ipl-logo

Comparing Frankenstein And Pygmalion In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

414 Words2 Pages

The creator/creation relationship is one that is most prominent throughout Ovid’s story of Pygmalion and throughout Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; however, these similar relationships differ in the way they were brought about. Pygmalion’s creation is based on his view of gender relationships, whereas Victor’s creation is based on a reflection of himself and his familial relationships. Pygmalion was a sculptor, a man who gave to every one of his ivory statues a life-like appearance. It could be argued that his deep devotion to his art gave him no time to admire the true realistic beauty of women; his sculptures were the only beauty he knew and appreciated. For reasons sensible only to him, Pygmalion abhors and shuns women, finding solace only in his artwork. In fact, he is so condemning to women that he vows to never marry; however, he falls in love with his own creation and wishes to give it life. …show more content…

Victor seems to deny the monster what he has denied himself, a family. Since he never experienced courtship it can be seen that his anger towards the monster is actually anger towards himself as he has never truly experienced mutual love, and he is almost seen to be scared and never probes around the subject. He only experiences lust for Elizabeth and his work, and both break down due to the lack of love (which is a stronger bond than lust). As Victor declines into madness by the middle of the novel, his relationship with Elizabeth descends to nothing, and this nothingness will be mirrored in any relationships the monster has. Victor has no wife. The monster has no wife. Victor denies the monster any social acceptance of any kind, which is a parallel as Victor himself is dramatically cut off from the world for months to focus on his work. In the end, all they have is each other, which is ironic as both despise each

Show More
Related
839 Words | 4 Pages

“You may render me [Victor] the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes,” Victor says to the monster, meaning that the monster can do whatever he wants, but he will not allow him to make Victor lower himself more than he already has, but this is exactly what the monster does when he convinces Victor to make him a female companion. This is a prime example of a minor character foil contrasting a main character; the monster takes complete control over Victor and dominates his character, ultimately turning himself into a more prominent aspect of the storyline. The author most likely does this in order to employ a drastic shift in the meaning of her novel. As the novel started, it was portrayed that Victor would be a rising character and achieve great things, but with the creation of the monster, his character ultimately became his own

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

Victor never gave his creation a female companion which his monster needed greatly because no human women would ever love the monster. The monster was neglected and the best way to help the monster get love and attention would be by giving him a female companion. Victor also knew the monster would kill his wife if he didn't give him a female companion because the monster himself told him. When Victor leaves his life alone in the cabin the night of their marriage that was completely his fault, Victor himself knew that his creation would try to kill his wife that night and he left her vulnerable and alone. Victor Frankenstein could have avoided this entire situation in the first place if he had been his creation's companion and showed love for him, instead of neglect and

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Lastly, the monster kills Victor's beloved Elizabeth. This was due to Victor's inability to take the monster seriously with any of his demands or threats. Prior to the murder of Elizabeth, the monster warned Victor that he would be with him on his wedding night. Victor assumed this meant the monster was after him, when in fact that was far from the truth.

Read More
958 Words | 4 Pages

Earlier in the book the Monster says: "I am alone and miserable. Only someone as ugly as I am could love me,". So this tells me that the monster knows nobody can love him unless they are just like he is, that he has given up on all hope for someone to love him, which is why he is determined to find Victor because he is the only one who can help the Monster. I believe that Victor made the right decision by destroying the female monster he had created for the Monster, because eventually they both would have lead a path of destruction then everyting falling back on Victor because he created them. But in another sense it's almost as Victor owes it to the Monster because the day the Monster was created Victor left him to be alone and nobody to care or teach him.

Read More
428 Words | 2 Pages

(Shelly, 192). Another time the loss of power can be seen when the monster threaten Victor to be careful on his wedding night as he will be around. Although he was worrying about his death but monster played a different card and killed his wife, Elizabeth. This tells us that even after meeting face to face with monster, the one that he created by himself, he cannot predict the outcome created by monster. He has the mind of his own now.

Read More
850 Words | 4 Pages

When he does, he complains about being ugly and not being accepted in society due to his appearance. The monster pleads for a female companion and offers to leave Frankenstein alone if he agrees to create one. Otherwise, the monster threatens to inflict more suffering on Victor. Although he knows the process will be lengthy and laborious, he agrees to prevent any more pain from the monster.

Read More
1281 Words | 6 Pages

Victor had two loving parents that gave him everything he ever needed or wanted to fulfill his physiological and emotional needs. Since Victor did not do this for his monster, the monster would kill all of Victor’s family and friends that he loved which would bring destruction to Victor’s life. For the rest of his days, Victor would go on a search for his monster to destroy it or die trying. Unlike Victor, the monster was never loved because of the way he looked. He was left alone, even by his creator, and lived a miserable life always escaping people that would “attacked [him], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (Shelley).

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

The monster fought for affection by trying to threaten Victor into creating a spouse for it. “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede” (Shelley 104). This situation was the first time the beast tried to establish it’s dominance over the creator. The only reason the monster felt the need to hold power over Victor was to gain a sense of emotion and affection as it has seen other humans do.

Read More
768 Words | 4 Pages

From this, we can see that Victor would not have started his family and that the monster could still be real. Some might still argue that Victor and his monster are the same because Victor has gone so mad that he thinks of himself as a monster. “I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of wildness, and even madness…” (Shelley 12). However, this information is insufficient because it fails to show all the other times when Victor is talking to his monster.

Read More
1090 Words | 5 Pages

To make Victor experience the feeling isolation, the creature sets out to destroy what he hold most dear, Elizabeth. Victor describes his spouse as the “body of Elizabeth, my love, my wife, so lately living, so dear, so worthy.” Nowhere else in the novel does Victor come even close to describing another human in this manner. Once the monster escaped, Victor realized how important it was to be near people he loved, he had learned the terrors of isolation. The creature then uses this against him by killing the person who brought Victor out of isolation, pushing him back into an even deeper sense of isolation from which Victor

Read More
1804 Words | 8 Pages

he author of Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw, and the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, both integrate the theme of creation into their novels. Henry Higgins the creator in, Pygmalion, and Dr. Frankenstein the creator in, Frankenstein, utilize new and innovative techniques to transform their victims into a new creations. They attempt to play the role of divine creator by making breakthroughs that are immoral and unprecedented. In the process they neglect the needs of their victims and focus on self-interest.

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

On the other hand, victor character is perceived by the monster through his view of Victor as a cold creator and an unloving abandoner. Comparing Victor to God and himself to Adam, the monster says, "Many times I have considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition" (Marry Shelley pg. 132). The monster outlines his perspective of his "birth, " and soon after, Victor is fleeing from his lab. The creature was very confused. victors response: "I felt light, and hunger, and thirst, and darkness: innumerable sounds rang in my ears, and on all sides, various scents saluted me."

Read More
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).

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

Then, there have another story of creation of man and woman that is according from the Greek stories that is have been found in some studies. This story is all about or based on that man created out of the Earth and next is about the story of Prometheus and also about his brother Epimetheus who made special things to the animals. Zeus in Greek mythology was known as the God of the sky and ruler of the Olympian Gods, he is also the most well-known Greek god in Greek mythology because of what heave done, and he gave a moral obligation on creating a man and the animals to the Titan Prometheus and to his only one brother Epimetheus. One day, Epimetheus was use to give all the animal special gifts for protection, such as shells for all the turtles

Read More
799 Words | 4 Pages

Why I Want to Became Mayor It is with great pleasure that I stand here among you. I would like to start by thanking you all for coming here on this decisive day for our city. I wouldn’t be here in front of you if it wasn’t for all your collaboration towards my campaign and support to my team’s ideas during the past few months. Today, is a vital day for the future of the city of São Paulo.

Read More

More about Comparing Frankenstein And Pygmalion In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Related Topics

Open Document