‘The Suffering in ‘Frankenstein’ is undeserved’ – How far and in what ways do you agree with the view of Shelley’s presentation of suffering?
Frankenstein’s characters suffer in a couple of ways, psychologically such as through loneliness or through emotional pain of the death of close ones, and physical suffering. Shelley herself was an only child, so could have been considered lonely when she was younger, and her mother died, which is obviously a death of a close one. While suffering is deserved by some of the characters as they bring it upon themselves, some of the characters are not deserving of their suffering as it is thrust upon them.
The creature’s suffering is, at least initially, the most undeserved. He is brought into the
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I believe that the being did not deserve the suffering, however, for the fact that he only became bad because of others. It would mean that if he was born into a better society and treated better by its people, he would not have done what he did.
Victor Frankenstein, on the other hand, was deserving of the suffering he endured because a lot of it was his own fault. He keeps his family members at a distance to protect them; however, the protection of his family was probably a cover for wanting to be alone to create the being. He ran away from his own creation, and was egotistical, arrogant, and self-serving. He suffers from illness, the loss of family and friends, and is haunted by the thought of the pursuance of the creature. Frankenstein created “A new species (that) would bless me as its creator and source”. As you can tell from the quote, the creation was all for selfish reasons and he did not think of the consequences that would occur, leaving the creature, and not looking after him. This led to the creature being lonely, and the suffering caused to Frankenstein was in revenge for this – the creature began killing his family members. Elizabeth in the book is killed, but in the theatre production by Danny Boyle, Elizabeth is raped before being killed, increasing the suffering caused for Frankenstein in the play than compared with the book, and also of course
This novel reflects Shelley’s own childhood, which consisted of her feeling obligated to rebel against her own father’s wishes and his choice for her marriage. Frankenstein is a way for Shelley to tell her own experiences with parental conflict and how she feels she was affected by her demanding father and the environment she grew up in, by comparing herself to Victor’s monster. Shelley analyzed her own characteristics, and the characteristics of her father, and placed them within Victor and the
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
Frankenstein, a novel first published in the year 1818, stands as the most talked about work of Mary Shelley’s literary career. She was just nineteen years old when she penned this novel, and throughout her lifetime she could not produce any other work that surpasses this novel in terms of creativity and vision. In this novel, Shelley found an outlet for her own intense sense of victimization, and her desperate struggle for love. Traumatized by her failed childbirth incidents, troubled childhood, and scandalous courtship, many of Shelley’s life experiences can be seen reflected in the novel. When discussing the character and development of the monster, Shelley launches an extensive discussion on the
In Chapter 10 of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster employs an array of compelling rhetorical questions to underscore his anguish and despair in the hopes of winning his creator’s sympathy and understanding. Upon enduring Victor’s barrage of execration, the monster fitfully cries out, “Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my misery?” (Shelley 81). Distraught, the monster demands for what higher purpose does the arbiter of his future whimsically desire to torture and “increase” his “misery”. Like clinging onto a frayed rope, the monster hopes that his pitiful coagulation of naive optimism and sorrow has the ability to trigger a sense of sympathy in his creator that would mark the end of his isolated and disheartened state.
Humans are known for bestowing their judgment irrationally and based on the “book cover” of a person, they may degrade their fellow human into the worst positions of the social ladder. Mary Shelley, in her novel Frankenstein, expands on this perspective by using mood and tone to parallel with the circumstances of an event occurring in her novel with shifts throughout the context of the book, symbolized by the changes in nature and seasons. This shift is made frequently between the agonized, desperate, frightful, maybe even suicidal mood and tone with the occurrence of dreadful acts of murder and execution, to the more calming, soothing, optimistic and life-full during a physical and spiritual recovery.
Conflicts and controls are a major concept in texts to develop the plot and can proceed towards incidents of misfortune amongst humans. Human suffering can be defined as "The emotional, cognitive and spiritual suffering of human beings cannot be completely separated from all other kinds of suffering, such as from harmful natural, ecological, political, economic and social conditions" (Diehl, 2013). Through the gothic novel of Frankenstein (1831) written by Mary Shelley, numerous events occur, exposing the disputes and controls that lead towards the continuation of human suffering. Shelley incorporates techniques such as characterisation and figurative language to exemplify the themes portrayed. The novel explores how the exploitation of women
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.
Mary Shelley’s story of internal turmoil, the cruelty of altering the laws of nature, and the consequences of redefining the laws of nature is a harrowing one, known widely by many audiences, yet it is never the nature of the characters that is discussed, only the outcome. Shelley’s deliberate use of different character foils portrays the deeper connections and themes in her 1818 novel, Frankenstein. The creation and presence of Frankenstein’s monster directly foils the character of Victor Frankenstein himself, illustrating overarching themes of self inflicted isolation and internal conflict, exposing the dangers and consequences of complete and total narcissism, and revealing a truth many still refuse to accept: we, as humans, are capable
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.
A romantic life full of pain and abandonment could only be given the monstrous form of "Frankenstein." Mary Shelley 's life gave birth to an imaginary victim full of misery and loneliness and placed him as the protagonist of one of her most famous and greatest works of art. As most people would assume, he is not just a fictional character, but in fact a creature who desperately demonstrates Shelley 's tragedies and losses during the age of the Romantic Era. Since Mary Shelley 's birth there have been numerous losses in her life. One extremely dominating event in Shelley 's life was the death of her mother. Soon after, her father remarried and Shelley entered a battle as the victim of a fight for love. In her
In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster commits a number of immoral acts out of rage. These actions are directly related to the monsters creation and upbringing. The burden of fault for the monsters actions rests on Victor Frankenstein’s shoulders alone.
“But Sorrow Only Increased with Knowledge:” A Critique on Romantic Ideals in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Although Frankenstein is a fictional story, I think in many ways it is representative of Mary Shelley personal views in her everyday life. Mary Shelley was raised by her father after her mother passed and because of that they always had a rocky relationship even after her father remarried. Mary fell in love with one of her father’s political followers, Percy Shelley and they got married although her father did not approve of their relationship because of the age difference. Throughout their relationship, they faced many obstacles that made it hard for their relationship to work, but it did. This aspect of her relationship is show through Elizabeth in the novel because it shows how hard women will work to make a relationship work even when
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a critique of the Byronic hero, as exemplified in Lord Byron’s “Manfred.” The Byronic hero is a protagonist who has the following traits: self-inflicted agony, a high self esteem, isolation from society, an exaggerated sense of independence, and genuine guilt. All of these traits Manfred bears, but Victor lacks two of these attributes. The lead protagonists, Victor and Manfred, have two key differences: genuine remorse and independence. Victor’s guilt is false when compared with that of Manfred. Victor relinquishes some of his autonomy to the monster in Frankenstein, in contrast to Manfred’s steadfast hold of complete self government. These differences, seen in Victor’s personality amount to a critique of
In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein puts the monster in a predicament that victimizes the monster. Victor creates the monster to be an “ugly wretch”(Shelley 141) therefore causing the monster grief for his entire life. The monster experiences severe loneliness for being an outcast. The monster is the greatest victim in this novel because of his creation, his loneliness, and everyone’s general fear or lack of concern for him.