Alienation In Frankenstein

How does Mary Shelley’s construction of the secondary characters reflect upon the protagonist? Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, character parallels and analogies between Victor Frankenstein and the creature are strongly emphasized. More evidently, the character doubles between the creator, Victor, and his creature are presented through their demeanor, their desires, and their demands. Shelley emphasizes parallelisms of nature, alienation and vengeance to underscore their similarities, leading some readers to interpret Victor and his creature being so similar that indeed, they are the same person. Both lonely and outcasts in the world, Victor and his creation live forlorn and dreary lives, hungry for the love of another, desperate for

At times, Victor almost makes it clear that he has given up, ready to commit suicide. When the creature is at a higher point, Victor is at a lower point, suffering with fevers and cold chills. Physically, when Victor is drained, his body is exhausted too. He goes through so much trying to avenge the death of those the creature has murdered that his body can’t take it anymore. Regretting his choices, Victor cries, “...tears, the first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter struggle.” Contemplating suicide, Victor realizes that his life has become empty. The void that only family and love could have filled is widened even more. His chances for happiness are dead; everything he has ever loved is vanished. The guilt Victor feels is uncomparable; the creature he made became a cold blooded killer. In a sense, one can argue that Victor is responsible and maybe, if he hadn't made the creature in his lab that gloomy day, he could have been happy. Similarly, the creature wishes he’d never been created. To Victor he cries , "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? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery" (16.1). His life has overflowed with sadness and hate. The creature, by nature was good and pure. He learned solely from curious observation and only asked for love in return. After constant rejection from society for so long, the creature chooses to leave humanity for ever, foreshadowing his suicide. Over Victor Frankenstein’s deathbed, on Robert Walton’s boat he says, "Fear not that I shall be the