Short Palindromic Repeats In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    Sometimes, in novels like Frankenstein, the motives of the author are unclear.  It is clear however, that one of the many themes Mary Shelley presents is the humanity of Victor Frankenstein's creation.  Although she presents evidence in both support and opposition to the creation's humanity, it is apparent that this being is indeed human.  His humanity is not only witnessed in his physical being, but in his intellectual and emotional thoughts as well.  His humanity is argued by the fact that being human does not mean coming from a specific genetic chain and having family to relate to, but to embrace many of the distinct traits that set humans apart from other animals in this

Victor Frankenstein was obsessed with science and anatomy, and the balance between life and death while he was a university student. Frankenstein claimed to create the monster to better mankind, but it is more likely he created him out of the desire to become more like a God. “. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me; I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. (Shelley 54)” This is basically Victor explaining how he wants to cheat death and create a new race of species. Victor wants the creature to look at him as a God figure or as his ruler. The irony is that Victor never gives the creature a chance and that is the reason the monster did all the

In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly, the creature is a seemingly cold-hearted serial killer bent on destroying Victor Frankenstein’s family. In the book there is a motif of light and darkness that is recurring throughout the story. The etymology of the word dark means “sad, cheerless; sinister, wicked...the absence of light" implying that being light means you are benevolent, kind, honorable. To put it simply, if you are dark you are bad, and if you are light you are good. The creature is inherently good, however he turns bad because mankind sinned against him. It is not the creature’s fault that he turned out the way he did; it is the fault of those who influenced him to go bad.

In the book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author illustrates similarities between both Victor and the Monster he creates. She draws parallels between the two regarding their feelings on family, nature, on exacting revenge, and how they both become isolated from society. Both are able to demonstrate extreme intelligence. As the novel progresses, Victor and the Monster become more similar to each other. Their relationship turns to one in which each is consumed with getting revenge on the other at all costs.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein deeply develops the trope of nature vs. nurture. The romantic era is characterized by a desire to revert to natural animalistic living in the world. Shelley’s main characters embody nature and nurture respectively. Victor, raised in a loving home, kills with no concern and disregards his caring family. The Monster, Victor’s creation, on the other hand, is forced to live in nature like an animal with no companion. Victor is Shelley’s direct comment on the Victorian lifestyle characterized by material possession and religious moral structure. Victor embodies one who is grounded in societally constructed niceties and formalities but is corrupted by the lifestyle. The monster is shown to be the morally correct character

But what are we to make of Victor Frankenstein? We know that he is in fact a human being. However, he displays several traits that lessen the level of his humanity. The first of which being his desire to make his creature in the first place. By bestowing life

The magnification of Victor Frankenstein’s darkness in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can be shown through his actions alone. But, with the addition of pure and monstrous characters, Frankenstein’s evil is brought to light through their actions as well. Though overcome with depression and suffering, light shines into Frankenstein’s world, ultimately amplifying his darkness. Elizabeth Lavenza magnifies Frankenstein’s darkness through her light because she loved him in spite of his evil, her love ultimately kept him alive, and the essence of her encouraged him to destroy the Monster in the end.

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.

Cursed, be the hands that formed you! You have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you or not. Begone! Relieve me from the sight of your detested form” (115-116 Shelley). Here Victor has totally changed his opinion on creating life. He states that whoever created him, Victor, should be cursed. “I had hitherto supposed him to be the murder of my brother, and I eagerly sought a confirmation or denial of this opinion. For the first time, also, I felt what duties of a creator towards his creature were and I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness” (116 Shelley). After all that has happened it is not unclear who the dominant of the relationship is. Frankenstein is a cautionary tale warning mankind of the consequences of unbridled ambition triggered out of one man emulating God (Wood). Because Victor did not set himself as the parent of god figure in the beginning the creature has now taken control of Victor and is now ordering him around. It has also led to the killing of many people, which could have been avoided if Victor had realized that humans and gods are not equal. This is a clear reason as to why humans can not be God, because for people to be god they must be all

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

This need of power led Victor to create what he believed would be a beautiful human being. But he failed to see that combining the most beautiful human features does not necessarily create a beautiful human being. He was inspired by scientists who ...acquired new and almost limitless powers... (Shelley, Frankenstein, P. 47). Victor sought this unlimited power to the extent of taking the role of God. He not only penetrated nature, but also he assumed power of reproduction in a maniacal desire to harness these modes of reproduction in order to become acknowledged, respected, and obeyed as a father. While bringing his creation into the world he was himself alienated from society, and isolated himself from the community. Isolation and parental neglect cause viciousness within man. Because of his upbringing, Victor had no sense of empathy, and therefore could not realize the potential harm he was creating towards himself and his creation. The sole purpose of his project was an attempt to gain power, but instead of power Victor realized that a morally irresponsible scientific development could release a monster that can destroy human civilization.

During Frankenstein Victor’s mental state was altered after witnessing the power of nature firsthand when he saw lightning destroy a tree near his home in Geneva.This observation leads him to study philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt where he became obsessed with anatomy. Victor takes God’s power into his own hands, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it.” (Shelly 32) He has the gruesome idea to create his own human from the remains of the dead. Victor sneaks into charnel-houses, digs into graves to collect limbs, disturbing the resting corpses, and studies uses them to find the answer how to make life come from death. During the process of creating his monster, Victor

The book of Genesis was created by God to express his image of companionship, but also bring awareness to the idea of sin. Shelley forms Frankenstein around Genesis, however, she separates the two by stating, “Frankenstein’s monster is created as a test of Frankenstein’s power” (Shelley 34), implying that the monster is simply created to challenge the power of his creator just as God’s power was challenged by Adam and Eve. Following the creation of the monster, Victor wants absolutely nothing to do with it. The monster is composed of decomposing human bodies and therefore it is not anyone’s ideal image and has no one to look up to in the aspect of, “let us make man in our image, according to our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Due to the monster being created with the limps and interior of dead bodies, it promotes an extraordinary element of not having an original origin. Victor takes advantage of the fact that the monster is not a