The Road to Despair: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay

this in such a way that the reader feels sorry for the monster, but we

The reader can immediately see this because the Monster says, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (Shelley 124). He begins to murder members of Victor’s close friends and family. His first victim is William Frankenstein. The Monster has no intentions to kill William, but he says, “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed” (Shelley 116). The Monster shows his frustration with Victor creating him in this way and for making him into an outcast. After Victor breaks his promise of creating a female monster, the Monster murders Henry Clerval. The Monster’s anger continues to build up over time and he believes the only way to face it is by taking the lives of those who have a close relationship with Victor. The Monster kills Elizabeth Lavenza on her wedding night. He takes the lives of the people who are in a close relationship with Victor due to the anger he feels toward him. The violence the Monster uses is his way to try and seek revenge on Victor because he feels that he set him up to fail, to be an outcast, and to be unacceptable to

There is a seemingly endless cycle of revenge throughout the novel, which connects Frankenstein to his creation. When Frankenstein finds out his creation is the reason for William and Justine’s death, it drives his deep emotions for the beast. “My abhorrence of this fiend cannot be conceived. When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflame, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed”(Shelley74). He is reflecting on the creatures actions which have pushed him to wish the creature was never born. In a sense, he is

From the start of Mary Shelley's novel, the monster is identified as this psychotic murderer, abnormal. The gigantic, grotesquely horrid creation of Victor Frankenstein, like Frankenstein himself, had only positive intentions at first. He was a delicate, smart monster attempting to alter to human behavior and social skills. From beginning to end, Shelley made sure to target how the monster had to learn everything solo in order to live. As the creature's creator, Victor's role was to provide and teach the creature, taking responsibility instead of running away. The fact that the monster was left unattended in the world led to his raw actions. For instance, Shelley suggest the consequences of isolation when the monster says, "You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains -- revenge, henceforth dearer than light of food! I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery." (Shelley 153) The Monster is talking in rage after Victor Frankenstein rejects his proposal to create a mate for him. The Monster is so secluded that he, himself, had to ask for a friend. This, however, was not the end of this conversation. In counter play for being deserted, Shelley writes that the Monster went off

The novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley involves the complex issues with the creation of life through an inanimate life. Shelley uses these character archetypes to develop a deeper meaning of the characters intentions. Shelley does an excellent job at allowing the reader to have a peak at the characters inner thoughts and feelings. The archetypes presented in Frankenstein allow readers to identify with the character's role and purpose.

Over two centuries ago, Mary Shelley created a gruesome tale of the horrific ramifications that result when man over steps his bounds and manipulates nature. In her classic tale, Frankenstein, Shelley weaves together the terrifying implications of a young scientist playing God and creating life, only to be haunted for the duration of his life by the monster of his own sordid creation. Reading Shelley in the context of present technologically advanced times, her tale of monstrous creation provides a very gruesome caution. For today, it is not merely a human being the sciences are lusting blindly to bring to life, as was the deranged quest of Victor Frankenstein, but rather to

    The creature's ambiguous humanity has long puzzled readers of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In this essay I will focus on how Frankenstein can be used to explore two philosophical topics, social contract theory, and gender roles, in light of ideas from Shelley's two philosophical parents, William Godwin, and Mary Wollstonecraft.

Frankenstein: The Real Monster: In Mary Shelley's science fiction novel Frankenstein, she writes about how one's curiosity and lack of responsibility can lead destruction to come upon not only themselves but also others around him. To convey this idea, she creates a main character named Victor Frankenstein who, creates a monster that ultimately causes so much destruction and harm due to Frankenstein`s negligence and the monster`s loneliness. Frankenstein recklessly created this creature without any disregard to the possible consequences of his actions. Eventually faced with many obstacles, the Monster ultimately turns to murder as a way to alleviate the pain of being unwanted even though murder is never the answer to any problem. Although

Frankenstein’s and society’s rejection of the monster, however, drove him to an uneven passionate pursuit for a companion. He forced Frankenstein to create a female monster, and he provided motivation by killing Frankenstein’s loved ones and threatening to kill more of them. The monster recalls in this final scene of Shelley’s novel how his desire drove him to evil. “. . . do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse?--He . . . suffered not more in the consummation of the deed;--oh! Not the ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the lingering detail of its execution. A frightful selfishness hurried me on. . . .” (153) At that point in the novel, the monster has changed from good in nature to evil in nature. His own desires are more important to him than the well-being of others and he is willing to commit murder in order ensure the fulfillment of his desire.

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.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley is an author who wrote the novel of Frankenstein. Mary Shelley herself in her life, experienced many deaths of close friends and family. When she was first born her mother died, furthermore Mary had a baby, who died 12 days later and her husband Percy Shelly drowned. Maybe it was these experiences, which led Mary Shelley to write such a novel of great horror published in 1818. Frankenstein itself is called 'the modern Prometheus'.

Some of the main motifs of Frankenstein are ambition and self-interest. Mary Shelley uses the character Victor Frankenstein to convey the message that a man can live a happy life full of love and benevolence if he is not on a quest of knowledge and self-interest. Victor had a happy and innocent childhood with a loving family. However, this innocence and happiness did not last long as he was overcome with a thirst for knowledge of the biological world. “It was the secrets of heaven and earth I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in it highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.”

Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley didn’t know when she began it that her “ghost story” would become an enduring part of classic literature. Frankenstein is an admirable work simply for its captivating plot. To the careful reader, however, Shelley’s tale offers complex insights into human experience. The reader identifies with all of the major characters and is left to heed or ignore the cautions that their situations provide. Shelley uses the second person narrative style, allusions both to Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the legend of Prometheus, and the symbols of both light and fire to warn against the destructive thirst for forbidden knowledge.

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is a story about how important having a family is to some, but also judging someone based on their appearance. Victor Frankenstein starts the novel by describing his childhood with his loving and supportive family. Family is very important to him because he did not have many friends growing up. While Frankenstein is away at school he starts to become very depressed and you see his attitude towards his family and his life change. Being away at school, he creates a “monster” by using different pieces of corpses and that becomes the only thing that matters to him until he sees how hideous it is. He immediately hates his creation just because of how he looks. Frankenstein begins to abandon everyone and thing in his life because of his obsession with the idea of glory and science, causing the novel to go from Romanticism to Gothic. The “monster” finds a family living in a cottage, by watching all winter he learns how a family should love and accept others. By seeing this, Frankenstein’s creations understand what was taken from him, and will do whatever he has to do to have a family of his own.

The scene is set on a dreary night of November at one o'clock in the