The typical horror story in the current century is the idea of the dead, coming alive. Yet in the status quo, the zombie era is truly coming to life, and it is easy to figure out where this idea originated. The historic book Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley describes a man who creates a creature out of dead body parts of humans. Although this monster was meant for good purposes, it eventually leads to destruction including multiple murders. However, Victor Frankenstein can actually be determined as a hero by the ways in which he fits within the interpretation of an epic hero. Gregory Nagy describes these traits when he writes: “The words ‘epic’ and ‘hero’ both defy generalization, let alone universalizing definitions. …show more content…
Prometheus gave fire to man, and Frankenstein lifted the dead. This act though, is one that isn’t easy to accomplish easily. Shelley writes: “How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to be greater than his nature will allow.” (Chapter 4) Dangerous is an understatement and led to the demise of both Victor Frankenstein and Prometheus. However, they intended for their creations to help mankind which makes them heroic. Secondly, the love that Victor Frankenstein has for his family gives him heroic qualities in Shelley’s book. Throughout the entire book, he frequently talked about his love for his family. Mary Shelley writes: “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence. We felt that they were not the tyrants to rule our lot according to their caprice, but the agents and creators of all the many delights which we enjoyed. When I mingled with other families I distinctly discerned how peculiarly fortunate my lot was, and gratitude assisted the development of filial love.” (Chapter 2) The love that he has for his family is one of the only things that keeps him hopeful. This hope is what led to his strive for happiness.
Frankenstein was a scientist who thought that the world was a secret, which he desired to discover in the scientific field. He worked to find out the relationship between humans and animals. He was attracted by the structure of the human body, any animal related with life, and the cause of life. One day, Victor Frankenstein made an experiment where he included many different human parts from different dead people. This resulted in a human being and a strange creature never seen before in life, which made Frankenstein very scared. This creature or monster was tall enough to scare people by his height and with muscles that were well proportioned.
Several fields have studied the relationship between creator and creation. The most significant aspect of this research considers the difference between nature and nurture. Sociologists, psychologists, scientists, and other professionals have tried to pin down the exact distinctions between these two types of upbringings. In literature, the same questions have been asked and studied using fictional characters, most famously in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, in 1667, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, in 1818. The complexity of the characters in these texts creates the theme of nature versus nurture before they diverge and arrive at differing conclusions.
Character Analysis: Give your ideas about the main characters(s). Include what you like and dislike about the characters and why they deserve praise or criticism. Does the author intend for you to like/dislike them? How do you know?
Victor Frankenstein created life, a monster that was born into this world with no purpose, and no one to love. He did not even have a name, he was called a monster from the start. Just like a normal human baby, he came to life not knowing anything, and had to learn from his surroundings. Just like a person, he watched and learned from others, and tried to understand the world and the people in it. From that, the monster understood that he just wants to find a life for himself, and not be viewed as an evil monster, but there are many things that are preventing that. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author portrays Frankenstein’s monster as a friend through details in his character and his outlook on life.
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature, stronger and better than humans in every way except his looks. After Frankenstein abandons him, the Creature meets the De Lacey’s, a nice little family that indirectly teach him how to read and write. In truth, the Creature only becomes a monster after the hatred that Felix, one of the De Lacey’s, shows him. Before, he had done nothing wrong, but afterwards, all he did was fall down a slippery slope.
Finally, his inability to give his creation a chance prevents him from being classified as a hero. You see with this novel’s alternative title, a reference to the ancient mythology of Prometheus is made. This man disobeyed the other gods and Zeus himself to give man a gift, the gift of fire. Or it he was punished for hundreds of years till he was spared by another god. Prometheus gave humans a chance to live and strive on their own. Frankenstein, however, did not give the creature he gave help to (or in this case life) to have a chance. In fact, he cut Frankenstein off by deciding to destroy the woman he was making to be one of Frankenstein’s kind. He denied his creation a chance to exist on the planet and learn to adapt and use emotions in their life and fit in. He destroyed it after he created it, with much consequence.
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.
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.
However, when man attempts to do what only a god such as Prometheus could do, it can never end well. Rather, it can only end with the opposite result. Therefore, Frankenstein must not be considered a
Although some critics view Victor Frankenstein as a Tragic Hero because of his one essential flaw, his overambitious desire to discover what cannot be known, he is truly a Byronic Hero by definition. Although Victor is of a higher social class than the average person and his essential flaw triumphs all of his others, he has a deeply troubled past, struggles with integrity, secludes himself away from society, and is a willful individual who seeks redemption by carving out his own path. Victor’s many, deep flaws, which often induce the reader to believe that he is actually the antagonist and the Monster the hero, and ultimate redemption in telling Robert Walton his life’s story make him a Byronic Hero.
Victor Frankenstein was well known for his “monster” that he created. He brought something to life by simply using his source of knowledge and materials that he had acquired, more specifically, body parts. Although it was a success, it all ended in tragedy. Both Victor Frankenstein and his creation were deceased by the end of the story. My prediction is that Victor Frankenstein’s legacy will live on and probably even inspire others to create as well. Many will try just like he did to create something that no one has before.
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.
In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is not a hero for making the monster because creating the monster goes against the ways of nature, it goes against god’s ways, and Dr. Frankenstein was not able to control his creation. Dr. Frankenstein is no hero because creating his monster was against the ways of nature. In the real world we have an understanding that in life we are born we live a few years and then we die and go to the next place. To us this is how nature is supposed to work. Dr. Frankenstein in the novel decides that he is going to change how nature works by trying to bring a dead human being back to life like an electric shock.
Romanticism began to make a great influence on art and literature during the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. Frankenstein was first published in 1818 during that period and the novel is flooded with Mary Shelley’s feelings of extreme good and bad emotions. English literature during the romanticism period is believed to be the most expressive in style, subject, and content. The discrepancy and chaos concerning the essential principles and competing philosophies were believed to be fascinating for several famous novelists along with poets that cited the Romantics as being their most eminent motivational voices. Romanticism in literary context means a movement in art and literature that depicts an emotional matter within an imaginative
I do not feel that Frankenstein Victor has love and care for his family. However, with the beginning of the story it is revealed that the initial Victor’s family has been living a joyful life until the death of his