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Clinical Gaze In Frankenstein

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“Clinical gaze”, a term coined by French philosopher Michel Foucault from The Birth of the Clinic, deals with the transformation of doctor-patient relationships over time. Since the birth of modern medicine, Foucault states that doctors tend to view their patients more as a disease and less as a person. Before the improvements in science were made during the 19th century, doctor carefully listened to their patients and heavily relied on their narratives to make a diagnosis. Not only were these narratives were a central part to the doctor-patient relationship, but they also helped build a sense of trust within the doctor and individuality within the patient. Doctors were viewed more an “advisor” and “friend” rather than a complete authoritative …show more content…

Victor Frankenstein is a young, curious science student who is intrigued by the meaning of life and whether life can be recreated scientifically. He creates a grotesque looking yet extremely emotionally human-like creature in an unorthodox experiment. However, after the creature is brought to life, Victor is ashamed of his creation and refuses to establish any sort of relationship with the creature who desires human interaction. The creature repeatedly states, “Listen to my tale…do hear me…listen to me…” to Victor in hopes of creating some sort of relationship (Shelley 69). Victor is stuck in a clinical gaze when dealing with the creature. He cannot get over the creature’s ugly physical attributes in order to listen to the struggles that the creature faces while adapting to society. Just like how a patient wants to be heard by his or her own doctor, the creature just wants Victor to listen to him once and hear his story. The creature considers Victor to be “his creator” and hopes that by telling him about his thoughts and experience that he can make some sense about why he feels as such and can offer guidance and consolation to …show more content…

Since the creature is not able to express himself to anyone, he takes his suffering and uses it to retaliate against Victor. This is an example of how clinical gaze affects the patient’s identity and response. According to Eric Cassell in “The Nature of Suffering and the Goals of Medicine”, when the patient realizes changes are going to happen due to the illness that they have been diagnosed with, “the threat of disintegration” of their daily life, of their identity, and of their life starts to alter the manner in which they interact with the people and the environment around them (9). Though the creature has not been officially diagnosed with an illness, the loneliness and anger that overwhelm him change his outlook on life. “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” shouts the creature in frustration (Shelly

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She makes him seem like the most hideous thing ever seen by human eyes. She describes it as “I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs”(Shelly pg.79). She makes the reader feel bad for Victor because the reader knows he works hard on the creature. However, know reader should feel remorse for Victor leaves his creature.

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He fulfills this and creates the creature. Victor is horrified by the monster's appearance however. He later abandons the creature despite being his own successful creation. What does this say about the creature? If its own creator was horrified, then the rest of society would be horrified as well, but the creature does not know this.

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(Shelly 69) What Victor endured in the past still fuelled his hate and anger towards the creature. This hate consumed his whole being leading him to parade such savagery to the creature. Through the cruelty he shows buth his own body and the creature we can see Victor's selfishness.

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Victor Frankenstein creates a Creature that he have many similarities to in different ways they both isolate themselves. The Creature has no one to go to because he is not accepted by humans, and Victor just likes to be alone while he is working. They also have the same thirst for knowledge the Creature teaches himself how to read by listening to an Arabian girl named Safie as she is being taught. While Victor will do anything possible to get the knowledge he need “ forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses”(42) to figure out how to build the

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From the moment he is created, the creature knows he is not wanted by Victor. Shelly writes, “Unable to endure the aspect of the being

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1465 Words | 6 Pages

In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein's scientific mind helped him to create a living creature by sewing together and reanimating parts of previously dead human, But because of how the creature looked he rejected it when he succeeded at bringing it to life. The creature grew up without any parental affection or guidance. Growing up like this can cause major emotional complications later in life. Through the actions of murdering Victor’s family and loved ones the creature shows his desire for revenge against Victor for abandoning him. At the end of the book the creature has come face to face the death of his creator, instead of feeling rejoice for the death of the man he tortured and hunted down, he feels sorrow and

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2568 Words | 11 Pages

He genuinely cannot stand the sight of the creature. If there was a person who should be able to overcome the creature’s physical presence, it is Victor. Not only is Victor the creator, but he also put so much of his own time and effort into the creature. But the creature’s body is too hideous.

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Over the past century, Frankenstein has been analyzed and interpreted in seemingly infinite different forms of literature, film, and television shows. Once solely recognized as the story about a brilliant scientist who creates a creature in whom he regrets making after the creature turns out ugly, Frankenstein now represents an internationally recognized and commercialized pop culture symbol for Halloween decorations and costumes. When analyzing and appreciating the true literary essence behind Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein, one of the most important comparisons to consider remains the underlying influences behind the Creature’s immoral actions and whether or not the blame for these actions belong to Victor or the Creature. When exploring the dichotomy of the Creature versus Victor Frankenstein, one of the biggest and most widely debated questions remains whether Victor should be blamed for the Creature’s destructive actions or if the Creature should be considered guilty for his actions based off of his own free will. Many consider Victor Frankenstein the villain of the story due to his repetitive decisions to abandon and avoid his own “mistake,” the irresponsible choice of creating the monster in the first place, and his obvious negligence of the Creature’s feelings.

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And for said knowledge and glory, Victor goes above and beyond for it; even resorting to grave robbing to create, 'the glorious creature'. He becomes obsessed, moody and temperamental; distancing himself from family and friends and seeking the beauty of nature. The creature, on the other hand 'grew up', so to speak, alone and abandoned. There was nothing but hate and horror for the creature. The monster was abandoned by his mother, Victor because of fear and revulsion.

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The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,

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In the beginning, Victor reveals his timidity towards occurring disasters. When the creature comes to life, Victor realizes that it is grotesque and describes, “I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep” (42). Upon realizing the unfortunate turnout of the creation, Victor avoids confronting his fault by hurrying off and hiding in his bedroom. Accordingly, Victor is unable to control his creation. When the creature leaves after threatening Victor about a tragedy on his wedding night, Victor asks himself, “Why had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife?”

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766 Words | 4 Pages

He starts his own plan to for revenge against the creature, but this makes him just as beastly as the monster. Victor makes it his life goal, to make the monster pay in any way he can. He wants him to feel lonely and isolated forever. The beast takes a lot out on Victor and makes him feel exactly the way he feels

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1724 Words | 7 Pages

Being abandoned by his creator, the monster has no one to guide him, no one to teach him right from wrong and good from evil. When the creature is first abandoned by Victor, he’s confused and doesn’t understand that he has been abandoned. The creature explains how he felt when he woke up, “A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses” (Shelley 99). The creature won’t fully realize the impact of being abandoned until later in the story. Victor also suffers from isolation from his

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1135 Words | 5 Pages

In reality, he is disgusted by the sight of his creation so he abandons it leaving it all alone in the world without any guidance and runs away to the next room. Victor himself suffered from being a social outcast and now he bestowed the same feeling onto the creature by abandoning him. By treating the creature as an outcast, “he will become wicked … divide him, a social being, from society, and you impose upon him the irresistible obligations—malevolence and selfishness” (Caldwell). Not only is Victor selfish for abandoning his creature but he is shallow as well. Instead of realizing that he achieved his goal of bringing life to an inanimate body he runs way because of how hideous it is.

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929 Words | 4 Pages

”(Millhauser). This violent rejection is a repetition of Victor’s lack of acceptance for the monster and attention to his family. Victor knows that the monster will never be able to live within society and that his ability to create life is the only hope the monster has of achieving companionship. Victor's own aversion to companionship surfaces as he, “ fails to give him the human companionship, the Eve, the female creature, that he needs to achieve some sort of a normal life.” (Mellor).

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