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Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
Character analysis of the monster in Frankenstein
Essay on victor frankenstein's character
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In the Gothic novel, “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley employs the character Robert Walton to describe a tale of Victor Frankenstein’s horrible creation story. Throughout the text Shelley uses biblical allusions to give the reader a deeper understanding of the immoral actions Frankenstein took in creating life. In this case, Shelley uses the biblical allusion “the Angel of Destruction”(Shelley 25) to help illustrate to the reader how evil and immoral Frankenstein’s actions were to create the monster. Shelley compares the ambition of Frankenstein to create the monster to a spell from the “Angel of Destruction” himself. Once more, Shelley creates a mental image for the reader by using the biblical allusion,(page 68) “‘Devil,’ I exclaimed, ‘do you
Throughout Frankenstein, Shelley uses Victor to warn the reader of the dangers of aspiring to godliness, and the consequences one faces in the aftermath doing so, even going as far as to compare Victor to Satan, tempting the crew of Walton’s ship, in the book’s final pages. The Victor Shelley creates is very similar to the Satan created by Milton in his book, Paradise Lost, which explores the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. In Frankenstein, Victor speaks of his desire to create the Creature, saying, “I deemed it criminal to throw away in useless grief those talents that might be useful to my fellow-creatures.” (152). Shelley’s diction choices, such as the word “useless” exemplify Victor’s excessive hubris, portraying him as a man who creates his Creature for, in his mind, the good of society.
Frankenstein additionally utilizes alliteration when he says, 'great God'. He is likewise cursing which was viewed as a terrible sin around then. The connection can then be made with Frankenstein playing God by making a human. " God" is a monosyllabic word so the audience’s attention is hooked.. The accentuation likewise does this since exclamation marks are set after short phrases.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley employs allusions as mechanisms to underscore Victor Frankenstein’s complete failure as a creator to parent and nurture his creation. In a fit of anger and indignation, the monster responds to Victor Frankenstein attempt to absolve himself of the any responsibility towards the monster by asserting, “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” (Shelley 81). Utilizing a forlorn allusion to a fallen angel, expelled from the Garden of Eden and thrown into the pits of hell, the monster describes a similar downfall with being mercilessly thrust away from human civilization and into the cold wilderness not by God, but a mere imitator
In Chapter 15 of Frankenstein, the author compares the monster to Adam (the first man) as well as comparing Victor to God. I believe that Frankenstein is not as much a commentary on the bible, but rather on the nature of man. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley compares the monster and Victor to biblical figures in order to relate that everyone is capable of moral good and evil. As we see in the novel, the monster is much like Adam in that he desires companionship, he is made in the likeness of his creator (a man), and he eventually turns to evil.
As Frankenstein explores scientific creation, Mary Shelley casts emphasis to Frankenstein’s god-like ego as he states; “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein –
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, it scrutinizes the punishments when a man creates life, and plays the role of God. 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.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley utilizes her protagonist’s agony over his “failed” creation––what Attridge would call the “act” of creation–– and the suffering he engenders in his creation through the rejection of it––what Attridge would call the “event” of creation––to illuminate how the creation derived from suffering arises not from the failure to create something beautiful, but from our recognition of our own ugliness, our own shadow, our own suffering in what we
Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a great comparison is shown between Victor Frankenstein, the main character, and Prometheus, one of Greek mythology’s greatest Gods. Shelley borrows from the tale of Prometheus a consequence resulting from searching for a great source of enlightenment and power. In creating a being and giving it life, Frankenstein seems to take on the remarkable role of God which leads him to thinking that a power that is so heavenly cannot be played with by mankind. During his quest to expand his creative knowledge, abilities, drive, and ambition to know the origin of life, he puts himself in conflict. Frankenstein gambled his way into the godly realm without realizing he committed a sin by creating the monster, and
God is who gives the orders and creates life, and that is exactly what Dr. Frankenstein does in Frankenstein. Paradise Lost, the Adam and Eve story falls ideally with the novel since Adam is the first human alive and the creature is the first monster brought to life with dead human parts. Eve is the first female human alive in Paradise Lost. The creature wants his “God”, Victor Frankenstein, to create him an ‘Eve’ nevertheless his “God” nixes to do
The presence of biblical ideas can be seen throughout the Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein. Whether it be Victor Frankenstein acting as god as he creates life or the comparison of the creature to the fallen angel or devil, the bible has a strong partnership in the novel. In chapter nine of volume two, there is once again an allusion to The Bible as the creature embodies Adam, from the creation of man in genesis two. The creature can be seen asking Frankenstein for “a creature of another sex”(170) to “free [him] from the misery”(170) he feels from being so lonely. This request the creature is asking for from Frankenstein mirrors the same desire Adam had in the second story of creation in Genesis two.
The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster.
Christianity in Frankenstein Throughout the novel, there were many biblical allusions. Christianity play into novel by comparing the creation of Frankenstein's monster to the creation of Adam and Eve. Mary Shelley incorporating this into the novel to show that no one should ever come close as Frankenstein was to receiving "God" status because it will ultimately drive them to destruction. The purpose of these connection is that no one should not play God.
“Whosoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god” (Aristotle). Romantic period writer and author, Mary Shelley, depicts two characters in her soft science fiction novel, Frankenstein, that is exquisitely similar to those who “would find delight in solitude” as quoted by Aristotle in his Politics. In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the parallel of Aristotle’s two presented personas consists as Victor Frankenstein as a god and his horrific creation, the Monster, as a wild beast. Unambiguously, Victor is indeed the god of the Monster because he created him, consequently bringing the Monster into existence. The Monster too is merely a wild beast from the perception that he appears to be a frightening and violent creature.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein depicts the remarkable resemblance to the “modern” myth of Prometheus. The intertextuality used to connect these two stories, allow Shelley to bring out the most prominent themes of Power and suffering. As both of the characters deal differently with the struggle to resist the power that comes with creating life, the inevitable end for both characters are the same; they fall at the hands of their own creations. Shelley carefully utilizes the legend of Prometheus to express the connection between punishment and creation.
