Frankenstein's ambition

The ultimate consequences of Promethean ambition are characterized through Victor and Walton, who parallels Victor, yet is able to turn from the ‘intoxicating draught’ of superiority and unbridled ambition. This juxtaposition of character reinforces the significance of moral responsibility, as Shelley ultimately mocks the hateful bond between Frankenstein and his child, the Monster. The harsh consequences of disrupting nature and forfeiting moral conscience are conveyed, connoting the inevitable demise due to loss of self and identity.

Victor Frankenstein was obsessed with knowledge, and thought knowledge was the key to unlocking nature and become a pioneer in science and challenging God. “I have described myself as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature” (Shelley, Frankenstein, 21). Victor always had to push boundaries, and his passion drove him closer to science and immorality and farther from his family and friends. Once Victor sees his abomination animated, his potential come alive, he wishes for nothing more than if it had never happened. He moves on to a new obsession – fleeing his past. It consumes him and his health.

Mary Shelley, the renowned author of Frankenstein, explores the consequences of man and monster chasing ambition blindly. Victor Frankenstein discovered the secret that allowed him to create life. His understanding of how bodies operated and the science of human anatomy enabled him to make this discovery and apply it to the creation of his monster. Walton wished to sail to the arctic because no sailor has ever reached it. The monster was created against his will, his ambition was to avenge his creation as a hideous outcast. These three characters were all driven by the same blind ambition.

As a subject of terror, Victor’s dynamics are shown again with not being able to recall who he once was. “It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being;”(Shelley 118). He has lost his ways, and become someone who he once was not. Victor’s inability to remember also reveals that he does not know why he continues with this debacle. “Neither does Victor explain why he rejected his Creature at its completion, but this too may be inferred: in creating it he has essentially created himself”’(Thornburg 1). Victor has implanted that which he does not want to be onto the creature, turning it into his true terrifying antithesis. Since the creature has only one role model, he learns to quickly be what Victor fears, and manifests himself as terror incarnate. Yet, despite his opposition, the creature

At first, Victor was in denial of making terms with the creature, saying, “we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strength in a fight” (Shelley 96). He must accept what he has created instead of running away from it; he needs to confront the root of his fear and find acceptance to embrace

As we continue to read the story, Victor was surprisingly dissatisfied due to the outcome of this “monster”. Victor expresses how ugly it was and how shameful he was as a person for dedicating so much time and effort to something that he now feared. To

In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the book explores many themes such as knowledge for good or evil purposes, the invasion of technology into modern life, and the treatment of the poor or uneducated, and the restorative powers of nature in the face of unnatural events. Shelly addresses all of these aspects and how have these aspects have changed the characters but the biggest aspect of the characters changing is the motif of ambition. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly demonstrates through her characters Victor, Walton and the Creature, that although ambition can be good, extreme ambition can lead to destructive obsession.

Long before the monster’s creation, Victor drops everything in life to pursue knowledge.   His ego leads him to desert all of his friends and family to design and construct an abomination.  

Ambition is the foundation of success, it drives people to strive for something better, gives them the dedication to improve themselves and their circumstances. Mary Shelley’s character Victor Frankenstein in “Frankenstein” started off as a very ambitious kid yearning for knowledge. However, the line between ambition, obsession, and pride is oftentimes blurred as Victor’s was. Once ambition turns into obsession and pride, it can be a downwards spiral that leads to misfortune and isolation.

Shelley warns us that ambition and thirst for knowledge can lead us down a dangerous path. In the letters of Walton, Victor is described as almost inhuman, and is attributed demon-like characteristics as ‘his eyes have generally an expression of wilderness, and even madness... he is generally melancholy and despairing...sometimes he gnashes his teeth’. This vivid imagery demonstrates Victor’s insanity and self-destruction caused by his thirst for knowledge.

In the novel Frankenstein, one of the many themes is that ambition can ruin you. Victor spent so many hours reading and studying to create Harambe, that he didn’t even care or notice what was happening in the world around him. While he was in Ingolstadt he stopped writing letters to his family and friends and they haven’t heard from him in four years. “It gives me the greatest delight to see you; but tell me how you left my father, brothers and Elizabeth. Very well, and very happy, only a little uneasy that they hear from you so seldom” (Shelly pg.45). Victor put so much time and effort in creating Harambe and going after his goal that he distanced himself from everyone dear to him. This is how ambition ruined Victor, he gave up on the world

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” explores the themes of vengeance, ego, secrecy and the unethical pursuits of knowledge. At the centre of the novel is Victor Frankenstein, whose pursuit of conquering death leads to his demise. His hunger is further fueled by his father’s and professor Krempe’s disdain of alchemy. The professor states,” The ancient teachers of this science … promised impossibilities and performed nothing” (Shelley 37). Thanks to the technology of galvanism, Frankenstein was able to “create life from dead matter” (Jurecic, Marchalik par. 3). The appearance of his creation horrifies him due to,” his yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath … [his] shriveled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 45). Frankenstein flees as he associates the beastly appearance with an evil nature. His abandonment of the creation is the catalyst of his downfall. The monster is a more sympathetic character because of his ability to take responsibility for his actions, his capacity to express more human emotions than his creator and because of the effect of the inflicted abuse by humans.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, also known as The Modern Prometheus, is a gothic science fiction novel set in the eighteenth century. Though the story starts off with letters narrated by Robert Walton, who hopes to find a new passage from Russia to the Pacific Ocean, the main protagonist in the story is Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein was a swiss boy, born in Geneva, who grew up with a passion to find the “secret of life.” After attended the university at Ingolstadt and learning everything his professors could teach him, he sets out to create life for himself. "What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" (8). Frankenstein, determined to succeed, soon creates a hideous monster and brings it to life. This monster soon sets out and kills many of those close to Frankenstein, including William his youngest brother, Henry Carvel his best friend, and Elizabeth his wife. This story of passion and the pursuit of knowledge exemplifies how with determination, passion can drive us to find the truth, but with the truth Frankenstein and Walton seek, comes the danger of knowledge.

Although filled with many metaphors and double meanings, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is meant to show readers the most powerful motivators of our actions, in scientists and monsters alike, are loss and loneliness. Loss is a constant theme in Frankenstein, from the death of Victor’s mother to the expiration of Victor himself. Loneliness is constant as well, though it is less outspoken. Victor’s scientific breakthroughs are a direct result of the losses in his life and his loneliness. The monster’s murders and demands are likewise attributed to his loss and loneliness. Victor and the monster make their most important decisions when guided by loss and loneliness.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains attributes from both the Enlightenment as well as Romanticism. The central idea of the book, the quest for the unattainable, is a very romantic idea, however the ending of the book provides a critique of this grand idea with the deaths of Victor and his loved ones along with Walton’s abandonment of his expedition. Ultimately, the book raises and attempts to provide an answer to the following questions: is the pursuit of the unattainable good or bad and what is the necessary balance between freedom and responsibility. Frankenstein provides support for some Romantic values through Victor’s love for nature and his quest for the unattainable, yet criticizes them when Victor’s life falls apart with his own death and the deaths of his loved ones.