Monstrosity In Frankenstein

While attempting to uncover the meaning of life and death, and though he believed his experiments would further the paths of science, Victor fails to see the potential consequences of “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley 37). This, in turn, creates a monster. After his “great” experiment, Victor spends his life in grief. Despite this, he manages to belittle his creation, and act superior to him, claiming that “I [Victor] will not hear you. There can be no community between you [the creature] and me; we are enemies” (Shelley 84). Even later on, when assured by the creature himself that Victor would be left alone if he creates a female counterpart, Victor cannot see past the shreds of pride he has left and refuses, causing the death of his family and loved ones. It’s Victor’s pride and his fear of the creature that clouds his judgement and in the end leads to his

In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the character Victor Frankenstein illustrates betrayal in the way he abandons his creation, with no hesitation he leaves him behind. With the feeling of abandonment ,the creature feels anger towards Victor which leads the “monster” to become a villain. Love and family are all the monster wants, but it is something that Victor could not give due to his own internal battles. As result, the monster begins to take Victor’s loved ones such as: little William and his wife Elizabeth. The monster kills

The monster has no relationship with Victor besides a need for revenge. When Victor created the monster, he looked at him in disgust. He abandoned his creation after looking at the creation with horror. This feels the monster with loneliness and rage, so he goes and lives on Felix’s farm. However, he realizes how alone he is, so he returns to Frankenstein and demands a female partner. He promises to cease all relations with his creator if he can give him a mate. Victor reluctantly agrees and builds a bride for the fiend he created. However, he destroys the female and dumps the body in the lake, much to the anger of the monster, shown when he states “Shall each man,” cried he, “find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone?”

His friend from home comes to surprise Victor but he ends up consoling him for months — he does not want to confront the horrors he has single handedly created. He is such a disaster that he cannot write his family, only putting them under more stress. Finally, after months go by Victor begins to regain his mind and consciousness. He receives a letter from his father stating that his child brother was murdered. This, of all things, is what finally pushes Victor to return home to his family. Once Victor has returned to his family he realizes what exactly he had done. Victor’s creation had made its way to his family’s home and had taken the life of his brother. Not only is has the life of this young child been stripped away but Justine, a family friend, has been accused of killing the poor boy. Justine had never done anything but love and care for the child as if he were her own. He claims Justine’s innocence but he does not come clean— he cannot. If Victor were to mention that of a monster he would be institutionalized and Justine would still be found guilty. Justine is put to death, the second being stripped of life at the his monster. Victor feels “a weight of despair pressed on [his] heart,” (Shelley 111). These murders are the fault of Frankenstein and the weight he feels is overwhelming guilt. Without the construction of a new life, of a monster, these lives would not be lost… still he manages to fond great comfort in

you belong to my enemy - to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.” (Shelley 62) Here The Creature is not just an innocent childish creature anymore, here we find The Creature having hold of a random person at first but when he finds out this is Frankenstein blood; he instantly becomes a murderer. After the incident, The Creature becomes demanding to Victor he later asks for one last wish from his dreadful maker. Shelley writes, “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being” (Shelley 63). Instantly, Frankenstein denies and while The Creature is able to persuade the mad scientist for some time; Frankenstein goes to and fro from being an advocate to outright denying The Creatures request. After much arguing and dealing around, Victor gives in. However after heading back to Geneva Victor is unable to get himself to work and create this new being, and he is scared out of his mind since Victor understands the severity of what The Creature can do to him. Ultimately, as the course of events in Shelley’s “Frankenstein” it is clear to see that the creature lives a life that is cruel and a life that no one can truly understand. As well as living a life and having his pure and unknowing innocence stripped away by the hardships of

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

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.

Over time, he begins to believe this. The Creature picks up on words that are thrown at him and commences utilizing them to describe himself. Instead of being simply him, he becomes “ ‘deformed,’ ” “ ‘loathsome,’ ” and “ ‘odious’ ” (108, 117). The world causes him to get lost in himself, trying to figure out who he truly is (116). Although the Creature’s self-worth is wavering, he decides that he is not “ ‘utterly unworthy of [love]’ ” (119). The Creature admits, however, that he hates himself more than Victor could ever hate him (209). After viewing the relationship of this duo, a hate stronger than that which exists between Frankenstein and his Creature seems impossible. The Creature is disappointed in who he has become and ashamed of the crimes against the innocent that he has committed (207). Eventually, Frankenstein’s creation asks him to make for him a mate to have as a companion. The Creature requests that she “ ‘of the same species, and have the same defects’ ” as he does (132). However, if this new creature is identical to him, then she will not only possess the parts that the Creature likes about himself, but also those he abhors about himself. Every time he sees this being, he will see her flaws that he contains as well, thus reminding him of all that he hates about himself. Instead of making his life better, this mate will only cause pain as the Creature is

This fear and rejection of the Creature is seen not only in the different people the Monster encounters throughout his travels, but also in his creator. Frankenstein is unable to stand the sight of the creature stating, “its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes” (Shelley 95). Frankenstein’s rejection causes the Creature to accuse Frankenstein of abandonment: “you had endowed me with perceptions and passions, and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and horror of mankind” (Shelley 141). The Creature says that he is Frankenstein’s obligation and it is Frankenstein’s responsibility to be his essential caretaker. Although Victor originally cowered in fear of the Creature, the Creature claims he was initially “good” and it his Victor’s rejection which drives him to violence. The monster repeatedly lectures Frankenstein on his responsibility, “I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the

This time Victor allows the creature to approach him. After some time the creature demands a female companion and it is only with pity and much argumentation that Victor consents. While the creature watches, Victor begins working on the female monster and then he destroys it. Victor, by doing this, is ignoring the creature's feelings and breaking his promise. Therefore, Victor Frankenstein, after much hard work, rejects his own creation due to its monstrosity.

Once Victor Frankenstein manages to bring to life the horrible creature, however, Frankenstein regrets his action immediately after seeing this hideous and gigantic creature; Victor then becomes frightened and flees to his home. The monster instantly became infuriated at the sight of his creator leaving him, the monster felt abandoned and alone. When Victor returns, he finds the monster has vanished and that the monster murdered his brother. The monster yearns for a female companion to become happy and implores Victor to create another monster to keep him company. Frankenstein agrees to create a female companion and then destroys it instantly with the thought of him creating another monster like the one he had already made. The monster watched Victor create and then destroy his new female companion, which drives the monster to kill the rest of Victor’s close friends and family in an attempt to make Victor to suffer as he does. The monster wants his creator to feel the pain and isolation as the monster has his whole life. The monster continues to search for love and Victor suffers as the result of his immoral actions. Victor Frankenstein returns home to his father after he was rescued at sea, where he shortly after, dies of grief. The creature then realizes that his monstrous ways was not the answer to his pain and suffering, the creature mourns over his creator and then dies as well. Killing the monster is not always the

Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.

Shelley explains how Victor has a great mental turmoil after he indirectly caused the death of people who were close to him by the actions he took to create the monster. Shelley’s description of Victor’s feelings show the deprivation of hope and fear in his soul and the emphasises the pain in which he was indirectly the cause of. Victor not only caused his own mental illness, but he also caused his own physical illness. Victor makes himself physically sick by his actions during the creation of his monster. Victor’s work unintentionally causes himself to decline in health and become vulnerable to illnesses. “When Victor is working on his experiment, he cannot love: he ignores his family, even his fiance Elizabeth, and takes no pleasure in the beauties of nature. Moreover, he becomes physically… ill, subject to nervous fevers”(Weiner 83). Victor is shown to focus directly on his work, causing him to forget most of the outside world and not be influenced by forces that usually comfort and heal him. His work makes Victor subject to nervous fevers, causing himself to become sick more often and need help from family and friends more often. Although the process of creating the monster was physically taxing on Victor, the end product caused him even more pain. The creation of the creature impaired

An example of this is when the Creature is first introduced to Victor’s younger brother, William, in the fields where the Creature was attempting to seek refuge. The Creature attempts to stop the boy with hopes of befriending him, when instead, the boy screams at the Creature, telling him he was the son of a Frankenstein. This triggers the Creature, recognizing the name an becoming enraged. He proceeds to kill the boy, with hopes “this death will carry despair to [Frankenstein], and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him,” (Shelley 155). These emotions internalized in the Creature cause him to commit heinous acts in order to ruin the life of his nemesis. The negativity of the Creature demonstrates an even further rise in his emotions, giving way to a tension between the characters that is furthered as the text proceeds.