The Effects Of Alienation And Loneliness In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

From the beginning, the creature dealt with isolation from being rejected by his creator. The creature’s first moments of life are looking at Victor being terrified of him and fleeing out of the room, “unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room…”(Shelley 42). From there the creature is left abandoned by its creator, with no knowledge of who he is or where he is. The creature’s isolation begins his path into misery and revenge as he now has to experience the cruelties of humanity alone. However, the creature does find some company by stalking a group of cottagers he finds after being chased out of a village. The creature learns from them the happiness and good from companionship with other. Unfortunately, this knowledge only sends the creature further down the path of misery and revenge due to the cottagers immediate rejection of the creature and he is once again plunged back into isolation. This drives the creature mad and sends him on a rampage, destroying the cottager’s home along with several trees in the forest. The creature then resolves that he is doomed to isolation and that he will have revenge on his creator, Victor Frankenstein, whose caused this to happen. Henceforth, the creature begins to murder everyone who Victor loves and torments him until the creature indirectly kills him by exhausting him to death. As the creature finds Victor’s corpse on Walton’s ship, he laments to

He chose to "avoid a crowd and to attach [himself] fervently to a few [schoolmates]" (Shelley 36). Characteristics like isolation can lead to an unhappy future and cause a person to totally remove himself from society. Though "[Frankenstein's] father had wished him 'to seek amusement in society [he] abhorred the face of man.' ... 'I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse,'" he admits (Goldberg 31). From the knowledge of Frankenstein's past the reader is able to understand the character's behavior and how it develops. Through the years Frankenstein has kept to himself, with a few exceptions, and is heavily involved in his studies. These conditions evolve to a more serious state over time. "Now, he reveals only the 'desire to avoid society' and fly 'to solitude, from the society of every creature.' . . . He is 'immersed in solitude,' for he perceives' an insurmountable barrier' between him and his fellow-man" (Draper 3206). This state of seclusion only adds to Frankenstein's deterioration and to the condition of his creation. Frankenstein's creature takes on the characteristics of his creator, just as children do with their parents. Due to the creator's reclusive habits and characteristics the Creature becomes as isolated and lonely as his creator. After being shunned by Frankenstein, the Creature wonders about lonely, "searching in vain for a few acorns to assuage the pangs of hunger"

Perhaps the most important takeaway from Frankenstein is the causes of the evil actions of the characters, specifically Dr. Frankenstein and his creature. When isolated or rejected, each character resorts to violence and acts of ill-intention. Isolation and rejection are painful states of being, and even sub-human creations react to them poorly. Victor Frankenstein frequently projects his feelings as a result of the isolation he feels in quotes such as this: “…the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my devotion; but the furies possessed me as I concluded, and rage choked my utterance.” (Shelley 218). He explains that his mind shifts to thought of evil when he ponders how he lost his friends and family, proving Shelley’s opinion on the harms of isolation. Victors creature falls victim to violence in response to isolation as well. Following William’s rejection of the monster, declaring him a “…monster! Ugly wretch!” and an “ogre,” the monster strangles him (150). Both Victor and his creation experience moments

What differentiates Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein from the majority of horror novels are the very real and timeless themes it explores.  The overriding theme of the novel - scientific investigation without consideration of morality and responsibility is still an important topic in today’s world.  “Perhaps the reality of cloning and genetic engineering makes this theme more relevant today than when Frankenstein was first published”(Patterson). This theme, along with the more subtle themes of revenge, the inability to accept those who are different, and the inability to control one's destiny are all themes which separate Frankenstein from other novels in the genre.

"We are unfashioned creatures, but half made up, if one wiser, better, dearer than ourselves-such a friend ought to be-do not lend his aid to perfectionate our weak and faulty natures,” writes the narrator of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein. Without a companion of some sort, people will only suffer more. However, without the supervision of parents, children altogether are greatly affected for the rest of their lives. An innately good and sympathetic creature, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster struggles to survive in the human world. After creating and abandoning his creature, Dr. Frankenstein is the juxtaposition of a monster, portraying humans as shallow, judgmental, and uncaring. The monster simply wants humans to accept him as one of their own. Facing rejection in different forms, he becomes truly monstrous and evil, giving up hope of companionship as a result of his abandonment. Modern case studies of abandoned children report similar ideas. Children who are abandoned do not learn about morality, yet only people with morality are accepted by others as human. Children who are abandoned are frequently not accepted by others as human ultimately.

The book Frankenstein is considered a gothic novel do to the facts of the gloomy settings throughout the story, Mary Shelley always wrote in a gothic manner more times than not in her career, and during this time period scary stories were very relevant. The fact that Doctor Frankenstein is creating a “monster” is very gothic in itself but the way he gathered the parts to assemble this creation, or as some may like to call it a “creature”. People argue that just because he created this thing that does not make him the father-like because he made it in inhumane way but nobody knows what is considered wrong or right to someone. In order for something to get the consideration

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein examines two phenomena of human nature, scientific curiosity and loneliness; the latter will serve as the focus of this essay. The very manner in which Frankenstein begins, that of the correspondence of an unattached explorer who longs for a companion on his voyage, with no one to write to but his sister, establishes the theme of loneliness immediately.

A block of unmoving ice sits waiting until someone makes use of it. For an unknowledgeable amount of time it spends its existence waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Finally, it melts and no one discovers it. Ice cannot converse, it cannot socialize.

In the Gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley integrates the rhetorical devices figurative language, imagery, and tone to impart the concept that the desire to acquire knowledge and emulate God will ultimately result in chaos and havoc that exceeds the boundaries of human restraint.

The above quote by Bloom is an explanation of the view that all the gothic novels are interpretation of psychological and social factors and this is especially true in the case of Mary Shelley. Shelley began her novel at the age of 18 when the most prominent materials in the consciousness and unconsciousness of Shelley were concerned with the conflicts stemming from the death of her mother. Frankenstein is the outcome of Shelley’s unresolved grief for the death of her mother which was the crisis she needed to work through to forget her own adult identity.

Levine’s main argument is that although Frankenstein is a gothic novel, it is not a typical gothic novel with many realistic ideas. It aims to generate terror in the reader like other gothic novels but does not involve the supernatural. The events that Mary Shelley writes out in Frankenstein are not far from ordinary and the commonplace. Levine’s more interesting argument is that Mary Shelley’s use of the Gothic tradition allows her to dip in the imaginative and subjective inner truths that a realistic novel would not allow. For example how the characters reflect or double each other. Also most of the characters represent aspects of Victor Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is about a young scientist who creates a monster in an unorthodox science experiment. Throughout her novel, Shelley presents a recurring theme of loneliness being able to provide strong motivation in order to present the feelings of Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster. From the beginning, the reader can see that Walton is a very lonely person, when he describes to his sister that “I have no friend, Margaret; when I am glowing with the enthusiasm of success, there will be none to participate in my joy,” (Shelley 2). Due to Walton feeling very lonely, he wants to do something very memorable, such as going to the North Pole. As shown later in the novel, Victor tells Walton that he was also very

     The very first characteristic of a Gothic novel is its sinister setting. The opening sentence in Frankenstein sets the mood

Alienation and isolation have been apparent in society since the beginning of man. When an individual stumbles outside the realm of social normality they are viewed as degradation to society or a threat to normal society.(“Truthmove” 2012) In the gothic tale of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley frequently displays the many different forms of alienation. Victor Frankenstein and his creation were two of the characters in this book that went through alienation and isolation.

Mary Shelley creates a sense of gloom, mystery, and suspense, in her novel Frankenstein. The book generates these perceptions though the setting and the terrible events that go on throughout the book. Gothic novels came from the English genre of fiction popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Gothics are defined by the mysterious and horrific atmosphere, similar to that of Mary Shelley’s writing. Frankenstein is a gothic novel because of the combined elements of extreme and sinister landscapes, horrifying events, supernatural elements, and a passionate, wilful villain.