Sympathizing With The Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a classic horror novel, but with a twist of many other genres. Written by Mary Shelley, it was a novel which mixed many exciting elements, such as horror, drama and romance. The story follows a young doctor named Victor Frankenstein, who has an obsession to reincarnate the dead, but his attempts at

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny” (C.S. Lewis). If these words are true, and it is also true nobody is ordinary, does that then mean that hardships are a form of midlife rebirth? Any form of birth is proof that you have survived something, after all nothing is created nor destroyed merely transformed. Although many people do not believe in past lives, it can hardly be denied that everyone goes through rebirth in their lives and that our struggles shape who we are.

Charlie Chaplin once said that “man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded” (Christensen). Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a true staple of its era, with its sweeping depictions of nature, the turbulent emotions of the sturm und drang style, and a poignant sense of unrest which speaks to the romantic zeitgeist of the time. Frankenstein is the tale of Victor Frankenstein, who, driven mad by his pride and his thirst for knowledge, plays at God by creating a new form of life. The hideous creature, assembled from torn parts of flesh, was to be his Adam, but quickly becomes his Morning Star as they become trapped in an inescapable cycle of torment. Victor’s creature is a killer, seeking revenge on all those whom his creator holds dear. After their conflict is put to an eternal rest, the question of who is truly at fault remains. The monster, being the one who committed the crimes, is often left with the blame, yet Victor was the one who foolishly created this life only to spurn it aside. The impact of his decision cannot be denied, as the society his creature is released into is responsible for transforming the creature into the murderer he becomes by the end of the novel. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein toys with the reader’s preconceptions of monsters through the creature’s inherent goodness, and his bastardization due to his interactions with humanity and the ideals society instils within men,

Sydnie Smith Mrs. Shelley Wisener ENGL 2321: Frankenstein Analysis Essay 29 September 2017 The Inner Monster Within everyone, there lies a side of them that they do not show the world. This side contains the deepest, darkest desires that unconsciously determine how one lives his life. The question remains: will one’s inner monster ever make an appearance or does it stay cleverly hidden? In Frankenstein, the protagonist fights the battle within himself between listening to the devil or the angel. By looking through the lens of a psychoanalytic critic, one can find the monsters hidden within the characters of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, J.M. Hunt’s “The Creation of Man by Prometheus,” and The Holy Bible version of Genesis.

The desire to belong is natural in most humans. Even though we understand the struggle of belonging, we, as humans still persecute others who are different. This exclusion is, in itself, a form of bullying. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley exemplifies this phenomenon of human behavior when she shows the maltreatment Frankenstein’s monster receives for his unattractive physical features and how he attempts to communicate with others in order to put an end to his isolation. Despite the monster’s benevolent nature, he is still alienated because he is different. Through the use of the monster and his discrimination, Mary Shelley shows that humans are not that different from the monster in the way we seek others; and those that persecute others are the real monsters.

Sympathy in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Frankenstein for many people is a huge fiendish monster, a brainless oaf with a couple of neck bolts, who is a horrible murderer. This image has been created by Boris Karloff and other television/film images. I also

night time and there are a lot of She makes them seem rich and handsome. Shelley's writing about a childhood that she never had and so she exaggerates a lot of her points that appear to spite her childhood. At this point the reader will not feel very sympathetic towards Victor because he has had a very good start to his life and he has been spoilt beyond

Tori Andrade Toni J. Weeden Honors Senior English 11/14/17 Sympathy or Hatred Towards Frankenstein's Monster? Victor Frankenstein had not only created a monster but he had also created this being that is full of knowledge seeking and understanding. Right from the beginning of the story, it is misunderstood by

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

Ways Mary Shelley Makes the Reader Sympathize with the Monster in Frankenstein In the novel ‘Frankenstein’, the writer Mary Shelley presents a character in the form of a monster who causes great destruction. He is directly responsible for the deaths of William, Clerval and Elizabeth, as well as contributing to the deaths of Justine and Victor Frankenstein. Despite these acts of violence, Mary Shelley makes the reader sympathise with the Monster. She is able to do this through the narrative technique that shifts from character to character and by looking very critically at Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s aim is to make the elixir of life in order to create life. He tries to play

Sympathy in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley was born in 1797. She had a difficult life with many family upsets’, miscarriages and suffered personal depression; she died aged 53. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein firstly as a short ghost story but it was published as a novel in 1816. Frankenstein is a Gothic novel and it deals with two genres, Gothicism and science fiction. Gothicism is part of the Romantic Movement that started in the late eighteenth century. The Romantic Movement is based on freedom of thought and expression and the belief of living in an age of new beginnings and high possibilities. Science fiction explores the marvels of discovery and achievement that may result from future developments in The monster’s character also creates isolation because of his weaknesses and strengths, which make him different from society. The monster lacks the knowledge and understanding of who he actually is and why he is alive. Frankenstein rejected the “creature” at birth, never gave him a name and never helped the monster grow up. The monster says, “Cursed, cursed creator, why did I live? It shows the reader that he blames the only family he has for bringing him into the world and then rejecting him and making him isolated and cut off from everyone. This shows the monster’s feeling from his point of view. I think this creates sympathy because it shows the monster questions the reason for his creation. With no other monster alive he has no family apart from Victor who is not the biological father, so the monster has no one to relate to as a

Frankenstein- Suffering of an Individual Anguish, pain, torment and suffering are all a part of our day to day lives. These may issue from a variety of causes such as great deprivation, hardships to emotional and physical loss. Many texts, such as that of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly in the early 1800's, depict unalleviated suffering caused by living within societal norms. However very often, these sufferings are inflicted upon people by one individual and in the case of Frankenstein, this source is Victor Frankenstein. This statement becomes evident when examining the intersecting cultural beliefs of gender, class and ethnicity of the time.

In the early parts of the book, the monster tries to be a member of society which results in direct rejection. The monster watches a family and learns how to speak, write, and fit into society. This is also when he encounters love for the very first time in his life. He helps the family with many things, but when he attempts to join them, he is beaten away. While nothing directly comes from this, it still strikes the reader. This scene leads the reader to be more sympathetic when the monster commits acts of violence. The reader recognizes that the monster has been scarred by the way he is treated, by both his creator and society, making him more likely these bad

Throughout the many themes portrayed In Mary Shelley’s version of Frankenstein, character motives is the most seen. Character motives gives the reader an idea of what the characters are doing throughout the book, that also have more than one source. It all starts as Victor Frankenstein who grows up falling in love with science and has been fascinated with the idea of creating life. However, after going to school, learning most of what the professors and teachers knew, he wasn’t satisfied. Victor seeked something more. He searches for the “secret to life” and so he starts to experiment with dead body parts and creates his own monster. He could’ve started out creating something small, but he was “too awed by my first success to have any doubt

Throughout history, the release of literary pieces have contributed drastic changes to humans and storytelling. While dissecting a literary piece, finding a familiar face, line, or plot isn't uncommon. As people are easily influenced, so are the creation of stories. The novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley as a whole, observed carefully, presents an intriguing analysis, rooting from stories such as Genesis and Prometheus; revolving around themes of love, knowledge, and. Additionally, when the text is taken into consideration concerning Psychoanalytic criticism, Frankenstein’s creation reveals a deeper source of purpose on his actions, even tracing back to the days his existence began.