Frankenstein Essay - a Dire Flaw of Victor

Frankenstein is full of ideas and warnings, which are relevant to a modern day audience; in what ways does Shelley explore. Frankenstein Coursework Q. Frankenstein is full of ideas and warnings, which are relevant to a modern day audience; in what ways does Shelley explore these ideas? The novel Frankenstein is set in the pre 1914’s, when there were theories on certain things that they did not understand. It is full of darkness and tragedy in some places.

However, the results of the creation of the Creature are egregious, as the creature begins to murder people, specifically Victor’s loved ones, including his brother William upon realizing that William is related to Victor. Victor here is partially at fault in his brother’s death, as he abandoned the Creature, leaving it to terrorize the people. Though he is overwhelmingly contrite for their deaths, he neglects to admit who the true culprit is in William’s murder and allows Justine Moritz to take the blame, an example of his morally ambiguous actions. His inconsiderate actions cost Justine her life, though he feels horrible for it. Even then, he argues that the action he regrets the most—the creation of the monster—was the work of destiny, which was “too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” (Shelley 23) Again, Victor places blame on fate to justify his obsession with ambition that led him to create the thing he regrets the most. His failure to recognize his role in William’s, Justine’s, etc. deaths while concurrently feeling remorseful for them solidifies his status as a morally

This illustrates Victor’s knowledge and understanding of Henry’s significance in his life and in whom he has become. Elizabeth, another childhood friend of Victor, serves as a source of consolation for Victor in times of depression through her many letters. At a young age, Elizabeth is not only brought into the family to be Victor’s companion, but she is also pressured into taking on a maternal role when Caroline, on her deathbed, tells her, " ‘Elizabeth … you must supply my place to your younger cousins’ " (Shelley 35). Elizabeth becomes the sole woman of the family, taking on the former duties of Victor’s mother; in a sense, becomes the mother, sister and lover of Victor. When Victor chooses to leave for his studies, she does not request that he stay home and marry her, but rather fulfills her duties in the Frankenstein home and cares for him at a distance.

At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.

Friends will determine the direction and quality of your life. Loneliness is a battle that all people will once face at a certain point in their life; it is how they handle it that determines the outcome of that battle. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein loneliness is the most significant and prevailing theme throughout the entire novel. Shelley takes her readers on a wild journey that shows how loneliness can end in tragedy.

He always puts the blame on his passions or his wishes, never himself. He even blames his own father. According to Victor, his actions are the the fault of the “spirit of good” or chance or knowledge. When he does finally acknowledge that the creation of the creature and the way the creature grew up is his fault, he claims he’s only “not altogether free from blame”. He does not fully take the blame, and then he goes on to basically say that everybody makes mistakes, so it’s okay that he reanimated and abandoned a human who had already been dead. He calls his creation a catastrophe, a wretch, a miserable monster, a filthy demon, a devil, a depraved wretch. What Victor does not acknowledge is that he was the one who made the creature this way. When it comes to describing Victor, he is seen as “noble and godlike in ruin”. He is not seen as a monster who did irreparable damage to another human being, but as a fallen god. What’s more is that Victor does not hesitate to blame himself for the deaths of William, Henry, Elizabeth, and even Justine. Though he is, in a way, responsible for their deaths, it’s by extension. He won’t take the blame for what he’s truly responsible for-creating and abandoning this creature with nothing but fear, confusion, and

Not mentioning the aforementioned sentence of Justine, Victor lacks the guilt he should have. He blames his mistakes on spirits and in one passage he even says, “I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of crime.”(pg.157). Frankenstein failed to think of the consequences of his actions and he even goes as far as abandoning his creature, pretending it was not his fault something so grotesque and inhuman came into the world. He eventually does try to take some semblance of responsibility but it comes far too little - too

While in Paris, Victor receives a letter from Elizabeth saying, “[t]ell me, dearest Victor. Answer me, I conjure you, by our mutual happiness, with simple truth—Do you not love another?” (Shelley 194). Elizabeth is convinced that Frankenstein has found another love that satisfies him more when he is on his journeys—although she writes in the most respectful way. Frankenstein is aware that Elizabeth will believe anything that he says and he is able to use that to his advantage knowing that Elizabeth will wait great lengths of time—as she already has—to marry him. In his response to Elizabeth’s letter, he justifies his love to her but also informs her he has “one secret, Elizabeth, a dreadful one; when revealed to you, it will chill your frame with horror, and then, far from being surprised at my misery, you will only wonder that I have surprised what I have endured” (Shelley 196). Frankenstein is desperate to marry Elizabeth still knowing the consequences of his actions as the creature previously tells him. Conscientious of his decisions, out of his selfish love for Elizabeth, Victor wants to marry Elizabeth and tell her of the threat only after the ceremony is finished. Although Frankenstein does have a good intention in marrying Elizabeth, it is destroyed by his selfish behavior.

He believed that his Creature murdered his brother and framed Justine, the Frankenstein’s maid, in order to achieve vengeance for Victor abandoning him, but according to Levine, Victor is the cause for this evil, “...evil is a consequence of maltreatment or injustice,” (Levine 31). Victor’s internal flaws and shortcomings prevent him from revealing the truth about his Creation and therefore he is unable to disclose details of Williams death to save Justine. Victor cowers and stands by as the town unjustly convicts and “executes” Justine, (Shelley 117). The cowardly act committed by Victor shows that he does not possess a strong enough moral compass to do the justified act.

Victor Frankenstein’s emotional turmoil is clearly evident in chapters 9 and 10. Explore the basis for this turmoil and Mary Shelley’s portrayal of Victor’s state of mind.

In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature, stronger and better than humans in every way except his looks. After Frankenstein abandons him, the Creature meets the De Lacey’s, a nice little family that indirectly teach him how to read and write. In truth, the Creature only becomes a monster after the hatred that Felix, one of the De Lacey’s, shows him. Before, he had done nothing wrong, but afterwards, all he did was fall down a slippery slope.

Critic Northrop Frye once commented that "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscapes" (Frye 1). Few characters illustrate this characteristic of a tragic hero better than that of Victors Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His story is one of a brilliant man whose revolutionary ideas brought suffering to himself, his family and friends, and his creation. Victor is an instrument as well as a victim to this suffering throughout his story.

Mary Shelley, in her book Frankenstein, makes several allusions to the fact that Victor Frankenstein is usurping the role of God in bringing his creature to life. The point of the book seems to be that a human who attempts to usurp the role of God will be heavily punished. Victor Frankenstein is severely punished. He loses everyone he loves before perishing himself in the arctic wastes. But did he really "play God" or did he merely unleash his own id and destroy himself?

The monster and Victor are two different and matching outlooks of a person’s personality. They are different people, but their relationship causes them to intertwine their paths. Frankenstein’s monster is his confidant, the effect of his interference with science and his attempt to go against nature to find all the answers to the universe. The creation of the monster is a result of a mad scientist who is in search of an immense amount of knowledge. He could be a victim of the cruelty of society, after all he still has a good part of him. Through nature and his experiences he learns new things to become a noble savage as a result. He is capable of emotion: he gets teary eyed at the sight of spring, but he still knows that he is ugly and deformed and he knows that

Victor never seems to fully acknowledge his transgressions. He could have made his creature happy by giving him life yet he decide not to base on fear. He could have killed the creature and put him out of his misery instead he ignored him.