Gothic Anxiety In Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein, engulfed in the obsession of creating life out of death, resurrects a body composed of multiple parts from different origins. Victor “had worked for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this [he] had deprived [him]self of rest and health;” this madness is Victor’s desire to become a creator that people envied (Shelley 57). Victor creates a monster, one that is the “outcome or product of curiosity … pushed to an extreme” (Brooks 387). Resembling an infant perceiving its surroundings through its parents, the monster’s entire perception of the world is centered around Victor Frankenstein due to . The monster tries learning about his creator

In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein becomes unfulfilled studying the natural philosophy and takes to exploring the realm of the supernatural. He creates

The idea of pursuing knowledge clouded Victor’s mind and when his creature is born he is shocked to discover that what he has created is far off his own expectations. Not only did the monster destroy his expectations of developing a creature that went beyond human knowledge, but it also affected his life, dignity, and fears. Victor himself admits to his own mistake when he says, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless honor and disgust filled my heart ” (36). Victor Frankenstein realizes what his obsession with pursuing an extensive amount of knowledge has brought him. His destiny to achieve the impossible with no regard for anyone or anything but himself shows that he is blinded by knowledge when creating the monster and is incapable to foresee the outcome of his creation. Victor’s goal was meant to improve and help humanity, but instead it leads to

When Victor Frankenstein began the process of creating a living being from an inanimate object, he expected the creature to be the beautiful beginning of a new

In Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, has a passion for learning new things, and goes off to Ingolstadt, Germany, leaving his family behind in Geneva. He then meets professor M. Waldman who introduces him to chemistry and other subjects that Victor later then became interested in, that is when Victor was set on creating a creature from death and giving it life. At

Victor Frankenstein in the book Frankenstein faces many terrible situations and has to face many consequences for trying to play God’s role in creating life. Victor seen and dealt with many situations as a young boy that will lead to his madness and obsession with science. Victor has always been intrigued with science and life ever since he was a boy. He studied natural science endlessly trying to master how to create a creature that could sustained life. When Victor finally creates his creature, he becomes disgusted with how it turns out. Victor runs from his creation failing to teach him any social or moral qualities. The creature haunts Victor killing many of his family and friends. Victor will try to run from the many problems he has caused. This causes Victor’s misery throughout the book. Victor becomes the true murderer in the book for trying to play God and create life with science.

But what are we to make of Victor Frankenstein? We know that he is in fact a human being. However, he displays several traits that lessen the level of his humanity. The first of which being his desire to make his creature in the first place. By bestowing life

The first five chapters are about Victor Frankenstein’s early life and the years following up to his creation. In the first two chapters is about Victor’s early childhood with Elizabeth and his parents; Alphonse and Caroline Frankenstein. In the following chapter Victor’s mother dies, however before she passes she begs Elizabeth and Victor to marry. Victor leaves a few weeks after to the university and decides to study in natural philosophy. In chapter four and five it talks about how Victors focuses on nothing but his studies and then he creates his monster but its horrible appearances scare him and he sleeps then wakes to face his creation.

After reading Frankenstein, the audience sees the way Victor Frankenstein interacts with his experiment and his excitement towards it, until the Monster is crafted and Victor is terrified of his own creation. The main gothic anxiety that Frankenstein plays with is fear; fear of the unknown and fear of the monster’s capabilities. The novel takes place in the eighteenth centaury throughout Europe and the Artic. The variety of locations that the novel takes place is significant because it shows the distance between Victor and whoever he is running from at that instance. While growing up Victor finds an interest in reading the works of outdated alchemists which leads him in developing an erg to learn more. Victor decides to continue his

“ People fear what they do not understand. ” In the original 1888 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this saying is excessively shown throughout the journey of Frankenstein himself and his creation known as “ the creature.” Fear is spreaded in this famous, gothic novel because the epitome of society is lacked by both the creator and the creation, leading to much misunderstanding with who is the real monster. In this novel, the true monster is society because the ideals indirectly presented led Frankenstein to abhor and abandon the creature, the ultimate isolation of both, and the delirious vengeance developed by the two.

During Frankenstein Victor’s mental state was altered after witnessing the power of nature firsthand when he saw lightning destroy a tree near his home in Geneva.This observation leads him to study philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt where he became obsessed with anatomy. Victor takes God’s power into his own hands, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it.” (Shelly 32) He has the gruesome idea to create his own human from the remains of the dead. Victor sneaks into charnel-houses, digs into graves to collect limbs, disturbing the resting corpses, and studies uses them to find the answer how to make life come from death. During the process of creating his monster, Victor

In Ingolstadt, Victor meets two professors named Krempe and Waldman. Krempe, a natural science professor, dismisses Victor’s past study of alchemy while Waldman, a chemistry professor, inspires Frankenstein to pursue

c)- Nervousness and tension When characters are anxious, they are often nervous. They are nervous because they are not at ease. They are tense. This state of being brings some tension into the story.

Victor Frankenstein strives toward creation of life, but instead is met with suffering and death. At the creation, Victor states, “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His

Gothic novels surround the idea of the supernatural, misery, distress, gloom, and horror among other vessels. Within events, settings, and storylines gothic moods and tones are portrayed using different elements such as those. Mary Shelley uses these keys things in Frankenstein to give the reader this image that is gothic. The setting for example is mostly set in a gloomy place or moment, such as the cold Arctic, which is dangerous, dark and not natural for human living. “ we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides, scarcely leaving her the sea-room in which she floated. Our situation was somewhat dangerous, especially as we were compassed round by a very thick fog.” (M Shelley P19) The start of the book is set here and Mary Shelley sets a dangerous atmosphere for Victors’ story to be told.