Frankenstein Essay

As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally,

As the novel goes on everyone Victor once cared for are decimated in the path of his creation. "I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head" (Shelley 103). Now, due to his unwavering lust for knowledge, all that was once good and innocent has been stripped from him. This has left him as a former shell of himself, to be compared with his own creation, solely driven by vengeance.

Though Victor Frankenstein and his creation both have qualities that are clearly monstrous, Victor’s selfishness, his abandonment of his responsibilities, and his inability to recognize his own faults and the monstrous qualities within himself qualities within himself make him the true monster while his creation is rather the opposite.

In the book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author illustrates similarities between both Victor and the Monster he creates. She draws parallels between the two regarding their feelings on family, nature, on exacting revenge, and how they both become isolated from society. Both are able to demonstrate extreme intelligence. As the novel progresses, Victor and the Monster become more similar to each other. Their relationship turns to one in which each is consumed with getting revenge on the other at all costs.

Through a lifetime of abuse and suffering, all inflicted at the hand of his only paternal figure, the monster still reveals that he did in fact love Victor in his own twisted way. As exclaimed by the monster in the final pages: “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds” (page 277) In this moment, his confliction, and inclination towards a certain dramatic death in order to now right his own wrongs (ironic, right?) reveals him to be even more human than Victor himself, who can only come to the conclusion that he may hold some affectionate feelings for his own creature, a clear representation of what could be his only child: “His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle these sensations; I thought that as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow” (page

According to page 76 in chapter 10 “...that I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!”, this shows how angry he was to the monster. By knowing and reading this you can notice and get a sense of feel of how Victor was now starting to regret creating the monster. On page 79 in chapter 10 it says “ Why do you call to my remembrance,” I rejoined,” circumstances of which I shudder to reflect, that I have been the miserable origin and author? Cursed (although I cursed myself) be the hands that formed you! You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! Relieve me from the sight of your detested form.”, this shows how he feels now that he has seen what the monsters has

Rather than just killing Victor, however, the monster decides to kill his loved ones. The death of a potential companion in the world incites the monster to create even more death.

Victor, after being convinced to create a female companion for the monster, realizes that this will only create double the amount of destruction, he then makes the choice to discontinue his project to prevent more devastation. Instead of less damage resulting from this choice it only brings more harm to his life and everyone around him. First, his good friend Henry Clerval is murdered by the beast and Victor is accused of this murder, “The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions.” (Shelley 129). This was Victor’s reaction upon seeing Henry’s corpse and demonstrates how deeply his pursuit for knowledge affects him. Even though he is later released on circumstantial evidence, he will be scarred for life knowing that he responsible for yet another death. Given that Victor destroyed the monster’s only hope of having someone else like him in the world; the monster swears revenge and that he will return on Victor’s wedding night. Victor misinterpreted this warning and instead of the monster attacking Victor, his creation attacked and

Victor Frankenstein is in many ways more monstrous than the monster he created. Victor and his creation demonstrate a thesis-antithesis correspondence wherein they reflect opposite character traits. Victor has no sense of empathy or compassion, whereas the monster, although hideous and rejected by society as an outcast, has

He was said to be “shunned and hated by all mankind” (Shelley II, ix, 147). He asked Victor for a companion, but Victor wouldn’t give him one, so he wanted Victor to be just as alone and isolated. Victor was the main reason for the monster’s loneliness and suffering, which eventually led to the monster killing Victor’s family and friends with the strong desire to deeply hurt Victor. When Victor died, the monster wanted to as well. This parallels to how it is common to see bullied kids take action towards others or themselves in the real world.

Grotesque green-colored skin and bolts coming out of every orifice, may cause many to think of the monster, known as Frankenstein. Looking past the outer appearance; however, the story shows us many realities, which, obviously, have a less supernatural nature, but instead hold a magnifying glass to our own lives and make us answer questions about ourselves and our relationships. Much like this story, there are many events that. While Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, on the surface, seems to be simply a story about a monster, it is really a story about friendship. Through the actions of Victor with his family and friends, the monster’s lack of companionship and therefore his murderous rampage, and Robert Walton’s need for a friend and

The monster believed that Victor would accept him, but after he realized that not only did Victor not want to assume his position in the monster’s life, but society also rejected him, it became a transitory thought, and instead became replaced with his bloodthirst towards Victor and his loved ones, which he knew would hurt way worse than just killing him; making him lonely like himself. Both Victor and the monster partook in horrid acts, in which held horrendous actions; the main one being Victor creating the monster in the first place which in result caused the both of them heartbreak, loneliness, and pain. If Victor wouldn’t have created the monster, then his life would not be filled with so much grief and emptiness; Victor is the true monster, although they are both the primal protagonists as much as they are the antagonists because of the display of the emotions they both portray as lamenting humans/monsters, and the power they give to nature in order to destroy one another. Victor used nature to his advantage, although it was wrong; Victor used nature to create and destroy the monster; he used the

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a critique of the Byronic hero, as exemplified in Lord Byron’s “Manfred.” The Byronic hero is a protagonist who has the following traits: self-inflicted agony, a high self esteem, isolation from society, an exaggerated sense of independence, and genuine guilt. All of these traits Manfred bears, but Victor lacks two of these attributes. The lead protagonists, Victor and Manfred, have two key differences: genuine remorse and independence. Victor’s guilt is false when compared with that of Manfred. Victor relinquishes some of his autonomy to the monster in Frankenstein, in contrast to Manfred’s steadfast hold of complete self government. These differences, seen in Victor’s personality amount to a critique of

His creation murdered his brother by hand, and now the love of his life. Victor was destroyed, he made a vow at that point to never stop hunting for the monster that attacked everyone dear to him. Victor spent years and years of his life searching for his creation. It was all his fault, if he never got obsessed with his work, if he would’ve just done what the creature wanted, everything of his gone. Victor died trying to get revenge for his family, he spent his life with so much of everything that he didn’t know what to do when he had nothing.

As a young child Victor Frankenstein was loved unconditionally by his parents. They adored him and provided him opportunities and stability to develop into a well-rounded person. Victor becomes a scientist and is intelligent and loves research. As he develops, Victor became obsessed with creating life. He accumulates body parts for the local cemetery and begins to put together his monster. He is confident that he can be like God and has the skills to create life. Victor eventually creates a monster, and he comes to life. However, Victor is horrified by his monster, because of the way it looks. Instead of relishing in the joy of his accomplishment he runs away from it. The monster is left alone to fend for itself and doesn’t have the right skills to take care of his basic needs. He cannot speak, he cannot read and he doesn’t have anyone to teach him basic fundamental human skills. The monster escapes to the woods, afraid and alone, not sure where he is going or what he is going to do. Nearby is a village full of people and he sets forward to observe them. At first, he tries to be visible and friendly, but people turn from him in fright and run away. The monster is hurt and because he cannot make physical contact with anyone he decides to observe people secretly. During his observation, he watches human interaction and studies what is socially acceptable and what is not..