There are many types of monsters in this world. Some conceal themselves while others use lies to build a facade, but the most dangerous are those unfit to wield power. Mary Shelley’s classic novel, Frankenstein, uses this passage to highlight the shattered relationship between Victor and his creature. In doing so, inversion is used to shift power from the creator to the created. Throughout Chapter 17, Shelley arms the creature with ethics and reason, illuminating this philosophy by inspiring empathy for the monster. Shelley introduces depth and conflict between roles by masterfully weaving this pivotal point in the novel through complex diction and syntax and by foiling Victor, the incompetent god, and the creature, the logical monster, both …show more content…
The first instance of irony is Victor’s attempt of solace by hiking into the Alps led him to face the creature that, up until this point, has been characterized as barbaric and inhumane. The following instance of such irony is when Victor is faced with the creature, expecting meaningless words and savagery, yet he receives a logical explanation to the creature's misery. Shelley illuminates this shock with diction, describing how Victor was “bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange [his] ideas” (Shelley CHXVII). This initial phrasing characterizes the incompetence that Victor has as a creator, unable to fathom his very own creation’s accomplishments. Additionally, it introduces how power shifts from Victor to the creature as he develops a line of reasoning. The negligence of Victor amplifies the message of the incompetent creator that he portrays. The creature has trekked, followed Victor because he has become victim to the human condition of companionship and identity. Longing for a friend he tries to reason that Victor “must create a female… with whom [he] can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for [his] being” (Shelley CHXVII). Furthermore, Shelley uses tone to characterize the creature as someone who has reason and logic, inspiring …show more content…
When the creature was first created, Victor trembled with rage and horror, and a sense of terror ran through him, causing him to flee. The diction used early in the novel characterizes Victor’s dread when facing the monster, his very own creation. When the creature and Victor interact for the first time since the creation, the creature says to Victor that he is tame and mild to his natural lord and king, the one who gave him life in the first place. Shelley emphasizes the creature's power dynamic and touches on the themes of creation, responsibility, and abandonment. It implies that the creature feels Victor owes him a responsibility of care, and this notion is crucial to the novel's investigation of the implications of playing god and ignoring one's responsibilities to the things one makes. Despite this, Victor is characterized as having power over the creature by the usage of words like lord and king. This is the first instance where Victor’s attitude towards the monster is aggressive and domineering as he attempts to take swings at the creature. Additionally, the creature argues that he was once good and benevolent, but the misery and treatment from the world turned him into an outcast. This isolation caused him to act out in violence highlighting the issue of the consequences of societal