Theme Of Alienation In Frankenstein

To begin, Victor betrays nature with the physical creation of the monster. Upon giving the creature life, Victor becomes horrified of what he had created and essentially left the creature in fear. It is nature’s responsibility to create life, not mankind. Since Victor gives the monster life, he has created something unnatural and he himself even admits his mistake when he states, “I have created a monster.” To make matters worse, Victor had left his creation on its own when the monster had no prior experience in the world and was learning everything from this point on. The monster, at this point, reflected the innocent nature of a child and needed to be taught properly about life. Victor’s

“I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it” (Salinger, J.D.). With this ideal in mind, man’s desire to flee society appears inherent because of his inability to associate with his own kind. Indeed, man’s self-deception advocates alienation so that he feels disconnected, rejected, and out of control. Consequently, scientific breakthroughs, tourism, myth and immersion in nature have led unassuming prey to fall victim to self-deceit in hope of attaining aspiration. This blind self-alienation is seen attacking the victims of Ms. Mary Shelley’s horror novel, Frankenstein, which exhibits characteristics typical of gothic fiction, tragedy and science fiction genres. Undoubtedly, through the incessant and astute use of

Perhaps what led Victor to this rejection, why he was so horrified of his creation, was because he had had such high expectations. In chapter 1, he talks about his life and his parents, he says he was an “innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven”. Perhaps this is what he wanted from his creation, for it to be a gift from heaven, and when it turned out it was ‘hideous’ and not so heavenly, he was disappointed. He wanted something that was “perfect”, “human”, but what he made was something hideous, and his gigantic structure made him different from a human. However, what we realise later on in the book is that it’s what’s on the inside that makes him human. This monster is capable of human emotions and intelligence, he learns to read write and think like a human. This is what makes us have sympathy to the monster- that we can relate to his feelings.

The disappointment is not only irrational, but also shows his further jaded ideal of perfection in the fact that he considers ugliness a weakness. If that were true, ugliness would be the creature's only weakness, as the story goes on to tell of the selfless acts of kindness the creature administers. Victor describes his supposed miserable failure as a deformed monster when he says "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only form a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips" (56; ch.5; vol.1). Later, Victor sees the creature after a long period of his aimless roaming, and he "trembled with rage and horror" (95; ch. 3; vol .2). Victor wished to engage in mortal combat because he had a faint premonition the creature might have possibly killed his son. The senseless idea was formed simply because of the creature's physical features, and that he may have been in the vicinity. Even though the monster was shunned, hated, labeled prematurely as a killer, and cursed by his very own maker, he sees the goodness of the human heart and desires to learn more about the human race. As the supposed monster journeys onward, he is delighted and allured by the moon and sun, and other peaceful,

Victor thought “for this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(page). This quote demonstrates that once Victor had concluded his work of creating the monster, he realized that it may have been a huge mistake. He was not satisfied with his creation instead he was filled with terror. In result of his realization, he left the monster to fend for himself and suffer. Victor shows an evil side of himself by abandoning the monster and leaving him to be universally shunned by society. By Victor doing this one evil act, it causes the monster himself to go off and initiate evil acts of his own.

“ They might even hate each other; the creature who already lived loathed his own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence for it when it came before his eyes in the female forms?” ( Shelly 121) Victor thinks about what would happen if the monster was created and the negative effects. Victor gets all the possibility of negativity of creating a new that could start a whole new race. “ She also might turn with disgust from him to superior beauty of man; she might quit him, and he be again alone, exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by one of his own species.” (Shelly 121) This quote explains how victors thinks of the monster that he is going to create it, He thinks what s the monsters hate each other and don't like each

A definition of a monster is, “an inhumanly cruel or wicked person.” In the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is horribly mean to the people is his life and is personally flawed. However, it is through his isolationist tendies and his obsession with flaws, Victor Frankenstein is considered the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

In the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, although many may point out Frankenstein’s monster as the “monster” of the story, the real monster in the novel are humans in general. This is shown in the Frankenstein family’s interaction with a poor Italian family, Victor’s actions towards other people, and the alienation of the “monster” by all who goes near him. Although the definition of a monster is defined as “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening”, the real definition was more related to someone causing harm and damage to others intentionally, and will be used for the term “monster” for the rest of the passage. Firstly, the Frankenstein family had treated the Italian family horribly. On a trip with his parents to italy, Frankenstein and his family found a poor Italian family. They noticed a girl with blond hair amongst a group of impoverished children. After they had found out that the girl was of noble heritage, they adopted the girl but did not help the family that the girl was first adopted in. Although the family was impoverished and did not have enough food to eat, the Frankensteins did not do anything to help the family. This fits the definition of the monster because they were deliberately causing harm to the family by not helping them. Had the Frankensteins helped them, the family would not have to live in poverty. The “monster” inside the family is also shown when in Victor’s description of the Italian family. This was how Victor described the impoverished family they saw in Italy: “She (Victor’s mother)  found a peasant and his wife, hard working, bent down by care and labour, distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was one which attracted my mother far above all the rest. She appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head” (Shelley, 26). Victor’s description of the family showed his disdain towards the family by including words such as “vagrants”. His descriptions also focused mostly on Elizabeth, while ignoring the other kids. Victor

The monster believed that Victor would accept him, but after he realized that not only did Victor not want to assume his position in the monster’s life, but society also rejected him, it became a transitory thought, and instead became replaced with his bloodthirst towards Victor and his loved ones, which he knew would hurt way worse than just killing him; making him lonely like himself. Both Victor and the monster partook in horrid acts, in which held horrendous actions; the main one being Victor creating the monster in the first place which in result caused the both of them heartbreak, loneliness, and pain. If Victor wouldn’t have created the monster, then his life would not be filled with so much grief and emptiness; Victor is the true monster, although they are both the primal protagonists as much as they are the antagonists because of the display of the emotions they both portray as lamenting humans/monsters, and the power they give to nature in order to destroy one another. Victor used nature to his advantage, although it was wrong; Victor used nature to create and destroy the monster; he used the

Society is cruel to the people that look or even talk differently. The gothic novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a story of a brilliant, man bringing a creature to life out of lifeless body parts. Upon the Creature’s creation, Victor leaves the Creature due to the disgust he has for it. P.B. Shelley puts it this way, “He was an abortion and an anomaly.” The Creature since the moment he was created was alienated from society. He was treated as an outcast and not worth to society. Mary Shelley uses the creature throughout the novel to criticize society and how society treats people that look different than “normal”.

A new level of isolation is presented due to the fact that the novel is told from the monster’s point of view. The monster is treated with instant rejection by anyone who comes near him because of his hideous looks. The monster is so interested in the life that surrounds him he has to reach humans in a way that they won’t know he is there. The main part of the monster’s isolation is that if someone finds him, he is afraid that someone will hurt him. This is what makes him not have any chance of a relationship.

The creature is renounced by Victor throughout the book, which removes any positive role model that the creature might have had. The two encounters that Victor has with the creature when it is first created are evidence of his rejection. The first is when Victor finishes creating the creature. During the process of creation, Victor dedicates himself so greatly that he "pursued [his] undertaking with unremitting ardour" (32). He puts aside everything else in his life, and concentrates completely on his purpose, which is to bring a being to life that would serve him. In order to do so, he spent an entire summer "engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit" (32). Because of the hard work that Victor puts into his work of creation, he never really examines the fruits of his labour. He is too caught up in his work, and has "lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (32) of finishing his work on making the creature. So in the process of his creation, Victor is never really aware of what he is creating because he is too focused on the actual act of creation. However, when Victor finally finishes the work of making the creature, and takes time to look at what he has done, he is horrified by his accomplishment. As the creation opens an eye, and

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.

Society is the one thing we can count on to shape the way of viewing others whether it’s by race, gender, class or creed, it causes alienation whether it is self imposed or brought upon them by other people. “I would rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” -Kurt Cobain. In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, Shelley explores the idea of alienation through Victor, whom self imposed isolation while creating the creature, The creature whom was isolated because he was different to the rest of society, and Walton whom also self imposed isolation.

Beauty and prejudice have become commonplace in today’s society; the tiring cycle of living up to impossible beauty standards and facing the constant criticism of one’s image seems never-ending. However, this incessant obsessiveness over image has been around for thousands of years. In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, a prominent struggle between beauty and hideousness occurs throughout the book. Shelley uses the motif of undesirable appearances and the constant praise of beauty throughout Frankenstein to establish the theme of prejudice.