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How Does Victor Bear His Own Hell In Frankenstein

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Virgil once said, “Each of us bears his own hell” (“Virgil”). In Mary Shelley Wollenscraft’s Frankenstein, Victor bear his own hell when living through the persecution of his creation. Victor Frankenstein experiences a complete katabasis through: his descent into hell by destroying his mind, his lowest points when the monster torments him, and his decision to not let the monster ruin his life, which allows him to arise from hell. Victors treatment of his own psyche during the construction of his creation leads to Victors descent into hell. In the beginning, Victor's mind is only desensitized, which is the start of his fall. Victor tells us of this desensitization when he says, “Darkness had no effect upon my fancy, and a churchyard was to …show more content…

The examination, the presence of the magistrate and witnesses, passed like a dream from my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me. I gasped for breath, and throwing myself on the body, I exclaimed, “Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life (99). Though Victor struggles with these tribulations, he does not break until the monster murders Victor's wife on their wedding night. “She was there, lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down and her pale and distorted features half covered by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure— her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier”(110). Victor is at a loss when he realizes that nearly everyone he loves is dead. Though Victor does not want to go on living, he rises from hell in order to ruin the thing that ruined him.“They were dead, and I lived; their murderer also lived, and to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence” (114). Victor chases his monster relentlessly, across oceans, through countries, endeavouring rough terrain, unwilling to give up (114-117). Victor grows weak as the harsh journey slowly tears apart his health. But even in his weakest physical state, he begs to continue his expedition. Although Victor does not live to see the monster die, he

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Victor conveys that any human cannot withstand the ugliness of the face of the monster. A simile is used to compare a mummy risen from the dead is not even as close to disturbing as the despicable monster he created. The Dante references to Dante’s Inferno, Dante has come across many demons in hell but, even Frankenstein’s monster is viler than any demon in hell. In response to the monster being born Victor flees in horror. He wants nothing to do with the monster it frightens him so that he deserts it to fend for itself in his apartment not caring about any sort of trouble the monster can cause: “I then reflected, and the thought made me shiver, that the creature whom I had left in my apartment might still be in there, alive and walking about.

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Since Victor abandons the monster, the monster seeks revenge, leading to a downward spiral of vengeance and the eventual demise of both Victor and his creation. Victor was put in a position of great power and, as the well-known saying states, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although the speaker of this quote is

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In Mary Shelley 's novel Frankenstein Doctor Victor Frankenstein gives an inanimate object life. After giving it life he abandons it and learns that it is responsible for little William 's death. Victor is forced to create the monster a woman so the monster won 't be lonely. This also gives the monster a chance to love and to be loved. Victor then realizes that creating a woman for the monster would possibly end human existence.

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Consequently, Victor creates a monster that later ruins his life and the lives of those around him in the story mostly due to his poor variety of decisions. These facts proves that Victor’s downfall is most likely caused by his failure of balancing his ego by allowing his Id and superego get to him. In the novel

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This time of departure enables the reader to foreshadow some negative action to occur. After Victor leaves the country with Clerval, Clerval does die, affirming the notion

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Whether something terrible will come from his actions does not just have a chance of happening. There is no doubt about it; he must live with it as a certainty. As long as he cannot hope for nothing wrong to happen, and if something terrible were to happen, he would be rendered inactive because he is simultaneously deprived of hope and fear. Although Victor was born as a passive observer, he is much more of a passive observer than someone actively engaged in claiming responsibility for his actions after the creation of the creature.

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It is quite telling that the most severe punishment in our society other than the death penalty or torture is solitary confinement. Although, isolation is in itself a form of torture, it can drive someone to the brink of insanity. Although published nearly 200 years ago, Mary Shelley clearly understood the potential detrimental effects of isolation, as demonstrated in her famous novel, Frankenstein, where both main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, suffer from and cause isolation for the other. Mary Shelley directs the reader to believe that isolation is the true evil, not the monster, Victor or any emotion inside of them. At the beginning of the novel, Victor is isolated from other people, causing to forget his scientific

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After reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, readers can begin to understand that Paradise Lost, being an incredibly influential story in the time period that Frankenstein was written, also greatly impacted a certain character in the story; namely, the Creation. Upon finding Paradise Lost in the woods and reading it in an attempt to better understand the human world, he comes to believe that his situation strongly relates to Adam’s, yet he still longs for the opportunities Adam was presented. In this respect, Victor Frankenstein is found to be Satan’s equivalent. In the novel Frankenstein, the Creation is found to explicitly state that he emphasizes with Adam.

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Victor Frankenstein caused his own misery and destruction, which is why he is to blame for what

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An important murder occurred that would affect Victor even greater than the death of his little brother, William. The death of his bride, Elizabeth, made Victor make decisions that would even put his own life in danger. Before the death of Elizabeth, Victor had been very nervous leading up to the wedding and even told Elizabeth that he had an important secret to tell her after their wedding. She eventually would find out what that secret would be when the monster would sneak into her room in the cottage and murder her. At that point, Victor had been looking for the monster, and instead of the monster coming for him, he went for Elizabeth.

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