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Frankenstein character essay
Character of Victor Frankenstein
Frankenstein character essay
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In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses Victor’s selfishness and ambition for knowledge to questioned how far society has to go to satisfy our yearn to be God. Vicor’s God complexion shows the dangers of wanting to challenge the limits of human knowledge without thinking of the consequences. When Victor attends university and the material he has learned is belittled by a professor as a waste of time, Victor is determined to prove him wrong. As Victor becomes more interested in the sciences and in the creation of life he sees that as the only way to make advancements that others have not yet done. He succeeded in bringing the dead back to life but not in the form he had in mind.
Within Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a monster is created by a man named Victor who disowns the monster after he witnesses the kind of creature he produced, "Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you
We can understand from this vivid imagery and description of emotions that the narrator thinks of his creation as something less than human, rather, something grotesque, and something unnatural in humanity. The narrator- albeit quite "fascinated-" by his creation, we understand from his emotion and imagery from his eyes that he now regrets and dispenses the unnatural "creature" of his own creation. Additionally, the pillar of writing features a conflicting flow of consciousness/point of view that takes us through exactly what the narrator is feeling, and why. Evidently, Victor's hesitance to run, "I forced myself to remain, to witness the full consequences of my actions" (Shelley 7) signifys that although he is somewhat amazed by Frankenstein, he knows it is an "abomination" and is unnatural to the world, so therefore, he should be punished for bringing such a disgusting thing into the world. However, despite this, we still see from his point of view that he is amazed by Frankenstein, when he described his "...wild, primal terror urged me to run, to flee from this abomination I had created.
One way Shelley portrays Frankenstein as more monstrous is through his actions. Frankenstein's decision to create life without thinking of the consequences is shown as a selfish and reckless act, while the creature's actions, while at times violent, are driven by a desire for acceptance and understanding. Shelley's choice of language reinforces this contrast, with Frankenstein's actions being described as "madness and horror" while the creature's actions are described as "a sense of justice. " In the passage, Frankensteins creation asks for forgiveness after murdering his creator. He describes frankenstein as “Generous and self-devoted” which is ironic considering the actions that lead to the creations murder of frankenstein.
“At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification”(Shelley 80). The Creation of Frankenstein woke up in a world of hate. Since he looked different, the Monster never fit in with normal people. He would become isolated and feared because of his looks. Because the Monster was a hideous creation from Frankenstein, he was isolated and hated by his looks and behaved in an ethical manner when he began his path of vengeance.
The use of the word monster in the book also correlates to appearance, and when the creature is called a monster, he feels forced to act like one. After being rejected by society because of his appearance the creature cries to Frankenstein, “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust” (Shelley 93). This shows that the creature internalized all of the hate he received from his appearance, to the point where he viewed himself as a monster. When he internalizes all this negativity about himself that stems from his appearance, and begins to see himself as a monster, he then begins to behave as one.
Throughout ‘Frankenstein’, we discover that Shelley presents Victors responsibility as flawed, We see him as childish and unable to accept his failures and mistakes. Rarley does he accept the “demonical corpse” who is “more hideous than belongs to humanity”, as his creation. Rather than dealing with the conequences and raising the monster, as his father and god. He abanondens it into society. We Can look back into Victors childhood to see where he gained his original morals, and where the drive for the creation of the monster was.
Going through life, it is not people's eyes that are blind, but their hearts. People always want to disbelieve the things that are happening in front of them. In the story Frankenstien, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein, the main character, had this quest for knowledge that he wanted to succeed in. Doing this, he had created a monster that goes around terrorizing victims' lives. He became selfish and greedy for himself.
Throughout Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the creature produced by Victor Frankenstein is a blameless, innocent victim. For instance, before bringing the creature to life, Victor skillfully plans out his design according to his uncontrollable imagination and decides to produce a being ¨...eight feet in height and proportionally large¨ (32). Shelly giving specific dimensions about the size of the creature allows us to picture a monstrous being. But, the creature was simply a substantial experiment produced by a flawed, ambitious man with an arduous desire to be more than he could possibly handle. As the creature tries to understand his place in this human world humanity's perception of him solidifies, causing him to embrace his role as
Victor Frankenstein turns away from his responsibilities by ignoring the existence of his creation. Throughout the novel, Victor is constantly running away from the monster and not giving him attention, which resulted in the monsters change of personalities. For example, in page 71 the creation said, “All men hate the wretched; how must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.” This quote suggests that because of the ignorance of Victor the monster began to become evil and have the urge to seek
In the novel, Frankenstein, the monster created by Victor Frankenstein is immediately rejected during his first encounter with humankind. Victor is horrified at what he has created and runs away from the monster. The monster goes into a town, where the townspeople reject him and chase him into the woods. While in the woods, the monster observes the Delacey family and learns how to act kind and civil. He begins to perform random acts of
Selfish Desires Selfishness has caused the downfall of countless characters throughout a multitude of literary works. This selfishness is also what usually precedes a character’s isolation due to the consequences of their actions. One example of this can be found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when Victor Frankenstein defies the natural order to accomplish his personal goals. Likewise, in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Mariner makes a fatal mistake of performing a selfish action without thinking of the consequences. These works use the character’s actions and the main characters to explore how selfish decisions leads to one’s own isolation and the destruction of those around them.
The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,
In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein spends two whole years toiling to create a being which is comprised of the body parts of various dead corpses, for the purposes of science. Finally, he creates the “monster”, who commits a multitude of crimes, resulting in the deaths of many innocent people. These horrific murders raise many questions concerning who is to be held accountable. Victor walked away from the situation he created instead of facing his actions. If he had chosen to stay this could have prevented the heinous crimes committed by the monster as a result of Victor’s mental and emotional Neglect.
Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.