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Examples Of Too Much Power In Frankenstein

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Frankenstein shows many examples of how easily too much power leads to destruction. Victor Frankenstein and his creature struggle for power the most. Frankenstein begins to realize the consequences of playing God when the monster he creates demands to gain dominance over him by committing acts of hate and murder. Frankenstein’s loved ones. Nature does not allow Frankenstein or his creation to live an easy life after the natural cycle of life is thrown off course. Mary Shelley uses the theme of desire for power throughout the novel to demonstrate how too much power can often bring about consequences that affect several people. The first instance of a need for power is when Victor believed he could control his desire to create the creature …show more content…

The monster fought for affection by trying to threaten Victor into creating a spouse for it. “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede” (Shelley 104). This situation was the first time the beast tried to establish it’s dominance over the creator. The only reason the monster felt the need to hold power over Victor was to gain a sense of emotion and affection as it has seen other humans do. The creature observes the feelings shown by humans while he is in the village and desires to acquire these same feelings. Victor filled with fear, pities the creature, so he followed the order and created a companion for the creature. Victor struggles to secure his power over his emotions. Half way through the making of the female monster, Victor feels guilt and rage from allowing the monster to have control over him and his emotions, which caused him to react in a violent manner to regain his power. He destroyed the new creature. This destruction pushed the monster into a state of anger. “Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;- obey!” (Shelley 122). Victor and the creature battle for …show more content…

Victor denied the monster it’s power by not allowing it to have what it asked for. This refusal caused the monster declare it’s dominance through threatening Victor to do as it says or he will be punished. After Victor refuses to allow his creation to take control, it goes mayhem and reacts with hatred. The creature tried to gain it’s power by deteriorating Victor’s life killing many of the friends and loved ones close to Victor. This pulls the final straw for Victor, he attempted to hunt the monster down and destroy it before it could hurt anyone else. The hunt for the creature was caused by Victor’s realization of how his power in science and creating life causes impractical behavior and horrific

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The creature wants to take revenge on Victor for abandoning him and causes Victor grief by killing the people he cares about. When the creature kills, Victor feels responsible and guilty of the murders. He continually breaks down with each death by “his” hands, which makes him go mad. The task of creating a monster turned Victor into a monster

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The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

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Tortured by indescribable grief, Victor blazes his pistol but unfortunately the creature eludes him. In the end, Victor learns that he should not have surrendered mankind nor messed with human nature. He kills the monster’s potential mate in which he fears its creation will demolish its humanity. Therefore, Victor himself is afraid of what he is capable of.

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Fighting a Mirror In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, self deception eclipses Victor Frankenstein and clouds his judgment. Victor’s passion in breaking the bounds of nature guides him in making the creation, but when Victor regrets giving life to the hideous creature, he deserts it. The abandonment is just the first step Victor takes to introduce the creation to malevolence followed with Victor’s assumptions of evil and lost responsibility in the results of his own zeal. Victor Frankenstein’s self deception not only forges evil into the creation, but also incriminates him for the consequences of Victor’s ambitions.

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Paul-Michel Foucault explains “power is only exercised over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free”. Therefore, the idea is that as humans we are products of our society and have limited freedom as we are governed by our social and political regime. Furthermore, the desire of some people to utilize their power and position can lead to negative and at times inhumane outcomes. In literature, writers often present characters who are either villains exerting their power of victims to this power struggle. In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, her protagonist Victor wants to create new life and although he battles his conscious, he allows his desire to overrule his moral compass and religious influences to benefit his self-interests.

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Dangerous Minds- Rough Draft Knowledge has the capability to be used for both good and evil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a consistent message throughout the novel showing the dangerous and destructive power that knowledge can have. Two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, are shaped through their obsessions with knowledge and the power and responsibility that it brings. Ultimately, Victor’s downfall is a result of his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, and is brought about through the monster which is the embodiment of his obsession. Victor is a brilliant scientist who figures out a way to create life from death using galvanism, or electricity.

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Throughout Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Prospero and Frankenstein either have power or want it. The power they attempt to and succeed in acquiring superhuman, divine power. Though it seems that they use this power in similar ways, which would lead one to expect similar consequences, Frankenstein has a tragic ending, whereas The Tempest ends more positively. Frankenstein assumes the role of God while Prospero tries to carry out God’s will using limited magic, making Frankenstein a cautionary tale and The Tempest a guide for divinely inspired leadership.

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The monster tells Victor of his feelings when he states, “You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains…I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.” (153) After months and months of the monster trying to connect with the world, he eventually realizes that the efforts are worthless and vows to do to his creator what his creator did to him. To make Victor isolated would give him the same curse the monster has suffered through for its entire new life. Later, the creature asks himself, “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” The creature easily could kill Victor if that was his desire but its real desire was to make Victor suffer as the monster did.

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When people hear the word “monster”, most people imagine a massive, horrid, and grotesque figure that haunts people. While pondering what a monster is, mankind thinks of the outward appearance. Seldom do people think of man’s internal qualities as being barbaric or gruesome. Authors allow readers to create their own images of these terrifying beings. Frankenstein is a thought-provoking novel that empowers readers to have their own opinions about who the actual monster is and what it looks like.

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When Society has the power to create, the creation is given the power to destroy through the choices of the men who want to gain from it. In the book, Frankenstein, society pushes and pulls at the emotions and opinions of the people who allow it to. From society telling victor what science he should be doing, to the judgement of the Creature only upon is looks and the incorrect persecution of Justine through evidence proving who killed William. The only real monster is society through its corrupted, imperiousness power over the people.

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888 Words | 4 Pages

Power, the one thing everybody desires, plays a major role in the lives of the characters of Frankenstein. Throughout the story, Shelley frequently emphasizes the theme of power and the constant struggle that the characters face to gain power over themselves and others. The two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and The Creature, show the most struggle for power throughout the story, both internally and over each other. They look to gain power of knowledge, power of themselves and power over one another. This struggle for power creates a constantly shifting dynamic amongst characters.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

Victor creates the Creature, but there are many situations throughout the novel where the Monster displays as the victim. He seeks love from different people, but everyone treats him bad. His anger towards his father drives him to kill Victor’s family. The Monster later feels devastated for the murders he commits. All the monster wants is love.

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766 Words | 4 Pages

He starts his own plan to for revenge against the creature, but this makes him just as beastly as the monster. Victor makes it his life goal, to make the monster pay in any way he can. He wants him to feel lonely and isolated forever. The beast takes a lot out on Victor and makes him feel exactly the way he feels

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1634 Words | 7 Pages

We often don’t realize the negative aspects that come along with being ambitious. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, elaborates on this idea and conveys how these aspects can affect us. In her novel, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, is a scientist who finds the secret of animating dead flesh back to life. He uses this secret to create a superhuman giant, yet soon runs away from his creation, after realizing how hideous he looks. As the creation makes his way out into the world, he receives hatred for his repulsive countenance.

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”(Millhauser). This violent rejection is a repetition of Victor’s lack of acceptance for the monster and attention to his family. Victor knows that the monster will never be able to live within society and that his ability to create life is the only hope the monster has of achieving companionship. Victor's own aversion to companionship surfaces as he, “ fails to give him the human companionship, the Eve, the female creature, that he needs to achieve some sort of a normal life.” (Mellor).

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