Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Emotional isolation in Frankenstein is the most pertinent and prevailing theme throughout the novel.  This theme is so important because everything the monster does or feels directly relates to his poignant seclusion.  The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the monster, and indirectly cause him to act out his frustrations on the innocent.  The monster's emotional isolation makes him gradually turn worse and worse until evil fully prevails.  This theme perpetuates from Mary Shelley's personal life and problems with her father and husband, which carry on into the work and make it more realistic.(Mellor 32)  During the time she was writing this novel, she was experiencing the emotional pangs of her

Walton is isolated in different ways: his boat is stuck in the ice, in the middle of nowhere up north, and he is also isolated because “I have no friend”. The first type of seclusion, “encompassed as I am by frost and snow”, is one that is also found later on in the novel when Frankenstein would lock himself away to create his monster for example, and mirrors Walton’s state of mind, thus being loneliness. Consequently both types of separations are greatly linked. However, the lonely seclusion of having no friends is the most prominent and important in this novel. Shelley stresses this idea by having Walton communicate his constant desire for “the company of a man who could sympathise with me” and how he “bitterly feels the want of a friend”. This theme is also crucial in the play as Walton’s desire at the beginning of the novel, will then be echoed by the monster’s request to his creator for a companion which, by his refusal, ignites the feeling of revenge in the monster. Furthermore, this theme of isolation is key in the story also because, it plays a great part in why Walton welcomes Frankenstein on his ship in the hope of making a friend. Walton even declare that “my affection for the guest increases every day” despite him being miserable and mysterious. This idea that Walton feels deep liking for a guest he knows nothing about yet accentuates his social isolation as his desire for a friend is so strong, that he would be ready to befriend a complete stranger thus clouding his judgement on hearing Frankenstein’s story. This thus influence the reader’s view of the rest of the novel as we begin to doubt the reliability of the narrator thus picturing Frankenstein in an even more negative light throughout the

One of the most important themes in this novel is isolation. While they’ve all endured their fair share of it I believe the Creature was isolated the most. The Creature gets rejected by every person who meets him. With Frankenstein, it seems, had a choice and isolated himself purposefully, the Creature wasn’t given the same choice. The creature was isolated because he was different, yet in both cases the isolation brought about only unhappiness and tragedy.

However, it could also be argued that Frankenstein’s settings augment his monstrousity- we see a sense of isolation- “solitude” is repeated, implying that by imposing self-exile, Frankenstein detaches himself from society and its rules and that he has become an “outsider” (McCrae)- much as the monstrousity that Victor calls the Creature, is also an outsider. Indeed the connection between the two is best examined by the Shelley use of the mountain-top- “Chamonuix, where I saw him”- which alludes to the idea of the Creator and Creation meeting (Hayward), both as equal, with both,

Isolation is the seperation from others whether it is emotionally or physically. Throughout Frankenstein this became a issue where they tried to destroy each other. Frankenstein creation is the most obvious victim who suffers alienation, but Victor himself suffer isolation, yet the creature suffer from defection of society due to being rejected and not accepted by others. However, isolation led to Victor and the creatures self destruction.

This source goes over the later forms of the horror story and it included the novel Frankenstein. At one point, it touched upon the alienation and isolation that the creature went through and how it had affected him later on.

Human are the most social animals in the world. When becoming isolated, it a signal that emotions have been turned amongst ourselves. If not already there, it is normal to feel depressed, lonely, alone. In Mary Shelley's gothic novel, both the monster and Frankenstein are isolated. Frankenstein will not tell anyone about his creation because he has no one to pour his emotions out to. This causes the loss of his family, friends,and lover. Until the end, he tells his experience to the force but was never really believed so his tale is only really heard by Robert Walton, an explorer with ambitions as strong as Victor himself. In Shelley's novel, she characterizes Victor Frankenstein and the monster as being isolated to convey their misery.

He chose to "avoid a crowd and to attach [himself] fervently to a few [schoolmates]" (Shelley 36). Characteristics like isolation can lead to an unhappy future and cause a person to totally remove himself from society. Though "[Frankenstein's] father had wished him 'to seek amusement in society [he] abhorred the face of man.' ... 'I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse,'" he admits (Goldberg 31). From the knowledge of Frankenstein's past the reader is able to understand the character's behavior and how it develops. Through the years Frankenstein has kept to himself, with a few exceptions, and is heavily involved in his studies. These conditions evolve to a more serious state over time. "Now, he reveals only the 'desire to avoid society' and fly 'to solitude, from the society of every creature.' . . . He is 'immersed in solitude,' for he perceives' an insurmountable barrier' between him and his fellow-man" (Draper 3206). This state of seclusion only adds to Frankenstein's deterioration and to the condition of his creation. Frankenstein's creature takes on the characteristics of his creator, just as children do with their parents. Due to the creator's reclusive habits and characteristics the Creature becomes as isolated and lonely as his creator. After being shunned by Frankenstein, the Creature wonders about lonely, "searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger"

Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, has several themes imbedded in the text. One major theme is of isolation. Many of the characters experience some time of isolation. The decisions and actions of some of these characters are the root cause of their isolation.

Isolation has a negative effect on Frankenstein by making him fall ill. “But I was in reality very ill; and surely nothing but the unbounded and unremitting attentions of my friend could have restored me to life. The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes. By very slow degrees, and with frequent relapses that alarmed and grieved my friend, I recovered” (55). With Clerval by his side, Frankenstein recovered

Alienation and isolation have been apparent in society since the beginning of man. When an individual stumbles outside the realm of social normality they are viewed as degradation to society or a threat to normal society.(“Truthmove” 2012) In the gothic tale of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley frequently displays the many different forms of alienation. Victor Frankenstein and his creation were two of the characters in this book that went through alienation and isolation.

In Frankenstein, the Monster is isolated because he feels like “a blot upon the earth from which all men fled and whom all men disowned”(Shelley 85). Shelley uses a figurative form of isolation in that the Monster is consistently banished from sight because it is so hideous, causing it to feel lonely. In the more literal sense, the Mariner in The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, is stranded in the middle of the ocean with “the curse in a dead man’s eye!/ Seven days, seven nights, [he] saw that curse/ And yet [he] could not die”( Coleridge lines 343-345). He is kept from land, drinkable water, and people and is forced to look at his dead crew for seven days and nights. That is the denotation of isolation.

Alienation is the process of becoming a separate part of the society; this is connected to the social side of life. It leaves one with a feeling of loneliness, which can either be mental or physical. As a result, characters in this instance become alienated from the world they live in. Three examples of characters who suffer from alienation are Oedipus from the play Oedipus the King, “the monster” from the novel Frankenstein, and Hamlet in the play Hamlet. These three characters go through the several stages of alienation to relieve themselves from the feeling of

Contrary to Frankenstein, the creature does not choose his isolation, but it was immediately chosen for him. Society and especially Frankenstein excludes the creature from being accepted, based on his looks and his little ability to act as a normal human being. Within the novel he states, “What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers, and resolved, whatever course of conduct I might hereafter think it right to pursue, that for the present I would remain quietly in my hovel, watching, and endeavouring to discover the motives which influenced their actions.” (Shelley, pg. 110) The creature is aware of this exclusion and through those words a reader can know for sure. The negative effects of the creature’s isolation begins to show within the story through his horrifying acts like murder. Isolation develops to be a motif in the story, which helps a reader truly see that this is a huge similarity between both Frankenstein and his creature.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein examines two phenomena of human nature, scientific curiosity and loneliness; the latter will serve as the focus of this essay. The very manner in which Frankenstein begins, that of the correspondence of an unattached explorer who longs for a companion on his voyage, with no one to write to but his sister, establishes the theme of loneliness immediately.