Frankenstein Isolation Essay

In the novel, the characters' isolation, whether intentional or unintentional, serves as an image to convey loneliness and solitude. Victor and the monster share a common state of isolation that highlights their dualities and similarities. To illustrate, Victor loses sight of his responsibilities and the effects of his actions when he buries himself in his studies—which causes him to withdraw from human society. He uses solitude as his "only consolation" to help him regain his strength and peace of mind (Shelley 61). Likewise, this isolation enables him to neglect his friends and family and work like “one doomed by slavery,” demonstrating how isolation may spur ambition (Shelley 34). Ultimately, Victor's yearning for solitude becomes apparent

From the monster's point of view, isolation is a negative aspect in which he suffers from loneliness as a result of being rejected by society. Moreover, his disfiguring image makes it impossible to have any hope of socializing with a human, thus making him a destructive being. Unlike Victor, nature reveals his grotesque form to him, notably when he sees his reflection in the “transparent pool” and becomes “fully convinced that [he is] in reality the monster that [he] is” (Shelley 80). Unfortunately, the monster has the potential to be a loving human, but his attempts to make himself acknowledged in a society that is "structurally antagonistic to his efforts" have turned him into a hateful individual (Bernatchez). Thus, it is evident that both the monster, “an abandoned child,” and Victor are victims of alienation and isolation, despite the monster being forced into this position and Victor desiring it (Oates). In either instance, the monster and Victor Frankenstein share commonalities with loneliness, but with distinct causes and

In the novel, Shelley uses Victor and the monster to exemplify the effects that knowledge has on an individual's mental health. This ruthless desire for knowledge portrays how perilous it can be, while “exploring themes of risk, responsibility and accountability,” as Victor’s act of creation ultimately leads to the demise of everyone close to him while the monster’s act of learning results in him despising himself and all of humanity (Hammond). Throughout the novel, Victor Frankenstein encounters a great amount of psychological suffering in the early years of his adult life due to his ambition to seek forbidden knowledge and create a living being. Even more, his mental health begins to decline as a result of the artificial being he created and his heedless pursuit for knowledge, which ultimately leads to the demise of everyone close to him. Ironically, Victor loses the people he truly cared for in the process of his research into "the hidden laws of nature" (Shelley 18). On the contrary, the monster's encounter with knowledge causes him to divert from morality and towards blatant hatred of humanity. In addition, the monster’s pursuit of knowledge causes him to undergo restrictions and disadvantages from engaging in any sort of