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Examples Of Forgiveness In Frankenstein

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“The weak can never forgive; forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”(Gandhi). The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is about a person named Victor who followed his ambitions for science and created a creature from dead body parts and gave it life. Victor became terrified as the creature came to life and fled because of its terrible appearance and enormous size. As Victor had abandoned him and no one was interested in interacting with the creature, it had no knowledge of the outside world. As a result of the carelessness it had experienced, the creature turned evil and chose to murder Victor's brother before explaining to Victor why he had done it. In the story, Victor and the creature both demonstrate forgiveness for their enemies in diverse ways. …show more content…

Victor mentions how his attitude toward the creature has changed after hearing its story, when he says, "The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers”(Shelly. Chapter 17). This suggests that Victor is feeling sorry for the creature and guilty over his carelessness. Victor's agreement to the monster's request to construct him a female companion and, in exchange, the creature and his companion escape Europe and live peacefully is another occurrence of his understanding of the creature's point of view when Victor states,"I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever, and every other place in the neighborhood of man..."(Shelly. Chapter 17). Victor feels pity for the creature since he would have never agreed to the creature's request if he still had carried his intense hatred towards the creature. Victor starts to understand the creature and develops empathy for it after learning about its motivations after and hearing its

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2424 Words | 10 Pages

Victor’s abandonment causes him to have to face the consequences of his greed for creating life, for after he abandons the creature bad things start to happen to him. An example of this is the death of William, Victor’s younger brother. The creature “grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead” (134). The creature uses his strength to harm people Victor loved, forcing Victor to have to face the consequences of his corruption and belief that he could defy God and create a new race. The creature continues with his path and murders Victor’s long-time friend Henry Clerval (171).

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960 Words | 4 Pages

After the creature is finished explaining its story to Victor, there is a turning point in the novel. Victor realizes that he needs to take on some responsibility for his creation: “did I not as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow?”(Shelley 148). Victor also thinks, “…the justice due both to him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that I should comply with his request. ”(Shelley 150). Victor is finally understanding that he needs to take on some responsibility for this creature.

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1061 Words | 5 Pages

“I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race” (186). Victor sacrificed the peace he wanted for himself and accepted the lifelong torment of the creature, a consequence of his broken promise. Victor did this for the greater good of humanity, recognizing the power of his choice to create or not to create, as well as the power of the creature. Victor had to discover the hard way, how powerful the creature became when reading letters like this one from his father, “About five in the morning, I discovered my lovely boy, whom the night before I had seen blooming and in active health, stretched on the grass livid and motionless; the print of the murder’s finger was on his neck” (72). What Victor thought he was doing to save his family and friends, ended up being the thing that killed them.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

After the Creature escapes and is forced to grow up on its own, it learns basic needs and emotions, and how society treats people like him. The Creature being shunned away by everyone, including his creator, takes a toll on his mental health and self-esteem, and he expresses his depression when he tells Victor, “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” (Shelley 147). The Creature feels no remorse for his actions, as he deals with the immense emotions he feels about being abandoned. Victor's tragic flaw is that he never accepts he made a mistake until it was too late. He turns his back on the creature which ultimately causes his

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687 Words | 3 Pages

(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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861 Words | 4 Pages

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, displays various emotions and reactions to death and loss- one of the many being guilt. After Victor broke his promise of creating life to the monster, the monster went and killed his Victor’s friend, Henry Clerval. Later, the monster kills Elizabeth on her and Victor’s wedding night. After hearing of this, Victor’s father becomes sick and soon dies. Frankenstein constantly shifts the blame of the murders from the monster to himself, causing him to become depressed and more and more desperate for revenge from the monster.

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486 Words | 2 Pages

As the novel progresses, Victor and the monster become more similar, and Victor's single-minded obsession with creating life mirrors the monster's desire for revenge. Both characters become consumed by their respective goals and will do whatever it takes to reach them. As the novel goes on, it becomes clear that Victor and the monster are willing to sacrifice everything, including their own lives, to achieve their goals. The relationship between Victor and the monster is complex and evolves throughout the novel.

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739 Words | 3 Pages

Victor’s true character emerges again as he is not taking responsibility for his actions and is still trying to convince himself of his innocence. Yet again, Victor does not feel genuine remorse; he regrets his decision, but it does not truly change him, and his unwillingness to admit his mistake shows his stubbornness. On the ship, the Monster comments on his life: “You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself” (Shelley 215). The Monster’s high character shines through here because he is genuinely remorseful for his actions. Despite his ugliness, The Monster’s true remorse illustrates his

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1065 Words | 5 Pages

The fact that Victor sees the creature as such a vile thing shows us that Victor doesn’t have any respect whatsoever for it. The creature states that he was ‘dependent on none and related to none’ which also

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

While on vacation by himself, Victor was approached by the monster whom willingly admitted to the murder of Victor’s brother. Victor was then begged by the monster to create a companion for him. At first, Victor refused, however, after persuasion he calmly agreed. Shortly after, Victor realized the mistake he had made by agreeing and the potential

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974 Words | 4 Pages

The Creature became immensely obsessed with Victor creating him a female companion, which is all the creature focused on, and he believed that no matter what he was going to get one. The creature feels that it is his right to have a female companion, so when Victor decides not to follow through with this out of fear the creature gets angry with him. As a result, the Creature ends up killing Victor’s best friend Henry Clerval. Victor was heartbroken and crushed considering the fact that the creature he created killed his own best friend. The creature kills a total of six people in this novel and all of them are close to Victor which causes deep pain for Victor and results in Victor wanting revenge which isn’t easy considering he is against this deadly creature that he created.

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729 Words | 3 Pages

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

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1511 Words | 7 Pages

Victor is stirred by his work, but not in a positive manner. He goes on to explain his feelings towards the creature by saying, “… my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred” (136). Victor is so bewildered and repulsed by the creature that he misses key signs of violence, from the creature, that may have saved Victor’s family had he not been so

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612 Words | 3 Pages

From being abandoned by its creator Victor to being feared by the people it realizes how far it is from being a recipient of such kindness as experienced by others. Its obsession with Felix and Safie is due to its hope that one day it might be accepted by others and its creator (Britton, 9). ​By taking the responsibility for the deaths of William and Henry and emphasizing that Victor listens to its story, the creature has a purpose; it intends to elicit a response from him. With all the hope of being reconciled to its master and have a sense of belonging it tells the story in the hope that Victor will recognize his responsibility to the plight of the creature and the deaths and suggest a remedy (Britton, 10)

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766 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Shelley shows the endless amount of revenge and that it is driven by pure hatred and rage. The monster was not created to be vengeful, he was kind hearted but when he was poorly treated by Victor and then by the Delacey family, he turned cold. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley displays the immorality and destructive effects that revenge can have through Frankenstein and his pursuit of the creature. Immediately after the monster had awoken, hatred thickened and would drive the plot to be all about revenge. The creature illustrates this hatred as he says to Victor, “Everything is related in them which bears reference to my accursed origin; the whole detail of that series of disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view;

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