Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay

Victor Frankenstein was a regular scientist until he became obsessed and mentally ill. “This state of mind preyed upon my health… all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation-deep, dark, deathlike solitude” (Shelley 77). Mary Shelley created the character Victor, who devoted most of his time, research, and effort into creating a being which can hold life. Victor became successful, yet mentally scarred after the sight of his creature. This hurt Victor, but not as harshly as the creature's following actions. The creature goes on to kill members of Victor’s family and kill his closest and dearest friends. The creature’s actions cause Victor to suffer both mentally and physically. Victor then falls back

In the novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, the creature and its creator, Victor Frankenstein, share a lot of similarities throughout the story. The relationship shared between the two resembles that of a father and his son. Since Victor created it , the creature inherits certain traits of Victor’s without realizing it. Victor and the creature both have an overpowering thirst for knowledge, a love for the beauty of nature and a tendency to use it as a scapegoat, a depressing feeling of isolation from people, a desire for revenge, and the ability to play God. The relationship between Victor and the creature does not develop like a normal father-son relationship, nor does it develop as a good versus evil relationship. Both characters show hero and villain qualities throughout the novel as their relationship develops.

From the start of Mary Shelley's novel, the monster is identified as this psychotic murderer, abnormal. The gigantic, grotesquely horrid creation of Victor Frankenstein, like Frankenstein himself, had only positive intentions at first. He was a delicate, smart monster attempting to alter to human behavior and social skills. From beginning to end, Shelley made sure to target how the monster had to learn everything solo in order to live. As the creature's creator, Victor's role was to provide and teach the creature, taking responsibility instead of running away. The fact that the monster was left unattended in the world led to his raw actions. For instance, Shelley suggest the consequences of isolation when the monster says, "You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains -- revenge, henceforth dearer than light of food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery." (Shelley 153) The Monster is talking in rage after Victor Frankenstein rejects his proposal to create a mate for him. The Monster is so secluded that he, himself, had to ask for a friend. This, however, was not the end of this conversation. In counter play for being deserted, Shelley writes that the Monster went off

Whereas in the 1931 film adaptation, it states that his condition is largely due to the mistake preformed by Fritz, who provided a defective brain to be placed into the creature’s head. The implication that the monster's brutal behavior was inevitable arguably weakens the novel's social criticism and depiction of developing consciousness. The film therefore emphasizes the idea that the creation exists as an inherently evil, manufactured being. The creature in the film lacks incentive, despite Shelley’s monster’s craving for love and his “ feelings of revenge and hatred” (Shelley 139). Essentially it was the creation of a new character, Fritz, which allowed the film’s plot to shift away from the novel’s original story of Frankenstein. The addition of Fritz reveals that Frankenstein’s creation had innate anger, and allows the audience to associate him to a monster.

But there is also a plethora of differences and alterations in the movie than in the original written version. The book focuses on the many complex thoughts of the main character, Victor Frankenstein. We know exactly how he feels whenever he speaks. In the movie, we are only shown that he has dedicated his life to his experiment; we never really know his inside thoughts, though. The book shines the creature in a completely different light than the film. He is shown as an intelligent being full of of human emotions: love, hate, revenge, remorse, etc. He is very articulate and has much common sense and awareness. During his first verbal altercation with Victor he says, “Be calm! I entreat you to hear me before you give vent to your hatred on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery?” (Shelley 86). We learn what he encounters in life, what has shaped him into the “human” he was created to be, and what compels him to kill. The creature in the movie is more like an animal than anything else. He is unable to speak, communicate, or comprehend what is going on around him. He only kills because he has the brain of a murderer and he wanders aimlessly not knowing what is happening. We never see his character ever develop or change at any point; we are only shown that he is an ignorant, killing

At ‘birth’, Victor abandoned the Creature because it was ugly. This is shown in Peter Brooks criticism, “ Frankenstein's immediate reaction to the appearance of the monster is to tell it to go away. When the Creature persists his claim that he has the right to a hearing with his creator, Frankenstein curses the day of the monster's creation” (Brooks). In the era, appearance was of utmost importance and described your social class. Society was corrupt and saw the Creature as ugly, which deemed the Creature evil. Brooks describes this in his criticism also, “Frankenstein first published in 1818, concerns an exotic body with a difference, a distinct prevision from the tradition of desirable objects” (Brooks). Conversely, society excepted Victor due to his wealth and social class. This behavior enraged the Creature and set him on a path to destruction. Even when the Creature is at his best, society describes him as the worst. “Along the way to his meeting with Frankenstein, The Monster - after being shot and wounded by a rustic whose daughter he has saved from drowning - commits his first murder, that of Frankenstein’s brother William in a scene that evokes the question of relation in that's most acute ways” (Brooks). This behavior eventually leads to the Creatures

At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.

Victor Frankenstein is in many ways more monstrous than the monster he created. Victor and his creation demonstrate a thesis-antithesis correspondence wherein they reflect opposite character traits. Victor has no sense of empathy or compassion, whereas the monster, although hideous and rejected by society as an outcast, has

     This brings us the theme of creation, which really contains smaller ‘sub-themes.’ There is the relationship between the creator and his creation as well as the question of whether or not the created owes his allegiance to society. What should the relationship between Victor and the monster have been? In Shelley’s criticism of all who were disgusted by his looks, Victor would be in the wrong for having shunned the monster. It was his fault the monster existed, so he should have taken it in and shown it compassion. As the creator, he owes his creation the basic means to a happy life. As for the monster, in turn for his creator’s gift of life and happiness, he would pledge loyalty. But because Frankenstein dropped his end of the contract from the start, all bets were off and the monster tried to be as diplomatic as possible about the whole affair. This goes back to the alienation theme starting with Victor’s abandoning of the monster.

How can such disparate characters, that are even resentful towards one another, be so consubstantial? Though Victor and the monster do not share the same physical or social traits, they have many of the same personality traits. Victor and the monster are analogous with their desire for knowledge, relationships with nature, and with desires for family. The author uses complex diction, symbolism, and syntax to emphasize these similarities. Throughout the plot, these similarities become more apparent and as this occurs their relationship worsens.

The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley involves the complex issues with the creation of life through an inanimate life. Shelley uses these character archetypes to develop a deeper meaning of the characters intentions. Shelley does an excellent job at allowing the reader to have a peak at the characters inner thoughts and feelings. The archetypes presented in Frankenstein allow readers to identify with the character's role and purpose.

One difference that is seen in the variations between the novel and the film is the state of Victor’s mentality, and whether or not he has a complete obsession over his monster. While Victor is creating his monster in the novel, he does not receive any visitors. He does not have any assistants. He doesn’t even take time to reply to the letters sent by Elizabeth. During the creation of his monster, Victor goes into social withdrawal. Even after the monster is created, Victor seems to be obsessive compulsive about his monster. He becomes physically ill and seems to be mentally and physically unstable because of the escape of his monster. The only thing that he talks about or even thinks about during this time is the monster. Then, later on in the novel, after he meets with the monster in

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley is an author who wrote the novel of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley herself in her life, experienced many deaths of close friends and family. When she was first born her mother died, furthermore Mary had a baby, who died 12 days later and her husband Percy Shelly drowned. Maybe it was these experiences, which led Mary Shelley to write such a novel of great horror published in 1818. Frankenstein itself is called 'the modern Prometheus'.

Some people see Frankenstein and his creature as complete opposites, but they are not as different as they may seem. Victor and his creature have no mother figure in the novel. Victor’s mother was there for Victor in the beginning but “resigned cheerfully to death… she died calmly” (Shelley 53), whereas the creature was born without one. Therefore, throughout the novel, both Victor and the creature have to depend on their fathers for guidance. Frankenstein and the creature are both intelligent. Frankenstein gains his intelligence through his schooling and experience, while the creature gains intelligence through observations, experience, and “Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter” (Shelley 155). These characters want to be accepted in the world. Frankenstein wants to be accepted in the