ipl-logo

Comparing Frankenstein And Shelly's Monster

486 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dr. frankenstein's morality

Frankenstein’s monster, after being put together and brought to life, wreaks havoc on a cottage, burning it to the ground. This statement out of context creates the idea that monsters derive from physical experiments. However, experimentations of both physical and mental attributes affect living organisms. Even though the lines blur throughout both novels, Shelley's monster demonstrates his monstrosity externally, while Wilde's monster develops his monstrosity internally. Lord Henry’s beliefs in humans exist as not only immoral and insincere but experimental, which is exhibited in his experimental relationship with Dorian Gray. While a correlation between Frankenstein and Lord Henry exists, Lord Henry’s arrogance and ignorance towards his creation, …show more content…

Henry’s influence, which Basil had foreshadowed, altered the purities of Dorian into an egotistical monster. Dorian Gray’s story is a “conventionally moralistic one, preaching for the power of conscience and against vanity” (Ruddick). The vanity sparked in Dorian Gray aspires Lord Henry’s personal psychological curiosities, and he encourages Gray to follow Henry’s lead without realizing how infamously his experiment had developed. Initially, when Basil had known Dorian Gray the innocent, Basil knew the effects Lord Henry could potentially have on his artistic idol; the artwork of Gray foreshadowed the monster in Gray after Lord Henry’s speech including “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist is, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful” alongside how beauty surpasses any other value in life-- the combination of these two speeches acts as the seed implanted to create the monstrous Dorian Gray (Wilde 13-14). Gray had taken this speech to heart, and he ended up idolizing Lord Henry and despising Basil for the constant reminder of how his beauty would not last. After many years passed, people gawked at the wonderful Dorian Gray’s youthful image, which only encouraged and deepened

Show More
Related
1745 Words | 7 Pages

Henceforth, this scene is another factor that furthers the idea that frankenseins creation’s violent actions were not mindless, but to seek justice for his creators monstoris actions. Some argue the creature's violent actions make him more monstrous than Frankenstein, but it is crucial to remember that the creature's violence is a response to the cruelty and rejection he experiences at the hands of others. To contrast, Frankenstein's actions are driven by a desire for personal glory and achievement rather than noble or empathetic motives. In summary, by analyzing Shelley's language in the passage, it suggests that Frankenstein is portrayed as more monstrous than his creation. Despite counterclaims that the creature's violent actions make him more monstrous, Shelley's language presents a convincing case that Frankenstein's absence of empathy along with his selfish motives are more monstrous than the creature's violent

Read More
819 Words | 4 Pages

Humans are very complex beings; their motives and reasons for being are always different and sometimes difficult to understand. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, she depicts the monster created as a very curious and caring creature that soon discovers his inevitably lonely fate which, upon realization, turns him into a vengeful savage. Mary Shelley illuminates the idea that no one is entirely pure nor evil, but a complex mixture of both. In the beginning of the novel, Frankenstein creates his monster and abandoned it out of fear and disgust.

Read More
1280 Words | 6 Pages

In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, there are two monsters within the book. The creature kills off many people and causes ruin to both Victor and innocent bystanders, but Victor holds the responsibility for causing this rampage, as he created the creature. Both Victor and the creature are monsters in their own respects and share similarities while holding key differences, but Victor is clearly the bigger monster. Victor and the creature are alike in many ways, and go through similar experiences that help to shape their future personas.

Read More
717 Words | 3 Pages

Dorian Gray falls into the temptation of Henry to blindly pursue the pleasures of human

Read More
1515 Words | 7 Pages

The Monstrous Vs The Monster Frankenstein closely examines the topic of humanity and what it means to be human versus what it means to be a monster. Oddly enough, none of the characters in Frankenstein are truly monsters, not even the creature Victor created. Merriam Webster's definition of a monster is “a strange or horrible imaginary creature that cannot be controlled.” Although strange and horrible, the creature is not imaginary. He is comprised of the parts of dead people that are stitched together, but they are still human body parts nonetheless.

Read More
760 Words | 4 Pages

Cruelty plays a vital role in developing the plot and characters in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Throughout the piece, many acts of cruelty are displayed from Dorian Gray and others that show truly who they are how they've developed from it. Dorian takes on a huge change in his morals and standards because of the influence taken in from others. This influence causes him to only care about his own youth and vanity, resulting in a huge change of personality. The more Dorian becomes influenced by Lord Henry and the painting, the crueler he becomes

Read More
2539 Words | 11 Pages

The Creature in Frankenstein Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” is an inspirational work of horror and science fiction; it is the narrative of an unorthodox act of creation, of a monster which torments his miserable creator. The author puts forth ideas, and reinforces it through the development of the plot, that mankind is capable of both good and evil. Shelly demonstrates the ‘humanity’ of the creature; his actions and his inclination are like those of mankind. Indeed, even the negative aspect of his character, demonstrated through his quest for revenge, has a parallel in the actions of his human creator. In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” the creature is represented as being vicious and murderous but he is not inherently evil or malicious.

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster.

Read More
911 Words | 4 Pages

but I think I have the gist of it. Art represents God (abstract, everywhere, expressing emotion), and Basil is an extension of that he creates the world in his choosing and believes that Gray can be redeemed even after looking upon the state of his soul. Whenever, he creates Dorian’s portrait he creates the perfect version of him, an angelic form of him if you will. Henry is also introduced opposite of Basil, he can represent Dorian’s own devil on his shoulder coercing him to sin. When Dorian meets Henry, he realizes that he will never live up to the seemingly better version of himself, so he wishes to be better than it.

Read More
1259 Words | 6 Pages

In Shelly’s text, the Frankenstein’s abandonment of his creation causes him to revert to monstrosity. The monster himself laments this stating that his “feelings of affection…were requited by detestation and scorn” from Victor, which prompts him to seek “revenge” against him by murdering his friends and family (140). Because these acts stem from Frankenstein’s abandonment of his monster, the blame for all subsequent evils falls squarely to Victor Frankenstein. However, in the film, the monster is not made evil by abandonment so much as the accidental placement of a “criminal” brain in the creature as opposed to a “natural” one, a mistake made by Frankenstein’s bumbling assistant. By placing the blame for his monstrosity on innate, accidentally created qualities of the monster, the film absolves the blame for evil from Frankenstein.

Read More
1113 Words | 5 Pages

Frankenstein and his monster begin with opposite lives: Frankenstein has everything and the monster has nothing. However, in creating the monster, Frankenstein’s life and feelings begin to parallel that of the monster’s life. Frankenstein is incredibly intelligent with a fascination for science, but ultimately his thirst for knowledge leads to his undoing. Similarly the monster is determined to understand the society around him. But once he does, he understands that he will never be able to find companionship, which leads him to pain and anger.

Read More
725 Words | 3 Pages

His idolization of Dorian causes him to let Dorian dominate him. Small as it is, it shows Dorian for the first time what his beauty can do to people. The fact that people are willing to believe and do anything for him because of his beauty. This realization causes a lot of problems later on in the storyline. Lord Henry Wotton is another influencer on Dorian Gray.

Read More
750 Words | 3 Pages

Dorian Gray is a handsome, narcissistic young man enthralled by Lord Henry 's new enjoyment. He satisfies in every pleasure of moral and immoral life ultimately heads to death. Henry tells

Read More
997 Words | 4 Pages

As soon as Dorian enters in Chapter 2 of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wildes’ one and only novel, its is evident that there will be a battle between who will have the most influence on his pure, untouched soul. Basil Hallward, a painter and worshipper of art is an optimist and sees only the good in even the wickedest of people, such as Lord Henry. Lord Henry is a charming, self-indulgent aristocrat that shapes and molds Dorian to lead a life devoted to pleasure. Both Basil and Lord Henry represent two important opposing forces in the novel, good and evil. The greatest struggle in The Picture of Dorian Gray is inside Dorian; he himself embodies both pure good and pure evil.

Read More
2219 Words | 9 Pages

Lord Henry’s painting showed Dorian the reality of life and all the sins he had committed. With the picture, Dorian destroyed it plus his own life because he could not bear the fact that his beauty was going to fade. In addition, Henry influences Dorian by manipulating him because; he carries on with his idea of remaining youthful. This is evident when he says, "To get back to my youth, I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable" (Liebman 300). Lord Henry had everything to do with Dorian’s obsession of wanting to remain young especially with the picture and his philosophy.

Read More

More about Comparing Frankenstein And Shelly's Monster

Related Topics

Open Document