Isolation can have a large impact on someone's behaviour and actions. Mary Shelley uses this information in ”Frankenstein” to show how being isolated from society can affect someone or something. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” explores themes of isolation throughout the novel and shows what isolation can do to a being leading it to irrational and manic behaviours. This is evident throughout the novel especially when The Monster is talking about being lonely and its effect on him. “I am alone and miserable”
Once noted, the parallels between Frankenstein’s fears and desires and the reality the monster experiences are many. Now that Victor is in university, he no longer has family and friends to fall back upon in the unknown territory of his university. Frankenstein voices is that “[he] believed [himself] totally unfitted for the company of strangers,” irrational as it may be, and believes himself solely dependent on his family and childhood friend for companionship. Without the love guaranteed to him by his family, Victor believes he is unfit to make companions by himself and destined to a life of loneliness. He places much importance on the fact that his father and Elizabeth love him and are concerned with his well-being.
No matter what may happen, to have a friend is better than to live life alone without memories to share. Poverty, and death bring the greatest forms of a depressing and sorrowful life. Two sad events brought Victor, and his creation, into existence. The death of Beaufort, is what brought his beloved parents together. And years later, on a day trip, Victor and his mother found a peasant girl, whom they took underwing to care for.
(Shelley 9) This sickness for Victor all started from the beginning of his isolation when he removes himself from society to create this monster. “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree.” (Shelley 34) The effect of being alone on somebody does not just change them mentally and make them depressed but it changes the body as well.
While Robert is stuck on his heroic trip to the North Pole, he points out to Margaret that he has “one want that he will never be able to satisfy… a friend” ( Shelley 15). Within Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the first level in physiological needs is love and belonging. Robert’s yearn for discovering the undiscovered deprived him of a feelings that he needed to survive. Frankenstein also experienced loneliness from this action when he was a little boy. Victor would lock himself in a room and study science to gain more knowledge (Shelley 29).
Victor has had supportive people around him since birth; however now that he is at the university he has nobody to help keep him level headed. "Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime" (35). The isolation being portrayed by Victor is now shifting from not only
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, both of the main characters undergo physical and emotional isolation. This enforced or chosen solitude causes Frankenstein to become over-ambitious and harbor secrets from his family and friends, leading to his demise. In the monster, isolation turns to misery, which causes him to become vengeful against his creator and all the world. Through these examples of total isolation, Shelley shows that when people have no connection to others in the world, their worst characteristics and flaws are brought out. Victor Frankenstein was the first character to show a major flaw while in isolation.
Throughout human existence, parents have endured the immediate responsibility to protect, care, and love for their children. In order for a child to attain a good life, parents need to provide the required care and by not doing so, their kids often feel neglected and obtain a loneliness state full of psychopathic behaviors. A prevailing instance where a child is neglected and begins to act in psychopathic ways occurs in the book Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s loneliness is developed by his parent’s lack of care and guidance. With a lack of guidance and support from family, Frankenstein becomes isolated from society and eventually develops an inner monster, which takes over him and leads to catastrophic events.
With this in mind, isolation and companionship is a very important motif in the story of Frankenstein. Shelley utilizes this theme, in correspondence with the knowledge and ignorance motif, throughout the entire novel which emphasizes the importance of a companion. In the novel whenever a companion is involved there are no problems, until isolation occurs. Hence why when Victor left his creation isolated it resulted in the murders of his loved ones. To clarify, Victor's creation went down a dark path of destruction, even though he learned the difference between right and wrong on his own.
Throughout Victor's life, many of the hardships and things he went through caused him to feel isolated as a person. Victor became very passionate about the structure of the human frame and examined the decay of a human body at a graveyard; he knew he wanted to pursue a career in this. He began to study at The University of Ingolstadt but he studied so hard to the point where he would ignore his loved ones. Victor practically neglected his friends and family while he was doing his studies.
Mary Shelley, in her book, Frankenstein, has a reoccurring theme of isolation, in which she isolates the main character, Victor Frankenstein, from the rest of society in order to create a creature. Likewise, the creature that is created is also isolated from the rest of society as he is rejected from his creator as to his appearance. The theme is present throughout the novel as it reinforces Victor’s downfall from a normal boy to a grown man intrigued with creating life as he slowly becomes a madman that everyone soon fears. Isolation causes a loss of humanity as it affects the mind and body. Isolation from society does not teach social interaction, causes regret about oneself, provides one with negative feelings, and causes regretful actions.
How does The Monster in the book Frankenstein use fire to compensate for its loneliness and isolation? Sigmund Freud famously said “Unexpressed emotions never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways”. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley an ambitious scientist by the name of Frankenstein imbues life into a corpse but after realizing the horror he has created he leaves the corpse to fend for its own. The Monster as the corpse has been called, struggles with loneliness as everyone is much too abhorred by it.
By denying both main characters the sensation of domestic affection, or any other kind of social belonging, Mary Shelley highlights the importance thereof. The resulting isolation became the driving force behind both Frankenstein and his creation’s abominable actions which, in turn, shows that trying to avoid isolation and seeking the feeling of social belonging is the primary message of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and of
From the very moment he was born, the monster was judged and abandoned based on his looks. The monster in Phillip Pullman's adaption of "Frankenstein" is a complex character that is subjected to various forms of emotional and physical hurt throughout the play. The Monster was affected the most in throughout the play, due to the constant neglect he faced. One of the most significant ways the monster is hurt in the play is through social isolation and rejection by society. The monster is immediately rejected and abandoned by his creator.
Isolation and abandonment can cause many different reactions from people. In the words of William A. Sadler Jr., a sociology professor, “We often do not know how to cope. It can make us confused, distraught, depressed, frightened, and even outraged” (Sadler 105). In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, several of these effects are presented in Victor Frankenstein and his creation. They both suffer from being isolated from their creator, society, and family units.
