to the world, and the cruel rejections that were brought upon him sparked the beginning of a journey that will ultimately end in the death of Victor. Victor’s passion for his work causes a portion of his life to simply vanish. Frankenstein selfishly still chooses to remain isolated, despite the great pain he is causing to the ones he loves the most. It is his decision to remain isolated that contributes to his monster-like attributes.

Perhaps the most interesting event in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the perverse dream that Victor Frankenstein experiences after he brings the creature to life. Examination of the dream through Freudian theories on sexual motivation and the Oedipal Complex provide insight to the actions and character of Mary Shelley's protagonist. Further examination also reveals the reason for Victor's actions and character and how each affects his relationship with those closest to him.

Victor feels that his relentless search for more knowledge is the cause for all of his suffering. It is true that his knowledge is what created the creature, but what made things worse is that he never gave the creature what he needed, so the neglected creature set out to find it himself. Victor’s tragic fate was not the result of his knowledge but because he did not take care of his creature. 6. Foreshadowing is seen multiple times such as the night when Victor sees lightning strike down a tree and Victor is fascinated with how much power the lighting has. The monster also foreshadows his own death when saying, “But soon I shall die.. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames..” 7. By not giving his creation a name, Victor didn’t give his creature an identity or a place in society. In society, a person’s name is who they are, people make their own judgment of people right away. The creature didn’t have a name and people judged him right away and identified him as monster and only that, rather than an actual being. 8. During the period in which Frankenstein was written, science was growing and it was seen as anything could be possible with the new research and

Victor Frankenstein spends almost two years in isolation, working to create a living human. When he is finally successful, however, “the beauty of the dream vanishe[s], and breathless horror and disgust fill[s] [his] heart” (Shelley 35). He no longer appreciates his accomplishment of creating life anymore, and decides to shun the creature. Frankenstein begins his endeavor of creating life with the mindset that after he accomplishes his goal he can return to his family, but because his creature feels like an outcast, he takes revenge on Frankenstein by killing his loved ones. Frankenstein eventually comes to the realization that he cannot even assume that the few friends he still had “were safe from the malignity of the fiend” (Shelley 146).

Although written several decades before Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, dreams are an important window into the mind of the protagonist in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein’s dreams about his love, Elizabeth Lavenza, dying in his arms and his creation strangling him, prove that Victor cannot escape his problems even when he sleeps. Victor’s nightmares expose what is occurring inside him. He physically attempts to avoid his problems by running away, but the problems are too significant. Victor Frankenstein’s dreams foreshadow his future and show his inability to claim responsibility for his controversial experiments.