Isolation Depicted In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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 isolates himself from his family, friends, and his schooling. He began his quest to create life after all the years of studying. The semi-successful attempt at creating life leads him to psychological and physical suffering. This is expressed in the line "Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime."

Frankenstein by author Mary Shelley is a Gothic science fiction novel written in Switzerland between 1816–1817, and published January 1, 1818. Set in eighteenth century Geneva, Frankenstein tells the story of a young man named Victor who goes away to college to study natural philosophy, chemistry, and alchemy. When armed with the knowledge he has long been seeking, Victor spends months constructing a creature out of old body parts, and in the secrecy of his apartment, brings his creation to life. The monstrous abomination later disappears, and when a mysterious series of deaths start to occur in Victor’s family, he is certain his creation is the cause, and devotes his life to vanquishing the savage fiend. Mary Shelley makes full use of popular themes during the time she wrote Frankenstein such as the invasion of technology into modern life, and the restorative powers of nature in the face of unnatural events. She also addresses the complex role of Christian allusions in the text which convinces the reader to believe that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a strong biblical allegory and portrays the dangers of playing God.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor spends hours on end to create new life using his variety of science knowledge. Once he creates the monster the appearance of it leads to Victor it. The monster has to learn how to survive and talk all by himself, with no one to lead him in the right direction. As Victor discovers, the power of knowledge without conversing with people it causes events to turn for the worse.

Victor is not in a good state of mind at this point in the book. After the passing of his mother he is grieving so much that he combines his sorrow with his passion and isolates himself while trying to create life. He neglected family, friends, social life, school etc. which drove him to become mad.

Moreover, Victor also explains that, “I was indifferent… to my schoolfellows in general (19).” Usually while Victor was away at school, for the first time feeling the absence of his “familiar faces”, his parents, made him feel isolated, alienated and “totally unfitted for the company of strangers (25).” Victor’s struggle with his natural “repugnance to new countenances (25)” led to him feeling truly alone for the first time in his life and at such an early age. Ultimately, the natural feelings and nature of Victor combined with his comfortable and sheltered upbringing had left him docile and timid. This reality made the culture shock of leaving home a lonely one. This early beginning contributed exponentially to Victor’s future isolation and antics.

Throughout the course of the novel, Shelley isolated Frankenstein countless times to develop his character. Isolation is the process “to be or remain alone or apart from others.” Due to seclusion, Frankenstein not only became socially isolated, but also quite lonely. The first moment we see Frankenstein being isolated is when he is engrossed in reading the past alchemists’ books, and wondering about the universe and the human mind; this small remoteness begins before he travels to Ingolstadt for university. This seclusion does not depress him, neither does it make him socially inept, it simply a start push to the journey. The second time Shelley detaches Frankenstein from society is when he is sent to university and is engrossed in his scientific

I spent most of my days watching television and eaten chips. I saw my mom and dad at night and my brother during the day, not one else. I rarely went out with my parents on weekends and spent most of my time alone. I even spent a New Years Eve alone, well with my dog. This time alone was not one with lots of self reflection. It caused depression and lots of social anxiety.

Frankenstein has a perfect childhood in Switzerland, with a loving family that even adopted orphans in need, including the beautiful Elizabeth, who soon becomes Victor's closest friend, confidante, and love. Victor also has a caring and wonderful best friend, Henry Clerval. Just before Victor turns seventeen and goes to study at the University at Ingoldstadt, his mother dies of scarlet fever. At Ingolstadt, Victor dives into "natural philosophy" with a passion, studying the secrets of life

In Frankenstein these locations and areas support the theme of isolation. In Ingolstadt, Victor is concentrated on his studies as he isolates himself from his family and social life. Victor enjoys the beautiful scenery in Geneva as he isolates and recovers nervous breakdown. In Orkney Islands, Victor isolates himself from this family to create a female monster for his hideous monster.

Throughout the book nature is presented as a healing device. Victor Frankenstein would seek solitude in the mountains of Switzerland, on tour in England, and down to the Rhyne River in Germany, all of which would clear his mind and reestablish his health. Understanding the importance of isolation in Frankenstein will allow an improved perception of the novel. Isolation in the novel is categorized into three sub-categories. These include murder for the purpose of revenge and curiosity, guilt, and remorse, and light and fire. The three main ideas being discussed are Isolation, murder for the purpose of revenge, curiosity guilt and remorse, and light and fire.

Victor’s traumatic experience with death cause him to selectively modify the consequences that come from the creation of the monster. The traumatic experience with death is early on in the novel. In chapter 3 Victor’s mother Caroline dies of Scarlet Fever which she contracted from Elizabeth. This experience changes Victor permanently, he becomes obsessed with bringing her back to life.

Frankenstein is a Gothic science fiction novel, written by Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley was born in 1797. Both of Shelleys’ parents were writers, leading to some of the background to her writing ability. In 1816, Mary, her husband, Percy, Lord Byron, and two others met in a retreat in Switzerland. While they were there, they challenged each other to write ghost stories. Branching off of the odd dare, Frankenstein was published two years later in 1818. Victor, the main character, and his thirst for knowledge, lead him to create something that destroyed his life. In Frankenstein, Victor deserves the blame for the destruction throughout the book because he irresponsibly created a monster with no plan to follow, he set it free with no supervision or guidance, and Victor had no control over the lost lives of his loved ones, taken by the monster.

Victor Frankenstein is a young science student who aims to follow his dreams and to understand the miracles of his world. Throughout the novel, Victor becomes accustomed to science and education which leads to the desire of knowledge: “I was, to a great degree, self taught with regard to my favourite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child's blindness, added to a student's thirst for knowledge” (Chapter 2 pg 38). Victor devotes most of his time and effort into creating his monster which causes him to isolate himself from society. Since Victor was not aware of the consequences of his creation, he spends his remaining life time to destroying the grotesque monster. Victor leaves his family at a young age to continue his scientific studies at the University of Ingolstadt. The idea of being alone in his laboratory studying, does not bother him at all. This is evidence that Victor has chosen to isolate himself from people due to his scientific

Contrary to popular belief the name Frankenstein is not that of the monster, but of his creator Victor, and follows the atrocities of this young man’s harrowing existence. Written by Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus” follows the life of Victor Frankenstein and his horrendous creation in a blend of mystery, science fiction, and romanticism. he novel opens not with that of Victor Frankenstein, but with a series of letters from an arctic explorer by the name of Robert Walton. These aforementioned letters establish Walton’s desiree's to find new passage routes, and instead discovers a very ill and frostbitten Victor Frankenstein on the edges of the North Pole. Frankenstein weaves the story of his life to that of his savior from his content childhood with his two younger brothers, cousin, father and mother; to the tragedy of his teenage years, his obsessive college experience, and finally the horror of his life then on. The novel is told in an odd manner, switching from the perspective of Frankenstein, to that of the monster, then returning to the sea captain Walton. Frankenstein’s life morphs into a web that only catches terribleness because his inability to be content with the life that he was given. The story of Shelley’s Frankenstein is at the core, one of creationism and the terrible results of animating life, through her characters, demonstrates how any creation outside of God's hands is something that is unearthly and wrong.