Woven throughout Mary Shelley’s renowned novel Frankenstein, are threads of regret, lonesomeness, and rejection. Throughout the story, similarities and diversities are exemplified between Frankenstein and his creature. Both Victor and his creature suffered greatly, but their responses to their suffering is where the differences lie. Victor rejected his creature. The creature had to cope with the rejection. Rejection, demands, similarities, and differences are all portrayed throughout the book.
Recalling the dismal night when life entered the creature, Victor expressed, “Breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room.” From the first glance upon his creation, revulsion filled the heart of Victor. He indeed despised the being he had formed. Immediately Victor fled from the creature, deisiring to never lay eyes upon the grotesque form again. He thus rejected the creature upon which he toiled for so long.
To better understand why Victor would so fiercely rejected his creation, perhaps one should consider what rather than whom Victor was rejecting. For two laborious years the sun and moon alike in all their glory shone upon Frankenstein as he unrelentlessly toiled in his studies and creation. Victor halted all desires and enjoyments in life to labor in his work. “Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves - sights which before
Victor worked continuously on his experiment, obsessed with finding the correct building material. It would seem that after all this arduous work he put into making this Creature, he would be in awe when it was finally finished. Upon the completion of the Creature, he finds himself in shock, explaining in vivid detail about the Creature’s “yellow skin which scarcely covered the works of muscles and arteries underneath” and its “shriveled complexion,” and “straight black lips” (42). In the human nature, it is known that when a person creates something, no matter how ugly, or how deformed it is, the creator is proud of his creation. Although, immediately after he sees his creation, Victor is unable to stare at the “monster” any longer, and paralyzed with fear and guilt, abandons the creature all alone in the world, like a new born baby. Although it might not seem like this, this particular scene conveys a deep sense
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
Due to Victor’s unwillingness to accept him, the creature was unable to conform to societal norms. From the creature’s very first moments, he is feared by others - the instant his eyes open, his creator cries out in terror and runs to his quarters. If only Victor had stayed and attempted to nurture his creation, instead of having “turned from [him] in disgust” (93), the creature may have enjoyed a gentle, upbringing in which he
Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .
This novel reflects Shelley’s own childhood, which consisted of her feeling obligated to rebel against her own father’s wishes and his choice for her marriage. Frankenstein is a way for Shelley to tell her own experiences with parental conflict and how she feels she was affected by her demanding father and the environment she grew up in, by comparing herself to Victor’s monster. Shelley analyzed her own characteristics, and the characteristics of her father, and placed them within Victor and the
Mary Shelley’s story of internal turmoil, the cruelty of altering the laws of nature, and the consequences of redefining the laws of nature is a harrowing one, known widely by many audiences, yet it is never the nature of the characters that is discussed, only the outcome. Shelley’s deliberate use of different character foils portrays the deeper connections and themes in her 1818 novel, Frankenstein. The creation and presence of Frankenstein’s monster directly foils the character of Victor Frankenstein himself, illustrating overarching themes of self inflicted isolation and internal conflict, exposing the dangers and consequences of complete and total narcissism, and revealing a truth many still refuse to accept: we, as humans, are capable
Ambition and the thirst for knowledge leads Victor to fabricate the Creature. By doing so, he defies nature, fate, and destiny. Victor goes against the natural realm and creates life, rebelling against nature. As Victor tediously worked on his creation, he lost sight of nature, “Winter, spring, and summer passed away during my labours; but I did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves- sights which before always
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, illustrates an interesting story focusing in on many different themes, but what most readers may miss, is the similarities between Victor Frankenstein and the creature he created. As the story develops, one may pick up on these similarities more and more. This is portrayed through their feelings of isolation, thirst for revenge, their bold attempt to play god, and also their hunger to obtain knowledge. These are all displayed through a series of both the actions and the words of Frankenstein and his creature.
There is a myth that every creature on this planet is one half of a whole and must be completed by another half. Sometimes it takes that other half coming into their life to make them realize the truth about themselves and to see hidden parts of their unconscious minds that they otherwise would not have noticed themselves. Mary Shelley, an accomplished writer during the Romantic Era of English Literature, is the author of Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is a young man with a hunger and passion for knowledge and science. He wants to do what no one has ever done before- create human life all on his own. Victor creates an eight foot tall, grotesquely terrifying monster that after continuous rejection from society, decides to take revenge on the man that gave him life. Shelley shows throughout this novel how two mortal enemies can be surprisingly similar and even act as mirrors of each other.
In this Essay I shall explore the reasons for Victor Frankenstein’s emotional turmoil in chapters 9 and 10 and look at how some events in Mary Shelley’s life mirrors some events in the book. I will also look at a few of the themes running through Frankenstein. Such as religion, parenting, hate, revenge, guilt and compassion.
"No! I didn't mean this! I didn't want this at all -" Immediate rejection from the monster in disguise. Dr Victor Frankenstein, a mastermind scientist, definitely fits the stereotype of being evil. Constant hatred and thirst for destruction and bloodshed are shown through his character in the Playwright. Throughout Phillip Pullman’s play adaption of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel ‘Frankenstein’, it is evident that Pullman has strategically positioned the reader to perceive Frankenstein as the monster. Firstly, Frankenstein blocks out his family and becomes consumed with his studies. Secondly, Frankenstein rejects his creation after a glance of his appearance. Lastly, Frankenstein destroyed the only hope of happiness for the monster.
The biggest theme of Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein is the instant rejection that was based on appearance alone. Victor Frankenstein had a clear vision of his dream. After years of hard work, trial and error, and the hopes of creating the perfect formula, he refers to his creation, the monster, as “the beauty of the dream [that] vanished” (Shelley 56). Because of the monster’s appearance, people were convinced his demeanor is cruel and startling, which we know is false in most cases. The assumed to be monster in the book experiences personal problems while facing the tarnished, real world. He was just a heartbroken, “alone and miserable” man convinced that “man will not associate” with him (Shelley 171). After being exposed
The creature is renounced by Victor throughout the book, which removes any positive role model that the creature might have had. The two encounters that Victor has with the creature when it is first created are evidence of his rejection. The first is when Victor finishes creating the creature. During the process of creation, Victor dedicates himself so greatly that he "pursued [his] undertaking with unremitting ardour" (32). He puts aside everything else in his life, and concentrates completely on his purpose, which is to bring a being to life that would serve him. In order to do so, he spent an entire summer "engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit" (32). Because of the hard work that Victor puts into his work of creation, he never really examines the fruits of his labour. He is too caught up in his work, and has "lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (32) of finishing his work on making the creature. So in the process of his creation, Victor is never really aware of what he is creating because he is too focused on the actual act of creation. However, when Victor finally finishes the work of making the creature, and takes time to look at what he has done, he is horrified by his accomplishment. As the creation opens an eye, and
When it comes to the aspect of human nature, it can be concluded that as creatures of action, often propelled by personal emotion, it is without a doubt that human beings have continued to shift away from society’s initial and original values, which in turn, results in society’s formation of a biased judgment as they are keeping away from what they consider to different or dissimilar. Over the course of the past decades, it has become increasingly unchallenging for human beings to stray from traditional beliefs. Furthermore, it has become apparent that humans have been very easily motivated by and are often fueled by selfish desires. As human beings continue to be blinded by their overriding emotions and allow themselves to be greatly affected