In 1823, English author Mary Shelley's novel “Frankenstein” or “The modern Prometheus” was published. In the beginning of the book, the reader gets introduced to the explorer Robert Walton who undertakes an expedition to the North Pole. But one day a dramatic turn of events occur as a stranger is helped up onto the ship. Henceforth, Robert's life would never be the same. The stranger reveals a horrible but yet fascinating secret for Robert. He divulges his quest and errands on the North Pole. The stranger declares that he is hunting a creature made by his own hands. A creature so vile and abhorred no man would dare to look into its fierce eyes. The man is the eccentric Victor Frankenstein, the creator of a beast whose only purpose in its miserable life is to kill. Frankenstein exposes himself to Robert but he only gets a glimpse of the scientist's complex personality.
Firstly, Victor Frankenstein is a very determined and resolute man. Once he is struck by an idea he will not give up until he has tried every method in order to substantialize his theory. His perseverance is shown in the novel when he endeavours to bring back life to a composition of dead limbs. For example he goes to cemeteries in order to collect the components needed for the experiment, so he does everything
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He is incredibly affectionate to those dearest to him, but he does not shrug at the thought of isolating himself from company and warmth. On top of that he is a meticulous and determined man who does not yield when things go against him. No matter what obstacles he may face, he finds a way to overcome the problems and attain his ambitions. Moreover, he is a remarkably courageous man with a will strong as steel. Victor does not flinch when danger approaches, roughly said he embraces the hazard and sees it as an act of redemption for himself and a challenge worth taking on in order to widen his perspectives on
The story starts out with one of the most basic instincts of human nature curiosity. Curiosity drives the character of Victor Frankenstein to devote his life to science. He spends hours upon days of his life in the pursuit of knowledge, finally coming across his major discovery, "After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter" (Shelley 28). Spurred by the excitement of his
Character Analysis: Give your ideas about the main characters(s). Include what you like and dislike about the characters and why they deserve praise or criticism. Does the author intend for you to like/dislike them? How do you know?
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus is a tale of humanity's obsession with creation and science, and continues to draw readers with the novel's many interpretations and heavy emphasis on the classic myth of Prometheus. In most interpretations and readings of Frankenstein, people often attribute Victor Frankenstein to be the “Modern Prometheus” in the story, as a creator of life. However, there is another “Prometheus” to be found in Shelley's novel: Robert Walton; This is the major connection between Victor Frankenstein to Walton. Walton's ambitious, almost obsessive, journey to the northern Arctic to bring the back unknown mysteries and knowledge, something that has been unavailable to mankind makes him Prometheus: The Fire-Stealer.
Victor Frankenstein in the book Frankenstein faces many terrible situations and has to face many consequences for trying to play God’s role in creating life. Victor seen and dealt with many situations as a young boy that will lead to his madness and obsession with science. Victor has always been intrigued with science and life ever since he was a boy. He studied natural science endlessly trying to master how to create a creature that could sustained life. When Victor finally creates his creature, he becomes disgusted with how it turns out. Victor runs from his creation failing to teach him any social or moral qualities. The creature haunts Victor killing many of his family and friends. Victor will try to run from the many problems he has caused. This causes Victor’s misery throughout the book. Victor becomes the true murderer in the book for trying to play God and create life with science.
There are plenty of actions and language that suggest Victor is becoming obsessive with his behavior. When Victor said this next quotation in the novel, he said it like it was no big deal when it really was, "Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make" (29). He did not even write to his family in that two years which shows that he was becoming obsessive over these projects he wanted to do. Later in his works, Victor describes what he looked like because of working in his laboratory for too long of a time, "My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emanciated with confinement" (32). This shows that Victor was so obsessed with his projects he usually didn't
The first of Frankenstein’s flaws, is his foolishness. Victor is foolish in various aspects, more specifically his intention to bring life from the dead. Throughout history it is a known fact, when someone or something has died, there is no hope in bringing life back to them. It is one of the fundamental laws of life and Frankenstein is foolish to think he can surpass it. To his credit, he is indeed able to breathe life into the creature but this is also where his
Select a novel or play in which a tragic figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of the work as a whole.
He spent copious amounts of time and effort into creating this human being. He shut out his friends and family, and gave up his social life and devoted everything to his experiment. Only to abandon his project when it wasn’t what he expected. The abandonment caused the monster to seek vengeance on his creator, which in turn ruined the life of Victor Frankenstein.
Victor Frankenstein travels to Ingolstadt to study. Once there, he was stuck to the sciences and especially for chemistry. He reads all the books he could come over and going at all lectures in the subject. In the end, one thing that interests him most and is the body's structure and origin of life's principles are based. He studies the anatomy and he gets very interested in death to thus get answers about the origins of life. After some time, he finds that he is inclined to give life to inanimate objects and decide to create your own creature from dead matter. This turns out to be not too successful. Frankenstein do not think through the consequences of his actions he may have and when the monster finally gets life and becomes Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein’s thoughtless surrendering and animosity of his creation motivates the catastrophe in the novel. After devoting many hours of restless, yet hopeful, labor to his work, Victor completes his final masterpiece. However, he loses all hope as he explains how “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being [he] had created, [he] rushed out of the room” (Shelley 36). Victor exhibits
He recognises that his health is deteriorating and is not sleeping this is a reflection of the creation scene where he deprived himself of sleep and his health suffered, the scenes differ because then he was giving life in the first scene and now wants to take it away. Victor is in a deep depression, this is indicated when he says, “Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of heaven, could redeem my soul from woe”
Victor uses his knowledge not for the benefit of society, but for his own purpose of experimentation which ends up turning out the opposite way that he imagines. Knowing his own vanity, Victor says "lean from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow" (Shelley 38). After creating the monster and all the hardships Victor had to go through, he realizes that a person should be happy with the world around him/her and not try to change it. He admits that trying to become a man greater than who he could be drove him mad and his knowledge went in tow with it. From
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
Although some critics view Victor Frankenstein as a Tragic Hero because of his one essential flaw, his overambitious desire to discover what cannot be known, he is truly a Byronic Hero by definition. Although Victor is of a higher social class than the average person and his essential flaw triumphs all of his others, he has a deeply troubled past, struggles with integrity, secludes himself away from society, and is a willful individual who seeks redemption by carving out his own path. Victor’s many, deep flaws, which often induce the reader to believe that he is actually the antagonist and the Monster the hero, and ultimate redemption in telling Robert Walton his life’s story make him a Byronic Hero.
Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is about a man who had a strong urge to finish a scientific project and did not accept his consequences for his own mistakes. Mary Shelley’s work consists of Gothic elements and have great emotion that go along with them. Mary Shelley’s childhood may have affected her writing, she had a tough life growing up and her book shows this. Throughout the novel there are many Gothic elements that all contribute to the events in the book. Victor neglecting his own responsibility and disrupting the natural order of things ultimately leads to the death of the two major characters in the end of the novel.