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Pathological Narcissism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Psychoanalysis of Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein suffers from Pathological narcissism. Victor has a physical disregard for life and the feelings of others. Victory has a deep desire to be at “the center of things and is served by extreme self-confidence, a combination that makes narcissists attractive and even charming” (Vogel) . For example Victor creates the monster, playing god, then abandons his creation so he can be the center of his monster’s creation, and to get back at god for his mother's death (43). This shows Victor's inability to handle any sense of entitlement about his creation. “ Unable to endure the aspect of the being, I had created, I rushed out of the room” (Shelly 43). Another disregard for others …show more content…

“Unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to compulsive behaviors” (Black). This is a symptom of Obsession, for example. Victor while at the University of Ingolstadt, Victor progresses, his studies, but ignores his family for two years. Victor is obsessed with his studies of the living and dead, life and death. Evidence from the book supports this. “ Two years passed in this manner, during“ which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make” (Shelley 36-37). Victor is buried in his studies, being his sole occupation. Victor does little for himself or friends. “From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation” (Shelley …show more content…

Victor doesn't suffer from anxiety. It's adrenaline and instinct as he does what he feels is right. After Victor creates the monster, he is constantly worried about his creation. Its capabilities, abilities and its power. Victor is solely worried about the people of the world and humanity. “Even if they were to leave Europe and inhabit the deserts of the world, yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the daemon thirsted would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated up the earth who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror. ~I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race” (Shelley 155-156). This shows Victor is worried and not crazy man with anxiety. This also shows that he does have a care for others other than himself which shows he isn't narcissistic. Victor isn't fully obsessed as he is just determined to be known. In the movie 12 Angry Men, a juror, Joseph Sweeney, states it a sad thing not to be known or remembered. In the book you feel as if Frankenstein wants to be remembered, he wants to do something great. All Victor is doing and suffering from is being a determined individual who wants to go down in

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In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor is fascinated by the creation and decay of life and is relentless to create him one, but turns out to be a horrifying nightmare by bringing a monster into the world. One's desire can be so great that it blinds people from the things in life they truly care about, but would not know till it is gone. Victor Frankenstein goes from an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires to a guilt ridden man who wants to protect others after his mistake killed innocent people. Victor Frankenstein is an arrogant man who only thinks about his only desires and does not care about what people says. Since he is spoiled by his family by giving him gifts like Elizabeth “as his- his to protect, love, and cherish” (30).

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He uses the little that he knows to fuel his hatred towards humans and his creator. This shows the exponential growth of the problems that Victor has created as a result of his desire for knowledge. Not only did he create the destructive monster, but now the monster is using a hunger for knowledge, the very thing that created it, to do even more damage. This root cause is linked to everything that is causing Victor’s suffering. The monster also compares his relationship to Victor to that of God and Adam, wishing that he had the same supplication to his creator that Adam did, “I remembered Adam’s supplication to his creator.

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After seeing Victor dead on the ship he cried and said, “I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation. Polluted by crimes and torn by the bitterest remorse, where can I find rest but in death”(p 198)? Obsession was also the monsters downfall, he became a ruthless killer for the sole purpose of

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Have you ever been held responsible for the tragedies caused to others? For most the answer is no, however, for some, their actions have led to the misfortune of guiltless lives. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because of the absence of attention and teaching, the reanimated creation Frankenstein is unstable; Victor Frankenstein is who to blame. Two events that he should be accountable for are not training his creation to know right from wrong and abounding the monster which led to the murder of innocent people. Firstly, Shelley uses conflict of “human” versus nature to demonstrate the major idea that Victor Frankenstein is responsible for the loss of innocent lives.

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Victor does not handle his monster, or his fears, well. When Frankenstein first sees his monster, he immediately “escaped, [from the room the monster was in] and rushed down stairs. p50” As the monster is an externalization of Frankenstein’s fears, this escape, this inability to so much as look at the monster, can be interpreted as Frankenstein’s inability to acknowledge his fears and anxieties. Like with anxiety, denying the monster’s existence only causes him to grow more destructive.

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Victor’s parental figures in Frankenstein poison him by surrounding him with countless indulgences. From childhood, Victor was given all of his desires without question and this led to him becoming self-centered and dependent on the service of others. Victor describes his childhood with

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The monster is spurned by society because of his horrific appearance, his body, alone and hated, unfit for the company of strangers, just as Frankenstein fears he is. He is miserable which makes the hatred grow, as he says, “all men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” In fact, this wretchedness and enforced isolation is the monster’s main character trait, parallel to the isolation being Frankenstein’s biggest fear. Now that Victor is in college, he does not have his family to fall back upon for affection.

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Throughout the book the death of Victor's family has taken a toll on his mental state and he starts showing signs of mental illness. Much like Mary Shelley had mental illness because of the horrors that happened in her life. The illnesses that Victor starts showing signs of depression, paranoid schizophrenia, and anxiety. Depression is something that

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The monsters revenge on Frankenstein, drives him too to be full of hatred and need for vengeance because he destroyed everything good in his life. He feels as the death of his loved ones is his fault because he is the one that created the horrid creature in the first place (Brackett). “As time passed away I became more calm; misery had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes; sufficient for me was the consciousness of them” (Shelley 158). The monster wanted Victor to feel the same thing as him, lonely and sadness. The monsters revenge works, Victor becomes rejected by people and has nobody but himself.

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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.

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In the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, the main character Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a pathological narcissist throughout the entire story, he has this personality trait because of a traumatizing event that occurred in his youth changing his ideology to pursue a way to be better than death itself and play as a god. What a pathological narcissist is, is a “Personality Disorder is a disorder that is characterized by a long-standing pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), an overwhelming need for admiration, and usually a complete lack of empathy toward others. People with this disorder often believe they are of primary importance in everybody’s life or to anyone they meet” according to an article written by Dr. Steve Bressert. These are the base traits of a pathological narcissist, but in order to see how this affects Frankenstein in his life, a closer look needs to be taken to see how his actions reflected on his personality.

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Throughout the novel Victor and the Monster come across many relatable situations that they are forced to overcome. Victor Frankenstein had a very happy childhood, and he describes his parents as being “possessed by the very creature of kindness and indulgence”. Although Victor had a very happy childhood, these characteristics do not seem like the foundation of good moral character. Similarly Victor’s monster was not raised with the foundation of a good moral character. When the monster was first created he possessed more strength than he knew what to do with.

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After Victor knew the creature existed and encountered it, his life and state of mind were changing. He described himself as being “the author of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear,” (Shelley, 155). When this is put in metaphorical context, it strengthens the importance of why it was mentioned. It proves knowledge, through the establishment of a creation, is dangerous since Frankenstein ended up being in a fearful place.

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