Frankenstein: Victim or Villain

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.

Literary works that encourage curiosity in the reader to decipher and rationalize character’s actions or qualities are pieces that bring to light just how conflicted and dynamic human nature is. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly uses “the creator” to further explain this very thought by conveying him as a morally ambiguous, or a character that is neither entirely good nor bad. “The monster” in Frankenstein, due to his moral ambiguity, portrays the complication of Victor’s situation of helping or killing “the creature,” it gives insight to how human nature is mutable, and furthers how our decisions are commonly based on other people’s change in good or bad intentions, just as Victor is unwilling to aid his creature because he is unsure of what he

Frankenstein's Creature Is A Victim Not A Villain In this essay I aim to discuss the statement "Frankenstein's creature is a victim not a villain" In 1814 Mary Wollestonecraft met Percy shelly, a poet and writer. They ran away together, to escape Mary's family and Percy's pregnant wife, Harriet. Harriet drowned herself and Mary and percy were married two weeks later. "

Another recurring theme is that of the child abandoned by the parents. Elizabeth, before being adopted into Victor’s family, was abandoned by her birth parents- her mother had died, and her father was in jail. Victor’s closest friend, Henry Clerval, was mainly neglected by his father. Henry’s father was “a narrow-minded trader and saw idleness and ruin in the aspirations and ambition of his son” (54). He denied Henry an education, though Henry wished more than anything to accompany Victor at the university. Lastly, Victor left his creature shortly after giving him life. The creature can be said to be a representation of Shelley’s id, a manifestation of all her suppressed feelings (Hicks, Elizabeth. "Psychoanalytic Criticism and Frankenstein."). He is utterly alone in the world, having been left by his creator- the one person who should care for him and be responsible for him. He is as miserable as Shelley must have felt at being

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, it is hard to differentiate who is the hero and who is the villain. In countless stories, it is almost automatically quite easy to distinguish the characteristics between the hero and the villain. This is not the case in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. In the novel, we meet Victor Frankenstein and his science experiment gone rogue, the Creature. At first glance into the novel, many people would debate that the Creature is, in fact, the villain because he had maliciously murdered Victor Frankenstein's family and closest friends. Of course anyone with a properly functioning brain would say that the Creature is the bad guy but what some people do not take into consideration is the Creature's background,

In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays different viewpoints that set the tone throughout her book. Each of the viewpoints from both Victor and the creature has an effect on the conflict. She contrasts the story of Victor with how the creature grew up and why the creature acted as a monster throughout the book. The lack of acceptance, empathy, guidance, communication, and the fact that the creature did not have a name all contribute to the central conflict. The fact that looking at the story through the eyes of not only Victor, but the creature, helps to fabricate the structure of the novel and supports the saying that all stories have more than

What comes to mind when you think of the literary character Frankenstein? You likely think of a monster with no morals or mental capability. However, this excerpt from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley shows us that there are more sides to the creature than his stereotypes lead us to believe. The first person point of view uses the character’s observations, words, and actions to change the reader’s opinion on the creature in a positive way.

He is especially close to his mother so much that he refers to her as “Mine Of Love”. He states how glad he is in the line “innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven whom to bring up to good”( chapter 2) in a way I think this surprises Victor. He is talking about how he was brought into the world by his mother and father and how the did everything they could to raise him to he the man he is today. These parenting skills should have been used to help the creature mold himself into a good man instead of a

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley reveals reality and exposes truths about the world; that perhaps everybody is essentially a combination of good and evil. She writes characters that seem to send mixed messages about what it means to be monstrous. By portraying a creature that is ugly, yet initially kind-hearted, a handsome, wealthy man that is perhaps terrible inside, and attractive, seemingly kind townspeople that rush to judgment, she implies there is no one definition of the word. What is deemed as evil and feared is a matter of individual perception; and the attitudes and behaviors of Victor, the minor characters, and the creature show this variation.

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, villainy plays a large role within the novel and adds new meaning to it. The monster’s motives, the natures of his villainy, and how it enhances the story are all key to understanding his villainy. First, the monster had only one motive for his villainy in the novel. He was not born with evil intentions, but that night Frankenstein abandoned him, leaving him alone in an unfamiliar world. As he struggled to survive, humans after humans shunned and rejected him due to his hideous appearance, often violently.

Mary Shelley was one of the most well known writers of her time; she defied the odds of women in the 19th century and her novel reflects her views of feminism. Mary was born unto William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft; her mother Mary Wollstonecraft was the creator of feminism and an advocate for women’s rights. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the first book over the topic of feminism called A Vindication of the rights of Woman, although Mary Wollstonecraft died shortly after child birth, with her daughter Mary, many believe that Mary Shelley educated herself on feminism through her mothers works. When Mary was 19 going on 20 years old she started writing her famous novel Frankenstein. The novel Frankenstein was written during the romantic and enlightenment era, during this time period younger people of society just like Mary wanted to be different.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the very familiar phrase to ‘not judge a book by its cover’ is evidently ignored by the world and one of the main characters; the Monster is the victim of society’s judgement. This novel is about the story of three characters, beginning with Robert Walton. His desire for knowledge takes him to the Arctic Ocean leading to his isolation. Walton’s adventure is the reason why he had met the next main character in the midst of his own downfall; Victor Frankenstein. Victor takes the story back to the beginning of his tragedy with his similar desire for knowledge. He isolates himself until he has the right amount of knowledge to create the last main character; the Monster. The Monster is an outcast throughout the story and is often misread until his own point of view is revealed to the reader. Due to anger and jealousy, the Monster is in rage with Victor leading to Victor’s death. It is easy for the reader to feel sympathy towards the Monster within this story because his good intentions motivate him to take good actions proving that he is good. Also, as a result of the Monster being an outcast, the reader can connect personal feeling and experiences creating pathos for him. The Monster’s upbringing is yet another reason to feel sorry for the Monster because of his lost opportunities in life. Within Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the Monster obtains the same desires and needs as any human being but cannot fulfill any of his aspirations due to

Mary Shelley’s classic work, Frankenstein, has captured the imagination of readers for almost 200 years and has inspired numerous retellings and adaptations. Numerous depictions of Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature in plays, films, novels, comic books, television programs, and even video games have caused the familiar image of the lumbering giant to become embedded as one of the classic horror villains in the psyche of the average American. Most of these adaptations show the creature to be cruel, ignorant, and blood-thirsty by nature, but on examination of the original story there is ample evidence that the popular depiction of the creature is wrong. The creature does not enter the world bent on destruction, he is originally a kind,

When summarizing the plot of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, most who have read it would describe it as the story of a scientist who brings the dead back to life, but must then face the wrath of his angry and evil creation. Those who say this are by no measure wrong in any way. This is, in fact, what the novel is most commonly interpreted as and what Shelley most likely had in mind when she wrote the story, but it cannot be denied that there could be another side to the story. When Frankenstein is analysed in its entirety, it becomes clear that Frankenstein 's creation and the cause of Victor’s downfall, is neglected as the intelligent, independent, empathetic, and unique creature that he is. The novel focuses more on his misguided anger,

Frankenstein is one of the most stirring novels in the history of English literature. The author, Mary Shelly, goes on to delve very deep into the intricacies of human nature in comparison to what people call monstrous. The novel is essentially an exploration into the mind of the protagonist and his creation- the monster, and it describes the gradual change of psyche of the monster. The novel raises ethical questions with regard to scientific discovery by portraying the condition and experiences of the monster. The characters of Victor Frankenstein and the creature are the driving force of this novel, and their final outcomes leave the avid readers stirred to the very core of their hearts.