Alienation In Frankenstein

In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the character Victor Frankenstein illustrates betrayal in the way he abandons his creation, with no hesitation he leaves him behind. With the feeling of abandonment ,the creature feels anger towards Victor which leads the “monster” to become a villain. Love and family are all the monster wants, but it is something that Victor could not give due to his own internal battles. As result, the monster begins to take Victor’s loved ones such as: little William and his wife Elizabeth. The monster kills

The reader can immediately see this because the Monster says, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (Shelley 124). He begins to murder members of Victor’s close friends and family. His first victim is William Frankenstein. The Monster has no intentions to kill William, but he says, “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed” (Shelley 116). The Monster shows his frustration with Victor creating him in this way and for making him into an outcast. After Victor breaks his promise of creating a female monster, the Monster murders Henry Clerval. The Monster’s anger continues to build up over time and he believes the only way to face it is by taking the lives of those who have a close relationship with Victor. The Monster kills Elizabeth Lavenza on her wedding night. He takes the lives of the people who are in a close relationship with Victor due to the anger he feels toward him. The violence the Monster uses is his way to try and seek revenge on Victor because he feels that he set him up to fail, to be an outcast, and to be unacceptable to

Isolation has a negative effect on Frankenstein by making him fall ill. “But I was in reality very ill; and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes. By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and grieved my friend, I recovered” (55). With Clerval by his side, Frankenstein recovered

     Though education in this novel helps to form some of the bonds between characters the bonds that do not form play an important role in Frankenstein. The most prevalent relationship that does not ever truly form is that between the Victor and his creation. Victor, during his making of the creature, is so proud and infatuated with the idea of what he is bringing to the world; but when life flows through the veins of the creature Victor is terrified and abandons him. He could not stand to see the wretch of a being that he created. Before the creature was alive he was beautiful to Victor. This abandonment set the relationship out on thin ice in the beginning. Victor had no one to tell him how to handle the problem and take care of the creature so in turn he ran from the creature. This situation is like that of a parent but Victor's idea was more of possession, ownership, and success of the creation itself. Victor's character was not one that could cope with what he has done.

In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is portrayed as a grotesque abomination. However, as Hopkins states in Contending Forces, the cultural and geographical situations, or lack thereof, in which one matures in play a crucial role in the proper development of one’s mind and brain. The monster is simply a product of circumstance. The lack of social interactions alongside geographical isolation propelled the daemon to be alienated from society, ultimately resulting in a lack of morals and an underdeveloped psyche. By being a culmination of his surroundings and experiences it is revealed that the true monstrous entities are the factors that leave the daemon predisposed to fail in a modern society. Arguably, Victor created a being, while the circumstances that said being was placed in “created” a monster. Shelley purposefully terrorizes the monster with such intensity to provoke and justify the overarching theme in this novel which states that people should not be judged on their physical appearance.

I believe that the novel Frankenstein questions several social conventions and norms of society, especially when it comes to our notions of humanity and monstrosity. What makes a monster? What makes a human? This leads to the question of whether we are really humans or monsters. Humanity tends to place a large emphasis on appearance and those who do not fit into this category of the “ideal or typical physical appearance” are unfortunately more likely to be looked upon unfavorably. While we say to not judge a book by its cover we, in fact, do so, on a regular basis. The media plays a major role in influencing our perspective in terms of the fine line between humanity and monstrosity. This has led to

Victor Frankenstein played the role of God in hopes of getting rid of death and disease so no one else would know the suffering that he felt after the death of his mother. He is a learned man and became fixated on acquiring the ‘secret of life’. Finally he finds the secret, but is unhappy with his results, a foul mangled monster. As a result, Victor is enraged, guilt ridden and consumed with the lust of destroying his creation. As a result of Victors remorse and anger the monster is ridden with suffering and sadness. Henceforth the monster and Victor make a deal for the monster to obtain a companion. Be that as it may, Victor goes back on his part of the deal and the monster is enraged and wishes to make Victor feel

The realization of loneliness gave the creature the craving for attention. Which he felt that the only way he could get the attention from Victor, was by killing the one’s that was close to Victor. Since Victor isolation was brought on by himself, he was able to rejoin society. After receiving a letter from his love Elizabeth he return home. Even though Victor faced emotional distress, he was able to return home, unlike the creature who had no one to love and couldn’t be accepted by any humans, and not having no way of escaping from his isolation. The creature need for attention led him of murdering the one’s closet to victor. “ Will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspired love, I will cause feared, and cheifly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred”. Murder is the creature way to seek attention from Victor. Eventually, he had killed everyone that was

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.

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

One of the main themes in Frankenstein is appearance and acceptance. In today’s society and the society in which Frankenstein is set, people often judge one another solely based on appearance. Social prejudice is often based on looks. Be it the colour of one's skin, the clothes they wear, facial features or even ones body expressions. People make snap judgements based on what the eye beholds. Today’s schools are a prime example of this as people are classified instantly and almost unknowingly.

In the novel Frankenstein, Victor’s monster is portrayed as a fragile yet angry being or thing that has endured much hatred and shun from those around him. Throughout the novel we see the monster feeling alone and without love from everyone, “ Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind.” Frankenstein has felt outcast and alone from the moment he left Victor’s home, he is feared and hated by all and is even left without a shelter or food for days because of how hated he is for looking ugly and pale. Many people can relate to what the monster felt on his journey, and although we have not experienced any of those losses we still may feel as outcasts.

Alienation and isolation have been present in society since the beginning of civilized life. When an individual in society goes out of the typical social life, they are considered alienated or isolated. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley creates many examples of alienation and isolation. Frankenstein is the story of how Victor Frankenstein makes a creature come alive. Victor leaves his family, studies passionately for a long while, and eventually creates a monster. The creature scares Victor as soon as it is created and Victor quickly runs away from it. After being deserted, the monster is furiated and plots revenge against Victor, which includes killing those close to Victor. Walton, the monster, and Victor are all alienated by themselves or others, which creates problems for their lives. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, shows how alienation and isolation of characters can lead to loneliness and horrific events.

In a world full of different cultures and people, those who are different from the projected model of society are the ones who are rejected. Those who are different from what is perceived as normal, are isolated from cultures and societies. Those who refer to themselves as normal, reject anything that does not match the accustomed image that society has painted. Throughout history societies have revealed their corrupted moral values when dispelling different people from the bland model of their society. In the novel , Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley uses different alienated characters to show how society pushes away those who do not fit into society’s model of beauty of perfection and the negative outcomes that occur as a result.