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Is Frankenstein A Hero Or A Villain Essay

783 Words4 Pages

Hero or Villain? (Discussing the story Frankenstein) There has been many questions about weather Frankenstein is a hero or if he is a monster that just caused trouble. When reading Mary Shellys Frankenstein we are told about a scientist that makes a monster out of body parts that he found in graves. Many people think that it's not worth reading but others see it as a true masterpiece. “The endurance of Frankenstein and its amplification to truly mythic status results from its articulating; "perhaps for the first time in Western literature, the most powerfully felt anxieties of pregnancy.”” (Lehman). Lehman explains what the start of the Frankenstein story. The question still lingers though is Frankenstein a hero or a villain? I think that Frankenstein is a villain because he didn’t know how the …show more content…

If you think about it there wasn’t much technology back then as show in the lightning bolt bringing him to life. Shelly introduced a whole new light when she wrote about “prototypical mad scientist...” (Hustis). Shelly showed us something that no one ever thought about if we could do this in real life we could possible save others. With this being brought up in the nineteenth century, we have come a long way since then. While reading Frankenstein there are many things that have negative correlations but there are some positive ones. “The Novel of Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, is undoubtedly, as a mere story, one of the most original and complete productions of the day” (Shelley). This novel is debated about being one of the best stories that has helped science, they introduced something no one thought of. A villain or a hero? He is a villain in some ways but a hero in others, a villain because he created something he couldn’t control and he knew it could go rough but a hero because the movement of

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Frankenstein is alone in the middle of Scotland with nothing but the fear of the creature he carries, instead of standing up to the creature or following through with his promise he is running away, cowardly. This is important to the novel because the reader can see Frankenstein feeling the same emotions the creature has been feeling, lonely. The setting and the connection between the setting and Frankenstein show this lonely and desolate feeling. Once again in Mary Shelley's novel a character has changed, in this case Frankenstein is changing from a scientist to a lonely coward, running away from his fears. In the novel is there a good guy and a bad guy?

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The Creature in Frankenstein Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” is an inspirational work of horror and science fiction; it is the narrative of an unorthodox act of creation, of a monster which torments his miserable creator. The author puts forth ideas, and reinforces it through the development of the plot, that mankind is capable of both good and evil. Shelly demonstrates the ‘humanity’ of the creature; his actions and his inclination are like those of mankind. Indeed, even the negative aspect of his character, demonstrated through his quest for revenge, has a parallel in the actions of his human creator. In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” the creature is represented as being vicious and murderous but he is not inherently evil or malicious.

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Over the past century, Frankenstein has been analyzed and interpreted in seemingly infinite different forms of literature, film, and television shows. Once solely recognized as the story about a brilliant scientist who creates a creature in whom he regrets making after the creature turns out ugly, Frankenstein now represents an internationally recognized and commercialized pop culture symbol for Halloween decorations and costumes. When analyzing and appreciating the true literary essence behind Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein, one of the most important comparisons to consider remains the underlying influences behind the Creature’s immoral actions and whether or not the blame for these actions belong to Victor or the Creature. When exploring the dichotomy of the Creature versus Victor Frankenstein, one of the biggest and most widely debated questions remains whether Victor should be blamed for the Creature’s destructive actions or if the Creature should be considered guilty for his actions based off of his own free will. Many consider Victor Frankenstein the villain of the story due to his repetitive decisions to abandon and avoid his own “mistake,” the irresponsible choice of creating the monster in the first place, and his obvious negligence of the Creature’s feelings.

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In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein brings his creation to life and has to endure the repercussions of his actions. While Victor is in fact human, the question of whether the creature or Victor is more human still stands. Humanity is demonstrated as compassionate in the book and monstrosity is the opposite. The creature is more human because of his developed personality and desire to be human. Victor, although born into a humane family, evolved into everything bad about humanity; he developed obsession, resentment, and manipulated life to conform to his idealities.

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The monster is directly responsible for killing all those people, he committed those crimes. Frankenstein however, created the monster and is indirectly responsible for the murders his creation committed. While reading the story, you realise, that the creature is actually good at heart. It's the way that he is treated which makes him a monster. He was never loved by his creator, and was feared and despised by everyone who met him.

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Frankenstein’s Monster as a Tragic Hero Aristotle once said that "A man doesn 't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall" (Carlson). In Frankenstein, many argue that Victor Frankenstein himself is indeed the tragic hero of the novel. I believe that the creation of Victor Frankenstein (the monster) is the actual tragic hero. There are several components to being a tragic hero, two of the most important are their tragic flaw, and the component of a tragedy or a tragic ending to the story. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is without a doubt tragic through many characters in different ways, but in my eyes, the creature is the character that sticks out with the most characteristics of a tragic hero.

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Others however, stick with the traditional idea that he is a monster. Many people have a set opinion on who they think Frankenstein is. My opinion; however, is not a set opinion. I can see where both sides are coming from and agree with both ideas. In my opinion, Frankenstein could be seen as both a monster and a hero.

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I do not believe that Frankenstein was a bad person, but one that was irresponsible and afraid. He did want power like God and to have others be envious of him being able to have the power to create life. Frankenstein failed in the cliché of “with great power, comes great responsibility.” Things could have turned out differently if better decisions were made. Could he have saved the lives of Justine, William, and his friend Clerval?

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Whereas the real monster throughout the story is no other than Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein displays many of the characteristics any monster would have. He was cruel and manipulative in order to become and valued like God. However, the odds were not in his favor after rejecting the monster the minute he came to life, "A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me; its gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly

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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.

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“Whenever the creation order is inverted, there is disorder, destruction, and death. When we tamper with this order, even a little, we become life-takers rather than life-givers”(J. Ligon Duncan III ). This quote plays a large part in the overall literature that is Frankenstein; it pulls together the attributes of the story in a way I haven’t seen before. This essay will be focusing on the relationship between the gothic novel of Frankenstein, and the greek myth of Prometheus. It will be a compare and contrast of the dueling stories.

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.

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In my opinion, Victor Frankenstein is the hero of Frankenstein. He is a tragic hero and a scientist who is obsessed with creating life from lifeless things. After Victor created the monster, he ran away. After Victor created monster, he wanted to destroy the monster as it felt it needed revenge against his creator.

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In 1818 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a novel that follows Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious man on his journey to defy the natural sciences. In Volume I of the novel, Victor discusses his childhood, mentioning how wonderful and amazing it was because of how his family sheltered him from the bad in the world. “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me” (35). When Victor brings up his childhood, he suggests that parents play a strong in how their kids turn out, either "to happiness or misery" (35). In particular the main character was sheltered as a child to achieve this “happiness” leading to Victor never developing a coping mechanism to the evil in the world.

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Throughout the novel, the main character Frankenstein, made many poor decisions that I would consider to be morally wrong and unethical. Frankenstein’s research and discoveries are ethically wrong because he was taking dead bodies from cemeteries, cutting off their limbs, and body parts to create a human like creature. He did not have anyone's consent to do this study causing it to be unethical, and he also should not be able to do this because he is playing the role of god. In the beginning of the book, Victor Frankenstein described to Walton that he had created a monster using body parts from a graveyard.

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