Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein and his creation surprisingly share many of the same characteristics. Even though Frankenstein is an ugly, unwanted creature, he and Victor withhold an obvious connection throughout the novel. However, Victor and Frankenstein also share their differences as well.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has undoubtedly withstood the test of time. Frankenstein’s direct association with fundamental Gothic literature is extremely renowned. However, the novel’s originality is derived from the foundational thematic values found within the relationship (or lack there of) between Victor Frankenstein and the monster he had created, in combination with a fascinatingly captivating plot. Understandably, Frankenstein can often be associated with a multitude of concepts; however, in this particular instance, the circumstances in the book seemed remarkably coherent with Shelley’s Romantic beliefs in preserving the natural world, and one’s natural existence. These values present themselves as metaphorical symbols that

Victor Frankenstein worried about everyone else and playing God, rather than trying to do right, morally. Victor had to go through a lot of steps and difficulties to create the monster. After the creation of the monster, everyone including Victor abandoned him. Victor refused to create a girl creature to avoid a lot of problems, but he did not realize the hell the monster would end up causing him. Victor regrets trying to play God because his action would cause him great troubles and consequences.

Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man 's idealistic motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation 's thirst for the vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey, consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for his own death than the creation himself.

In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is as much as a monster as his creation. They are related in many different ways such as the fact that they are both isolated from society. While the monster isolated from society due to his physical features, Victor is isolated from his family and of his creation of the monster.

As scientists pursue the progress of their field, it would be good if they could do so to benefit the human race. However, if scientific discoveries are motivated by selfish ambition, and scientists do not take responsibility for them if they fail, their creations might become threats to humans. The novel Frankenstein, written by the English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, tells the story of a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who unintentionally creates a grotesque creature in a scientific experiment, which causes tragedy including deaths of many innocent people. When people read this book, many of them might see the creature as a monster because the term “monster” commonly refers to an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening. However, this is only what the creature looks like, not what it might be like emotionally; also, people who appear to be normal outsides might be “monstrous” inside, such as Dr. Frankenstein. Indeed, while the creature is guilty of taking the lives of innocent people, if Dr. Frankenstein had taken any responsibility for it, and if humans had treated the creature humanly instead of being violent, it might not have turned out to be a killer. Therefore, even though the creature in Frankenstein seems to be the monster, since it has a horrific appearance, and eventually kills people, it is actually a victim; Dr. Frankenstein is the actual monster because he is the person who created

“Someone yelled from the bottom, ‘if you voted for Trump, you better be fucking scared.’ Everyone clapped and applauded,” recounted Kathryn Hinderaker, Vice President of the St. Olaf College Republicans. “Obviously, it didn’t feel super safe.” Conservatives on college campuses are being terrorized across the nation, facing threats of violence and sometimes worse. The portrayal of campus conservatives as monsters is an apt comparison to the monstrosity the reader observes in the novels When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, novels where characters face unfair oppression and are feared because of things or events that they cannot control. Both the girl and the creature start off as confident and

Knowledge is given to those that understand the power it holds, this power could either destroy or help one in their path to success. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, we see this idea being practiced by individuals in the novel. However, they are incapable of seeing the dangerous potential outcomes of misunderstanding knowledge and the power it offers, leading to their ruin. We see the suffering as a cause of knowledge through Victor Frankenstein’s creation of life, The Monster’s dream of fitting the norm, and Robert Walton’s dangerous journey to the North. The characters in Frankenstein pursuit of knowledge leads to certain destruction, showing us the potential negative outcomes of misusing knowledge.

Find the definition of what a monster is and it means multiple things. Two definitions that are applicable to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein define monster as an imaginary monster that is large, ugly, and frightening or; as a person of repulsively unnatural character that exhibits extreme cruelty or wickedness as to appear inhuman (Oxford English Dictionary). While both meanings differ, the latter definition seeks to give negative character traits to an inhuman monster. However, the creation of a monster should not imply that monsters are inherently cruel or wicked. The traits associated with the term monster are a construct of what people believe inhuman monsters possess. By this logic,

Is Frankenstein a man, whose ambition led to a disaster; or a monster, which created a

Victor travels multiple times throughout the story in order to be alone with his work. This is extremely apparent when he is creating the monster; he is paranoid and unsociable. The Mariner is obviously very isolated because eventually all his ship mates die and he alone is left alive to be tormented. This is shown when the mariner tells the wedding guest “O Wedding-Guest! This soul hath been/ Alone on a wide sea/ So lonely ‘twas, that God himself/ Scarce seemed there to be” (7.19.597-600). Both Victor and the mariner respond the same way to their isolation. Victor eventually goes mad and the mariner becomes a very bizarre and mysterious man after his journey. While Victor’s isolation is self-imposed and under his control, it is the Mariner’s curse which forces his alienation and compels him to continually relate his tale. Again, Victor’s situation is due to his conscious choice, while the mariner’s is the result of an impulsive, unthinking act.

This is seen throughout the novel because Victor is the reason his creation is miserable, it is an outcast and Victor is the reason for it. “‘You are in the wrong,’ replied the fiend ; ‘and instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable’” (Shelley 164). The monster is explaining to Victor that it has been alone and miserable for two years, ever since Victor created him. When he was abandoned, there was no one to help him in society, making the creation find its own with no help, no one he could trust and no one who cared for him. All because Victor did not own up for his mistake and kept his creation a secret. In the poem Rime of an ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the mariner is responsible for the crew’s misery. After killing the albatross, the ship is stuck in a dead sea and the crew has no water or food, they are miserable and are waiting for death to come. In the monster’s case, Victor is the reason why he is miserable and he is also the reason why he does not fit into society. “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch ; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing ; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept” (Shelley 114). When the creation was abandoned by Victor, he strolled in the woods alone and

What purpose does it serve to have multiple narrators telling a story? In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, three main narrators tell the story about the creation of a monster and the events that follow. The job of narrator shifts between Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster that Victor creates. As each narrator shares his own recollection of the events that occurred, new facts are introduced to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Although Frankenstein uses multiple narrators to tell the story, it is important to look at the effects it might have on the stories accuracy. In this essay, I will closely examine the motives, differences, and similarities of each narrator to see what influences, if any, they have on the narrative.

As demonstrated by Shelley, Victor holds himself with high expectations that causes him to create an embodiment of hatred when he abhorrently states, “I was cursed by some devil and carried about with me my eternal hell” (Shelley 194). In Victor’s words, it portrays his own scar by his lack of humility and abundance pride. Through his conceited actions and self centered mentality it causes him to face permanent suffering. As he says himself his “eternal hell” was a curse that directly reflects the consequence of his lack of humility, that gave him the motivation to create life that becomes a reflection of evil. Furthermore, this flaw in his demeanor is the outcome of his overconfidence giving himself entitlement to play the role of god leading to his own agony. In addition, this everlasting suffering is recognized with Prometheus and the Mariner. Both characters as a direct repercussion of their conceited actions caused permanent destruction. With Prometheus, Zeus commanded that “[he] be bound to a rock for the rest of eternity…[and] required to carry it with him always” (Myth of Prometheus 2). Similar to the work by Coleridge, he also reveals that arrogant actions bring everlasting pain with the Mariner who realizes

Victor Frankenstein and the ancient mariner, both deal with the guilt of knowing that they're responsible for the death of innocent lives. They both instantly realized the consequences of disrespecting nature. Victor tells Walton about how he never thought about the repercussions of creating the monster, "You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (Shelley 21). Victor used his knowledge to challenge the laws of nature which led him to face negative consequences. He has himself to blame because he could have chosen to act differently and never created or isolated the monster. The ancient mariner similarly tells his regret of killing the Albatross to the wedding-guests,