In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, we are told the story of a man named Victor Frankenstein who figures out how to bring something to life. He constructs a human like body and brings it to life, only to discover he has made a hideous Monster. When the Monster learns how to speak, decipher hunger and thirst, and function as a human, he discovers that how lonely and depressing his life is. Deciding to get revenge on his creator, he kills Frankenstein's brother, best friend, and wife, while framing the servant for his brother's murder. With his family gone, Frankenstein decides to hunt down the Monster, but fails when he dies on a fellow sailing crew’s ship. There has been much debate on who the real Monster and tragic hero of the tale is: …show more content…
In the beginning of chapter one, we learn about Frankenstein's family. His background of coming from a wealthy and loving family makes us believe that he is set up for success. From early on in Frankenstein's life, he exhibited traits of always wanting to learn more. In chapter two, he tells a story from when he was thirteen and read a book filled with a plethora of facts and knowledge. When his father calls it “sad trash”, it only fuels his desire to learn more. Although Frankenstein's thirst for knowledge fuels him, he also describes this as being one of the key factors that perpetuates his downfall. For example, he states “I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling in the recollections of my childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mind, and changed its bright visions of extensive usefulness into gloomy and reflections upon self.” (page 34). This proves that his childhood did build him up for achievement, he achieved something that eventually tore him down to failure. Ultimately, the creation of the Monster was what brought upon Victor Frankenstein's downfall. His inability to nurture it and raise it as if it were his own child brings the Monster to have the desire to get revenge on Frankenstein. Because of the Monster's plot for revenge, Victor Frankenstein meets his
carried on throughout the story and can be seen in the point of the De
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.
To truly understand Victor Frankenstein, one must look first not at what he does, but why he does it. Each and every individual is molded by their upbringing and surroundings, and rather unsurprisingly, Victor had an atypical childhood; however, it was neither hostile nor malevolent, just strange for the
The typical horror story in the current century is the idea of the dead, coming alive. Yet in the status quo, the zombie era is truly coming to life, and it is easy to figure out where this idea originated. The historic book Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley describes a man who creates a creature out of dead body parts of humans. Although this monster was meant for good purposes, it eventually leads to destruction including multiple murders. However, Victor Frankenstein can actually be determined as a hero by the ways in which he fits within the interpretation of an epic hero. Gregory Nagy describes these traits when he writes: “The words ‘epic’ and ‘hero’ both defy generalization, let alone universalizing definitions.
When man decides to assume the role of God, consequences are bound to plague such an ambition. In the case of Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the product of such an ambition is a creature born of the dead. Despite the frightening process of his creation, the creature wakes into the world as a benevolent being. He simply longs for acceptance and friendship, but due to his unsightly features, the world is quick to condemn him as the monster he appears to be. With an unbearable sense of rejection in his heart, the monster begins to turn wicked. Soon enough he is responsible for multiple deaths in the name of revenge. Although many treat him unfairly, the monster is fully aware of his actions
Frankenstein was a scientist who thought that the world was a secret, which he desired to discover in the scientific field. He worked to find out the relationship between humans and animals. He was attracted by the structure of the human body, any animal related with life, and the cause of life. One day, Victor Frankenstein made an experiment where he included many different human parts from different dead people. This resulted in a human being and a strange creature never seen before in life, which made Frankenstein very scared. This creature or monster was tall enough to scare people by his height and with muscles that were well proportioned.
Thank you June for sharing your comments! I enjoyed learning many things about Frankenstein. I also enjoyed learning many things about evolution. Yes, science is involved with the laws of nature. Science does involve culture. Culture may be able to affect the society overall. Different cultures have a different way of living. Yes, some people may believe that it is good to earn power. Evolution does deal with organisms. Did you learn anything new while conducting your
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.
Since I spent last weekend in Vancouver attending the funeral of a beloved aunt who died on Good Friday, you could say that I've been pondering a lot about death and dying lately. It didn't help either that I chose to bring my copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with me to read on the plane rides there and back, seeing as this story deals with the creation of a new form of life and the deaths that result from it. Being in this rather morbid frame of mind, I decided for this commentary just to take a closer examination of life and death as contained within the kind of gothic narrative of this early science-fiction horror story. It's almost like a Yin-Yang pairing between the two: Victor controls the
The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley involves the complex issues with the creation of life through an inanimate life. Shelley uses these character archetypes to develop a deeper meaning of the characters intentions. Shelley does an excellent job at allowing the reader to have a peak at the characters inner thoughts and feelings. The archetypes presented in Frankenstein allow readers to identify with the character's role and purpose.
Romanticism began to make a great influence on art and literature during the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. Frankenstein was first published in 1818 during that period and the novel is flooded with Mary Shelley’s feelings of extreme good and bad emotions. English literature during the romanticism period is believed to be the most expressive in style, subject, and content. The discrepancy and chaos concerning the essential principles and competing philosophies were believed to be fascinating for several famous novelists along with poets that cited the Romantics as being their most eminent motivational voices. Romanticism in literary context means a movement in art and literature that depicts an emotional matter within an imaginative
Character Analysis: Give your ideas about the main characters(s). Include what you like and dislike about the characters and why they deserve praise or criticism. Does the author intend for you to like/dislike them? How do you know?
Amidst the 18th century, a subjective philosophy proliferated across Europe through the ideas of individual freedom and sublimity of the natural world. Ignited by various intellectuals, writers, and sculptors, Romanticism digressed from the normalcies of standard century conventions at that time. Mary Shelley exemplifies distinct characteristics of Romanticism in her novel, Frankenstein. Robert Walton, the primary narrator, recounts incidents of Victor Frankenstein who is driven by an obsessive desire of knowledge to animate lifeless matter by experimentation on body parts. Victor successfully created a horrific monster, which inflicted misery and suffering to its creator after being rejected from humanity.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley FRANKENSTEIN ‘Frankenstein is full of ideas and warnings which are relevant to a modern audience.’ -Discuss the enduring appeal of the novel. Introduction: Despite being over a century old, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has continued to hold public interest for nearly two hundred years. The novel was published 1818 and is one of the most acclaimed gothic stories in the history of literature.
Several fields have studied the relationship between creator and creation. The most significant aspect of this research considers the difference between nature and nurture. Sociologists, psychologists, scientists, and other professionals have tried to pin down the exact distinctions between these two types of upbringings. In literature, the same questions have been asked and studied using fictional characters, most famously in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, in 1667, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in 1818. The complexity of the characters in these texts creates the theme of nature versus nurture before they diverge and arrive at differing conclusions.