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Examples Of Morally Ambiguous Characters In Frankenstein

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Morally ambiguous characters make both good and bad decisions, making their character neither a hero or villain.The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley conveys a morally ambiguous character through Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein made choices that ended fatally for many but didn’t directly cause people harm. Victor Frankenstein’s moral ambiguity builds key events shaping the novel. Originally Frankenstein says that if he creates life the new creation would “owe there being” (32) to him. Frankenstein wanted to be a great scientist, but ended up playing God without taking responsibility. He created life, and no matter, you really can’t control a living being. Frankenstein thought he was doing good by finding a way to “renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (32). Frankenstein's decision to create life would prove to be the main conflict, therefore shaping the rest of the story. This doesn’t make him a great guy, but it also doesn’t make him bad either. Victor didn’t start with the intention to create a “monster,” but ultimately created one. He ends up leaving the “creature” without any direction, which ends up setting the “monster’s” path. …show more content…

While Frankenstein did reject his creation, the monster’s choices aren’t entirely Frankenstein’s fault. Victor rejected the monster because seeing his creation was making him sick with the realization of what he’d created. Instead of worrying about the life he’d let disappear, Victor worried about himself, not caring or thinking about what could come of his creation. Victor wasn’t aware of the consequences of this actions, he didn’t intentionally mean any harm. The “creature’s” loneliness would impact the rest of the novel by creating conflict within the novel. The monster decides he wants a companion, so he seeks out Frankenstein, to create him a

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Victor never gave his creation a female companion which his monster needed greatly because no human women would ever love the monster. The monster was neglected and the best way to help the monster get love and attention would be by giving him a female companion. Victor also knew the monster would kill his wife if he didn't give him a female companion because the monster himself told him. When Victor leaves his life alone in the cabin the night of their marriage that was completely his fault, Victor himself knew that his creation would try to kill his wife that night and he left her vulnerable and alone. Victor Frankenstein could have avoided this entire situation in the first place if he had been his creation's companion and showed love for him, instead of neglect and

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The actions of an individual defines the boundary between sympathy and wickedness. Their behaviors and thoughts change the plot of the story and character identity. Mary Shelley uses moral ambiguity to overlook the unrealistic nature of her story. In Frankenstein, this concept incorporates itself into Mary Shelley’s characters. Ambiguity invokes an attachment between the figures and readers.

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When he does, he complains about being ugly and not being accepted in society due to his appearance. The monster pleads for a female companion and offers to leave Frankenstein alone if he agrees to create one. Otherwise, the monster threatens to inflict more suffering on Victor. Although he knows the process will be lengthy and laborious, he agrees to prevent any more pain from the monster.

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Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply. The creature was known as a monster and was doomed due to his appearance.

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

Frankenstein rejected his creation early on causing immense trauma for the creature and making the creature feel the need to seek revenge and go against his original morals, “But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone” (Shelley 223). The lack of companionship the creature experiences makes him become depressed. He chooses not to harm

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542 Words | 3 Pages

Victor Frankenstein turns away from his responsibilities by ignoring the existence of his creation. Throughout the novel, Victor is constantly running away from the monster and not giving him attention, which resulted in the monsters change of personalities. For example, in page 71 the creation said, “All men hate the wretched; how must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.” This quote suggests that because of the ignorance of Victor the monster began to become evil and have the urge to seek

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Most stories from ancient times to now use the idea of good vs. evil or heros vs. villians in some form. In most stories these roles are clearly defined with a definite idea of who is on which side, and the characters in these roles stay in them throughout the story. Other times who is on which side is less clearly shown, and shifts in characters from one side to the other. Over the course of Frankenstein, Victor and the monster alternate the archetypical roles of hero and villain, thus Mary Shelley is saying that people and characters are not strictly defined to be in one role.

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The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,

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Thinking about the deal with his family in mind, Victor begins his work on the second monster. The first monster made Victor suffer terribly and threatened his family; trying to scare Victor for not creating his mate, the monster angrily said to Frankenstein, “I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you” (162). While looking back upon his unfinished work, Victor remembers “the miserable monster whom I had created,” (152). “With the companion you bestow I will quit the neighborhood of man,” (142) promises the monster to Victor upon completion of his mate. Victor, trying to act morally, destroys the monster for the good of the world.

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The monster was deserted without an advocate to speak for him, as his appearance would not allow him the opportunity to be heard. Despite the monsters revolting appearance he still manages to display many human characteristics such as compassion, love, and intelligence. Victor is both guilty of negligence and the murders, as he did not guide his creation is the ways a creator

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1434 Words | 6 Pages

In the novel, Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, Victor and the Creature are the main references when it comes to the issues of morality. Several themes such as good versus evil, prejudice, and ambition & fallibility, the importance of friendship along with references to other famous texts like the Christian bible are manifested through the use of Victor and the Creature as they interact with each other allowing readers to construe examples of morality. Many debaters may argue the Creature is “evil” since a majority of his actions harm others while Victor is good because he was the victim and seeks to destroy his creation. However, one may counter this argument if they accentuate Victor is evil since he was the Creature’s creator,

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The word evil can be defined as profoundly immoral and malevolent. A person’s actions can often fit under the category of evil, but that does not necessarily make that person truly evil. The work of literature Frankenstein by Mary Shelley exhibits a monster that fits many stereotypes of being evil. He looks terrifying, commits horrible crimes, and purposely does things that will bring despair to others. Contrary to this, the monster himself is not actually evil.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

Victor was a lonely guy and all he wanted was a friend so he took science to the extreme. All throughout Mary Shelley's novel she tells a story about how Victor the creator is clearly the real monster and his creation is the victim. Victor

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556 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the novel, the main character Frankenstein, made many poor decisions that I would consider to be morally wrong and unethical. Frankenstein’s research and discoveries are ethically wrong because he was taking dead bodies from cemeteries, cutting off their limbs, and body parts to create a human like creature. He did not have anyone's consent to do this study causing it to be unethical, and he also should not be able to do this because he is playing the role of god. In the beginning of the book, Victor Frankenstein described to Walton that he had created a monster using body parts from a graveyard.

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