Victor Frankenstein: A Portrayal Of The Evolving Protagonist

Frankenstein removes himself from friends, family and society in order to absolve himself from responsibility of morals. Through efforts to maintain control and an acute fascination, Frankenstein alienates himself at an early age in the name of science. Victor is not entirely ignorant of the dangers of his self-satisfying obsession as he first regrettably reflects, “I was, to a great degree, self-taught with regard to my favorite studies. My father was not scientific, and I was left to struggle with a child’s blindness, added to a student’s thirst for knowledge” (Shelley 28). Rather than recognizing that his isolation is self-induced, Victor blames his alienation on his father’s ignorance. By controlling his relationships, he gains greater confidence in his own abilities, instead of relying on others’ companionship. Notably, evidence for Victor’s disregard toward “domestic affection” is reintroduced as he remarks, “I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed. Once commenced, it would quickly be achieved, and I might be restored to my family in peace and happiness” (Shelley 138). With selfishness at the core, Victor controls his chaos by distancing himself temporarily, so that he might reunite with his family at a later date. He is being inundated by the common belief that glorious scientific achievement comes at the cost of moral and ethical sacrifice. Victor justifies his self-alienation by means of the creature; however readers

In Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein she focuses on the pursuit of knowledge and how that relates to life. In chapter four specifically, there is a lot of discussion about life, death, the creation of life, and the creator all in relation to Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of knowledge about it. Throughout this chapter he is discussing his struggle of how far to take his interest in science and life, but after becoming so obsessed with his findings and discoveries it is not hard for him to continually push on seeking more and more information about human anatomy and life. Shelley has presented Frankenstein’s endless need for knowledge as a form of instrumental reasoning and how it takes over his life in an extremely negative way because he is

Victor Frankenstein's characterization is slowly fed to the audience by indirect characterization, meaning we learn more about Victor through his thoughts and actions as well as how other character's act towards him. During the first few chapters, Victor is introduced to the audience as a doted upon he was "their plaything and their idol, and something better—their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good" (31). This creates an more distance between everyone else in the novel and Victor, Shelley is already establishing that Victor is higher placed than the majority of others in the novel. Yet Victor is also a curious child he details his "vehement" passions "turned not towards childish pursuits

monster avoid pain again and how he is able to sit and think about how

Some people see Frankenstein and his creature as complete opposites, but they are not as different as they may seem. Victor and his creature have no mother figure in the novel. Victor’s mother was there for Victor in the beginning but “resigned cheerfully to death… she died calmly” (Shelley 53), whereas the creature was born without one. Therefore, throughout the novel, both Victor and the creature have to depend on their fathers for guidance. Frankenstein and the creature are both intelligent. Frankenstein gains his intelligence through his schooling and experience, while the creature gains intelligence through observations, experience, and “Paradise Lost, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, and the Sorrows of Werter” (Shelley 155). These characters want to be accepted in the world. Frankenstein wants to be accepted in the

“Victor finds himself farther and farther removed from the boundaries of society as he falls deeper and deeper into his passionate consumption.” (Bangerter 3). Victor lost his ability to communicate with his family and his fascination with the monster brought them closer throughout the book. Victor never learned until the end that the monster was only killing to keep his attention and hopefully bring them together. Once again, Freud would tell us that through his id he created the monster as his mother and his Oedipus complex was the reason for his attraction to the monster. “Frankenstein wanted to recreate his mother but he instead made a creature comprised of socially repressed elements of his wish for his mother.” (Hicks 1).

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is a static character. Such characters undergo few, if any changes to their personality. Frankenstein, throughout the entire novel, makes several promises, statements, and lists obligations that he never honors and blatantly contradicts and never changed on his quest to get vengeance.

Critic Northrop Frye once commented that "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscapes" (Frye 1). Few characters illustrate this characteristic of a tragic hero better than that of Victors Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His story is one of a brilliant man whose revolutionary ideas brought suffering to himself, his family and friends, and his creation. Victor is an instrument as well as a victim to this suffering throughout his story.

One outstanding contrast refers to their personal histories. While Victor is raised in greatest harmony by his caring parents (Shelley 19), who supply him with love and parental affection, his creature experiences no support whatsoever. The unconditional bond of love that is usually tied between parents and their children cannot be built up among the two main characters of the novel (Shelley 84). Moreover, Frankenstein often mentions the importance of his “companions amiable” (Shelley 21) in Geneva and that he has the luck to enjoy “mutual affection” (25) in his life. As opposed to that, the monster has to endure refusal throughout the whole plot. He is expelled by his own creator and strangers, alike (Shelley 73). Another difference concerning how both figures are raised is their education. Acquiring knowledge seems to be an important issue for Frankenstein’s family. Therefore, Victor is able to learn many languages at home and is even supported in moving to Ingolstadt for his further studies in science (Shelley 21, 25). His monster, on the other hand, is not taught any languages actively, but rather adopts the one spoken by peasants, whom he covertly listens to (Shelley 75). In summary, there are quite a number of differences in how Victor and the monster grow up that affect the way they behave in their later

What makes victor Frankenstein so compelling, is how very human he is. He is a good, but Flawed human who accidently caused havoc,

Victor Frankenstein desire for knowledge to become the ‘man of science’, causes him hunger for the unknown. As he studies natural philosophy and chemistry he discovers ancient scientists, yet is not satisfied with their work and decides to conduct his own. Victor builds from previous discoveries of others and his experiences; however, his obsession and success of bringing a creature to life also destroys his family and life. Mary Shelley, the author, uses Victor’s lack to assume responsibility for his choices and ambition, along with the town's fearful reaction to the Creature as a way to show how it is better to determines ones own view of right or wrong rather than conforming.

Victor’s abandonment of his son is the main cause of his evil deeds since the Creature thus lacks a family unit and social skills that every young child needs. Frankenstein is the main contributor to the Creature’s sense of evil from the start because he is the one who continually refers to him as fiend, devil, or monster. The reader needs to consider the fact that the Creature is only a few months old at this point and similar to a young child is naive and gullible. So similar to that young child, the Creature believes everything that is said to him, so if Victor continually calls him a monster, eventually he will start to believe it and act upon that statement. Relating to this statement is the fact that Victor never considers the thoughts and feelings of the Creature in his creation process. The epigraph of Frankenstein from Milton’s work Paradise Lost perfectly describes the Creature’s feelings, stating

Shelley utilizes the differences between the protagonists, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, to emphasize the true villainy she is pursuing. The further analysis of this villainy creates a clearer understanding of one of her overall themes, monstrosity, and its effects on human life. In comparing Victor and the creature, it is quite obvious that the two have major differences in their villainous attributes. Perhaps the most noticeable, the physical appearance of the creature as a monster contrasts greatly with Victor’s normalness.

When I first woke up it was very dark in the basement and spider webs everywhere I seen nothin but funny looking stuff flying around kind of scary like a huge monster coming after me even though i’m looking at the person that been working on me for 2 years now. Did i really make him sick that bad. I was strapped to my metal bed and when I look I seen a lab tube with green chemicals in it. Kind of smelled like an old garbage can with bugs coming out of it. Frankenstein looking at me with an evil face smiling talking about, “what are you going to do now I got you” I turned at a slow pace and said “you better let me out of here right now in a frightened voice.” trying to proceed out of this chair and get out of their. He looked just like the man

Victor does not take responsibility for his creation. Victor disrupted the natural order of things by creating the monster. He also knew that leaving the monster was wrong but he did anyway because he did not want to deal with the repercussions of being the person who created the monster. Victor neglects his own moral responsibility in this book. He leaves the monster with no help, no care, and no love (“An Overview of Frankenstein”). Victor is an irresponsible character and that ultimately leads to the major downfall of the book. If Victor would have been there for the monster and taught him things then maybe the monster would not be so angry with the world and would have refrained from killing innocent people. The monster was not trying to hurt these people all he was concerned about what was getting back at Victor for leaving him behind. Victor was obviously a smart man he just made a careless and selfish decision by leaving the monster. He was looking out for himself and watching his own back to protect his reputation and not have to deal with criticism from other people.