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Comparing Victor And Prometheus In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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By looking at both Victor and Prometheus’s strength and punishments, it is evident that they both play a similar role in the novels, Frankenstein and Prometheus, thus demonstrating how characters can be similar through the way they deal with personal struggle, whether they decide to fight back or carelessly be trampled on. Victor Frankenstein’s role in Frankenstein makes him seem overpowered by his own capabilities, which essentially leads to his demise, but rather he is a strong individual who suffers in silence. Prometheus plays the role of a punished immortal whom cannot catch a break for the good he has done. Therefore, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, could be considered “The Modern Prometheus” because of the similarities between Prometheus …show more content…

God never intended for humans to have fire, nor intend for them to create life from death, but surely Victor and Prometheus went against both of these actions. Victor is constantly punished by the Monster’s actions of killing his family members, love of his life, and friend, all because he decides to keep in silence about the monster he has created. The monster furiously writes, “You my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder” because he realizes that Victor would so easily kill him with no thought of it being murder. Victor is so careless about what could happen to the monster, he just wishes he would be gone, so his suffering could end. Prometheus gave life to humans and is punished severely for his actions. In the end, the vengeance that so surely overtakes Victor, leads to him attempting to kill the monster he created. Prometheus uses his own power to overtake Zeus as he writes, “And in thy Silence was his Sentence, And in his Soul a vain repentance, And evil dread so ill dissembled, That in his hand the lightnings trembled.” He knows that he is going to live forever because he is immortal, but Zeus’ fate is inevitable, he is going to die at some point. Both characters take the weaknesses of their enemy, the monster’s killings and Zeus’

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During the quest for power and greatness, humans often change and transition into people they are not. Their changes affect themselves and others, typically ending in a bad result. In the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the main character Victor attempts to create a human and partially succeeds. It turns out to be horrifying looking and actually quite smart with human characteristics. As a result, Victor changes and becomes lonely, mentally and physically ill.

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When he, “trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.” , Victor, while being watched by his creation, has not only put himself in danger, but also the lives of his family (Pg. 145). His disregard for the creature’s ability to inflict pain to him and his family illustrates an evident lack of responsibility and maturity. Victor is seemingly unphased by the creature’s threats, and even proclaims that “Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness” (Pg. 146).

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594 Words | 3 Pages

Victor didn't create another creature for the monster. This race could have destroyed mankind overtime. Zeus refuses to give Prometheus fire which cause Prometheus to face danger by bringing people fire. Victor refuses his responsibilities “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room”(Shelly pg.79). Mary Shelly uses vivid detail in this scene to describe the creature appearance.

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857 Words | 4 Pages

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor is fascinated by the creation and decay of life and is relentless to create him one, but turns out to be a horrifying nightmare by bringing a monster into the world. One's desire can be so great that it blinds people from the things in life they truly care about, but would not know till it is gone. Victor Frankenstein goes from an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires to a guilt ridden man who wants to protect others after his mistake killed innocent people. Victor Frankenstein is an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires and does not care about what people says. Since he is spoiled by his family by giving him gifts like Elizabeth “as his- his to protect, love, and cherish” (30).

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507 Words | 3 Pages

In the Motorcycle diaries, and specially, in these two quotes, “I now know, by an almost fatalistic conformity with the facts, that my destiny is to travel, or perhaps it’s better to say that traveling is our destiny, because Alberto feels the same. Still there are moments when I think with profound longing of those wonderful areas in our south. Perhaps one day, tired of circling the world, I’ll return to Argentina and settle in the Andean lakes, if not indefinitely then at least for a pause while I shift form one understanding of the world to another.” And “There we understood our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world. Always curious, looking into everything that came before our eyes, sniffing out each corner but only ever faintly—not setting down roots in any land or staying long enough to see the

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495 Words | 2 Pages

If Victor agreed to this, the monster would stop killing his loved ones. Victor made this promise but didn’t keep it. This ultimately led to the death of the rest of his family ending with him. The story of Prometheus is similar in some ways. As stated before Prometheus was a Greek Titan.

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743 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a great comparison is shown between Victor Frankenstein, the main character, and Prometheus, one of Greek mythology’s greatest Gods. Shelley borrows from the tale of Prometheus a consequence resulting from searching for a great source of enlightenment and power. In creating a being and giving it life, Frankenstein seems to take on the remarkable role of God which leads him to thinking that a power that is so heavenly cannot be played with by mankind. During his quest to expand his creative knowledge, abilities, drive, and ambition to know the origin of life, he puts himself in conflict. Frankenstein gambled his way into the godly realm without realizing he committed a sin by creating the monster, and

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Frankenstein Literary Criticism Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, is filled with motifs of Nature and companionship. During the Romantic period or movement, when the novel Frankenstein was written, nature was a huge part of romanticism. Nature was perceived as pure, peaceful, and almost motherly. As we read the novel through Victor Frankenstein 's perspective, we the readers can see how romanticized-nature is perceived as by those who find comfort in nature. This novel also contains, in addition to romantic elements, heavy-filled gothic scenes and descriptions.

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783 Words | 4 Pages

“Whenever the creation order is inverted, there is disorder, destruction, and death. When we tamper with this order, even a little, we become life-takers rather than life-givers”(J. Ligon Duncan III ). This quote plays a large part in the overall literature that is Frankenstein; it pulls together the attributes of the story in a way I haven’t seen before. This essay will be focusing on the relationship between the gothic novel of Frankenstein, and the greek myth of Prometheus. It will be a compare and contrast of the dueling stories.

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The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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1073 Words | 5 Pages

In Frankenstein, Shelley presents two characters who represent the different sides of the same character. The monster was a clear reflection of his creator because; they had the same development, same pain and suffering, and were recluses. Victor and the monster did not physically resemble each other, but they had the same personality and traits, therefore,

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1151 Words | 5 Pages

Frankenstein Paper Trace the similarities between Victor and the monster. Consider their respective relationships with nature, desires for family, and any other important parallels you find. Do Victor and the monster become more similar as the novel goes on? How does their relationship with each other develop?

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723 Words | 3 Pages

Victor Frankenstein’s insatiable scientific drive surpasses the limit, as he creates life and later comes face to face with it; by doing so he comes face to face with his moral code and his judgment of right and wrong, while Prometheus is punished by Zeus in three different manners, one of which is having his liver eaten by birds everyday, while strapped to a rock. They are similar as they both got punished for initially trying to help humanity. The two main characters of ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Legend of Prometheus’ are in many

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722 Words | 3 Pages

By connecting the character of Viktor to Prometheus, and adding an allusion to create a better understanding of the characters Shelley allows the reader to uncover the fate of both characters along with their creations and the punishments that follow. The connection to the greek myth, allows the readers to take on a second perspective when reading Frankenstein. The very prevalent themes enhance not only the authors writing but also the characters themselves. Overall, Shelley’s use of Prometheus as a silent background helped foreshadow the inevitable fate of Frankenstein's creator,

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883 Words | 4 Pages

He also views Victor Frankenstein as the modern Prometheus that is stated in the title of the book. He argues Victor rebels against the divinely arranged order, steals spark from heaven, as illustrated in the book and creates a creature in his image (Cantor para. 3). However, just like Prometheus, he ends up bringing destruction and disaster upon the very people he was trying to help. The monster created by Victor plays a good role of the Prometheus in Shelly’s story (Shelley 104). Moreover, Paul also agrees with the Hetherington’s view that Frankenstein despite playing the role of God in creating the monster, he also compares himself to Satan.

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