Frankenstein’s Monster as a Tragic Hero Aristotle once said that "A man doesn 't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall" (Carlson). In Frankenstein, many argue that Victor Frankenstein himself is indeed the tragic hero of the novel. I believe that the creation of Victor Frankenstein (the monster) is the actual tragic hero. There are several components to being a tragic hero, two of the most important are their tragic flaw, and the component of a tragedy or a tragic ending to the story. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is without a doubt tragic through many characters in different ways, but in my eyes, the creature is the character that sticks out with the most characteristics of a tragic hero. “The term “tragic flaw” is a …show more content…
In most of these novels, stories or poems that have a tragic hero, most of the whole plot has murder, death, or some sort of conflict that gives the book a depressing mood and vibe. Consequently, the tragic hero or protagonist is seemingly doomed from the start. It’s never a shock by the time the resolution rolls around the hero dies a horrible sad death, or leads on a depressing life for eternity. Another aspect that fits the “tragic hero” is a tragic ending, the text says, But soon,” he cried with sad and solemn enthusiasm, “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; by ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace, or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell (Shelley 213). The monster learns of Victor’s death and after he is seen crying over his creator’s lifeless body, he realizes that he now has absolutely nothing to live for, he had no friends, family, or interaction, his only hope was Victor and now that has been ripped from him. Ordinarily, I felt a lot of pity for the creature at this point in the