The Creature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

The only account of true wickedness in Frankenstein was the determination to become godly and control life and death. However, the amount of sin mentioned in The Picture of Dorian Gray is chiefly greater. From the time Dorian first stated “’I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die’” (Wilde 29), to the account of murder in the last few chapters, his reoccurring impure actions are proof that his pure and innocent mind is far

Furthermore, Dorian’s moral principles get progressively worse, eventually leading to the murder of Dorian’s longtime friend, Basil Hallward. Dorian acts impulsively and erratically while showing Basil the mutilated portrait, “and suddenly an uncontrollable hatred for Basil Hallward came over him” (115) spurring Dorian to stab Basil repeatedly. Due to his impulsive nature and devotion to seeking pleasure, the moment his anger took over, Dorian chose to ignore his conscience. He retains his childish behavior because he never

After the death of Frankenstein, the Creature is met face-to-face with Walton, and here the Creature meets his final challenge of communicating and addressing a human who might have compassion for him. Upon seeing and hearing from the Creature, Walton experiences similar reactions as Frankenstein upon first communicating with the Creature. His physical appearance once again stains with utter disgust any attempt at showing benevolence: “Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness. I shut my eyes involuntarily” (Shelley 211). Once this reaction takes place, the Creature’s words do cause a small time of wavering of compassion for Walton, although ultimately he does reject the Creature once

Easily one of the most notable themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the role of nature versus nurture in developing children, recurs throughout the novel with the two main characters, Frankenstein and his creature, believing in opposite sides of this theme. Favoring nature, Frankenstein maintains that the creature was always evil from the moment of creation, regardless of the creature’s experiences. However, the creature, in his narrative to Frankenstein, argues that “[he] was benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” (106). In adherence with John Locke’s concept of tabula rasa, the creature was born with a blank slate, and only through his experiences does he gain knowledge and personality. Struggling to persevere in the human world, Frankenstein’s creature merely wants humans to welcome him as one of them. The change of the creature from looking “upon crime as a distant evil” because “benevolence and generosity were ever present” in him to seeking revenge on Frankenstein results from a culmination of horrible experiences (103). While it may be hard to see the creature as a trustworthy narrator because of how he has acted and his ulterior motives, he does present physical evidence to support his tale. Facing rejection in different forms, he becomes truly evil, giving up hope of companionship as a result of his trials and lessons. From the moment of his creation, the creature encounters abandonment, violence, isolation, and rejection everywhere he turns.

In Frankenstein the creature wanted to be loved by Victor, but his master betrays him and pushed the monster down the path of revenge until he has nothing left. The creature came into the world happy and innocent, but as time went on he realized that humankind and his master had betrayed him. He wanted help people like De Lacy by cutting wood for them and getting food,u but he introduces himself to them, they made it so “[his] heart sunk within me as the with bitter sickness, and I refrained”(97). Human kind and not only his master betrayed him, but this anger manifested as anger towards the Frankenstein family. The creature felt everyone was trying to betray him and go against him so he turned him evil and made the creature want to seek

As a whole, this opening confrontation between Lord Henry and Dorian’s initial character proves several points: one, Dorian does have his own passions and soul before meeting Lord Henry, and two, Lord Henry’s teachings initially echo Dorian’s own feelings, which are what draw him to Lord Henry over the two-dimensional Basil Hallward. Later, ironically, it is Lord Henry’s own teachings which leads to Dorian’s struggle to repress his "true self" and ultimately bring about his downfall.

Likewise, Victor Frankenstein allows his emotional senses to give way to a hatred of the Creature without even giving the Creature a chance. After seeing the hideous creation made by his own hands, Victor refrains from taking responsibility of the actions of the Creature, even when his conscious tells him it is his duty to. On the night of the creation, Victor recalls that the creature, who he emotionally describes as a monster, “held up the curtain of the bed … one hand stretched out, seemingly to detain [Victor], but [he] escaped … catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of

Basil idolized Dorian for his captivating features and innocence and as a result painted a portrait of Dorian. However, after noticing the depth of his beauty, Dorian became exceedingly vain and wishes himself everlasting beauty and agelessness, while cursing the painting into carrying his burdens of old age and sins. Most extensively, the author's characterization of Lord Henry Wotton, who fills Dorian's head with his poisonous theories, are evident through teaching Dorian the importance of his beauty which causes Dorian to become narcissistic. Henry is the main cause of Dorian's corruption, by provoking him into cherishing his youth and convincing him to live the hedonistic lifestyle. Each of these instances of characterization in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, reveals the harmful effect influence can have and that sacrificing one's self for another individual can lead to

Dorian looks at the portrait almost enjoying the fact that the portrait is obstructed and a hideous sight. He finds it amusing that he is still pure and innocuous, while his portrait is tarnished with sins and the ugly side of his life. Throughout the book the characters Lord Henry and Basil have gone through changes but not as dramatic as Dorian’s. Dorian is not himself anymore. It may have been better for Dorian to remain a tranquil model for Basil and lead a genuine life as a family man and respected individual; instead of adapting to Lord Henry’s theories and obsess over the book Lord Henry provided him with. Through the years he has gained a horrible reputation. Dorian himself is aware of this and is cautious in the hiding of his portrait. The night before Dorian’s 38th birthday he and Basil reunite. Basil is heading off in a 6-month trip and wishes to inform Dorian of the obscenities he has heard from all around the community about Dorian. Dorian remains silent most of this conversation perhaps in

In order to understand how Dorian’s character has been changing to a more malevolent being the reader must contrast and compare Dorian’s old behavior to his new behavior using the current situation that furthers his character development. The author uses Dorians home in order to show Dorian’s official decadence into madness begins right where it all started. The authors content is portrayed through the painting of Dorian, after Dorian murdered Basil the painting seemed to have “sweated blood”. This demonstrated that Dorian, in addition to his decaying self-portrait, now had blood on his hands meaning the content was shown through the art where Dorian traded his soul for youth. The setting takes a dark turn towards the end of chapter 17 when

Towards the end of chapter 2, Dorian grows resentful towards the portrait Basil has painted, “why did you paint it!”, but this resent soon turns to total adoration, “I am in love with it!” The change in his nature occurs only after he realizes the importance of his own beauty. However this sudden love of his own face comes after he pledges his soul for eternal youth. Although Dorian never contracts with

Throughout the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells a tale about a young man named Dorian whose entire life changes after he meets Basil Hallward, who paints a portrait of Gray that ultimately leads to Gray’s demise. At the same time, Dorian also meets Lord Henry, who eventually plays a bad influence over Dorian. The portrait shows the man Dorian has become

The first sign of Dorian’s new development is when he first lays eyes on the portrait after hearing Lord Henry’s panegyric of youth. As Dorian gazes upon himself on the portrait, he comes to a shocking realisation. Wilde writes it as, “The sense of his own beauty came upon him like a revelation… Basil Hallward’s compliments had seemed to him to be merely the charming exaggerations of friendship… They had not influenced his nature. Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of its brevity. That had stirred him at the time, and now, as he stood gazing at the shadow of his own loveliness, the full reality of the description flashed across him… He would become dreadful, hideous, and uncouth. As he thought of it, a sharp pang of pain struck through him like a knife, and made each delicate fibre of his nature quiver” (Wilde 18-19). His beauty would not last forever, and he would become old and withered just like everyone else will. Dorian, who once didn’t care about his looks, had now become obsessed with the ideals and ideas fed to him from Henry. He makes his wish for the portrait to take on the burden of time and sin, instead of him. He says, “I know, now, that when one loses one’s good

He is infatuated with Dorian's beauty in the beginning. He appreciated Dorian's beauty but did not wish to possess it for himself. Basil exclaims, “When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale... I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.” His love for Dorian changed the way he perceived art. Basil eventually paints a portrait of Dorian to capture his beauty forever. Basil’s portrait marks a new phase in his career. Once he has painted Dorian, he fears that he has put too much of himself into the work. Basil reluctantly introduces Dorian to Lord Henry, who he fears will have a damaging influence on Dorian. He admits, “Yes, that is his name. I didn't intend to tell it to you.” Basil is later envious of the relationship between Lord Henry and Dorian. Lord Henry upsets Dorian with a speech about the transient nature of beauty and youth. Basil, wishing to protect and defect him, voices his objection to Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian. Dorian felt Basil had come to realize his true personality and that he would bring it to someones attention. Basil is murdered by Dorian. The murder of Basil marks the beginning of Dorian's end. He cannot overcome the realization that he killed his friend.

Before the death of Sibyl Vane, a beautiful girl who loved him dearly, Dorian is heavily influenced by Lord Henry and still has a moral conscience. Preceding the creation of the portrait, Dorian is pure and innocent, yet to be touched by the idea of immortality. When Dorian first meets Lord Henry, the portrait is being created and “a faint blush coloured his cheeks for a moment” (Wilde 11). This shows how Dorian is still innocent, yet Henry has an influence on Dorian from the beginning. Dorian is described as having “all the candour of youth, as well as all youth’s passionate purity” (Wilde 11-12). Dorian has only been around Basil, who is