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Frankenstein Identity Essay

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Frankenstein’s monster, after reading several books, with Paradise Lost being the most significant to him, said “My person was hideous, and my stature gigantic: what did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually reoccurred, but I was unable to solve them.” (Shelly 120) This helps to demonstrate how the monster began to struggle with his identity after being abandoned by his creator. Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein, first published in 1818, is an extraordinary, tragic Gothic tale of man, creation, and monstrosity. Both Victor Frankenstein and his monster identify themselves with one or more biblical figures at some point in the story, but who is who? It is immediately obvious from …show more content…

After a few weeks, he and his crew stumble upon Victor Frankenstein, who is on the brink of death. In his letters to his sister, Walton recounts Frankenstein’s tale. Victor was brought up in Geneva, Switzerland, and was raised with Elizabeth, his orphaned cousin that his family adopted; she soon becomes Victor’s love interest. His mother and Elizabeth fall ill and his mother dies but Elizabeth recovers. Victor soon goes to study science at the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. After roughly two years of studying science, Victor decides he wants to make life from the non-living. “Life and death appeared to me in ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” (Shelley 42) It is at this point in the story that he brings the monster to life and can feel nothing but fear and disgust for his creation. He says, “now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley …show more content…

Like Adam, he sought out ‘forbidden knowledge’, and it brought on his demise. After Adam eats from the tree of life, he is granted knowledge of the world around him, and soon becomes familiar with suffering. In a similar way, Victor, after bringing his creature to life becomes disgusted and horrified by his work, and finally realizes the gravity of what he has done. Several times in the story, he becomes sick or depressed, even scared he could be killed at any moment. In fact, it is this same consequence that brings on his death at the end of the

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a few more months should have added to my sagacity.” As Chris Baldick said “By far the most important literary source for Frankenstein, though, is Milton's 'Paradise Lost', as repeated allusions in the novel remind us.. ”6 Mary Shelley wove a story very close related to 'Paradise Lost', as she took it's themes and applied them on her novel. It's not only the biblical allusions and similarities found between the two, but also because the creature read the poem himself and identified and behaved like Adam at first and Lucifer later on, “Most frequently, to be sure, it is the monster himself, fresh from his study of Paradise Lost, who sees himself as a new Adam, rambling in the fields of Paradise but soon abandoned by his creator.

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(Shelley

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Victor would stop at nothing to finish his project and became so obsessed that he was isolated from his family and friends. His way of collecting lifeless matter for his creation is unethical and morally wrong. Eventually, he is punished for his actions: “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.” (pg.56) Additionally, extreme devotion to the building of his creation caused Victor mental distress due to the fact that he neglected his own needs in order to work exclusively on the creature: “I had deprived myself of rest and health.”

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He hyper focuses on his studies in an attempt to suppress his emotions, and as a result, goes further and further down a lonely path, completely isolated and trapped with his ideas and thoughts. Victor doesn’t feel quite right, but continues to work on his project, but when it is completed, and the creature comes to life, “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart,” (Shelley 58). Victor completely neglects everything except his creation, due to his prolonged grief, but his devotion blinds him to the monstrosity he has been creating. After Victor abandons his creation, he suffers through a deep depression, unable to reconcile his guilt, grief, and other painful emotions. He struggles to find joy in his life, constantly stricken by the weight of his decisions, unable to forgive himself or take any steps toward stabilizing his mental health.

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We are later shown how, after being abandoned, the creature had no idea what to do since he was just like a newborn in a world that was unfamiliar to him. Victor did not even give the creature time to introduce himself and gain the chance to know the true creature. To add on, since the first day the creature was alive in the world, he was shown any type of affection from his creator. Victor had a hatred toward his creation from day one for the reason being not coming out the way he wanted and later for the

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Identity. The. This word means different things for every type of person. The concept of self-discovery is one that varies depending on what one thinks of themselves. What is important to take into account is the surroundings that one may have, those in separate areas will find their own identity in separate ways.

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In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, the Creature makes an allusion to John Milton’s Paradise Lost while recalling his experiences in isolation for the last two years. The Creature claims he read the text “…as a true history,” of mankind and often related to several situations, stating “...their similarity struck [him as] his own.” He goes on to compare himself to the First Man, Adam, then later to Satan the fallen angel. This allusion to Paradise Lost works to further characterize the Monster, while also foreshadowing upcoming important events.

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Finally, Victor shatters his life when he ultimately causes his own death. As a result of his mind being consumed with grief and revenge, he becomes morose, melancholy, and eventually lifeless. Victor allows the monster to rummage his head, and he permits his creation to drive him crazy; consequently, he slowly kills

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While Frankenstein’s creature’s humanity is debatable, his relationship with Frankenstein is implied to reflect a god and his creation. Using his education from books, the creature compares their dynamic to biblical figures, associating Frankenstein with God: “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed” (qtd. in Shelley 114) . The creature argues that he should be the first of his kind, like Adam, and therefore treated with respect, but he is instead treated poorly, as he was abandoned by Frankenstein like a fallen angel is cast from heaven.

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His experience with death persuaded him to continue on with mindset of creating the creature was best for the benefit of mankind. Without the tragic death of Victor’s mother, he would have not had continued in his endeavor to create the

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At the end of the novel, Victor is lifeless, run down, and obsessed with finding the monster. He has chased the monster up north and is rescued by a ship as he is near the brink of death. As he slowly dies on the ships, he recounts his life, overtaken by the monster. b. “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he

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Greeting class and Mr Jolly, as you should know I am Annabelle. Identity is who you are as a person including your beliefs and qualities. Everything you do effects and changes your identity. Identity can be represented by using Visual texts and techniques. Gris Grimly’s graphic novel “Frankenstein”, published in 2013, explores the darkened lives of the Creator and Creature, capturing their characters moving and changing throughout their existence.

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Qi QinYi, Jasmine Mr. Nikolich English 9 Jan 2018 Frankenstein: The Search for Identity Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, is a pioneering science fiction work about the story of a young scientist Victor Frankenstein who created life out of dead matter. On the surface, Frankenstein seemed to be only a horror story about unorthodox scientific experiments and grotesque monsters. But by diving deeper into the novel, Shelley also addressed larger philosophical ideas. Throughout the story, Victor Frankenstein and his monster have both parallel and contrasting elements, and their search for identity is one of the most important ones. Identity is defined a “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual” (Merriam-Webster).

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Personal Perception: The Identity Crisis of Frankenstein’s Monster A specialist in infant and child developmental psychology, Dr. Philippe Rochat claims, “Self-awareness is arguably the most fundamental issue in psychology, from both a developmental and an evolutionary perspective” (Rochat 717). According to Dr. Rochat, a child gradually forms its self-perception through various early stages of its life, beginning with birth to four or five years of age. The concept of perceiving one’s self through another’s eyes, is a crucial milestone that a child achieves by “seeing” and “touching” throughout these early years of its life.

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The creature, Victor Frankenstein’s creation, had to suffer and tolerate life without care, love, or identity. The creature was never given a name because Victor didn’t want his monster to become more human-like. It can reinforce that the creature is property, and not a human being that is loved and cared for. Names are important for everyone because it is the easiest way to have self-identity. The creature never received a Christian name throughout the story.

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