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Relationship between victor and monster in frankenstein
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There are a variety of ways in which the main character, Victor, is punished by God for his vandalizm of nature. Personal guilt, depression, but most importantly, revenge against his creation. To begin, after Victor creates Monster, and neglects him, Victor is plagued with mental agony for what he has created. After Monster is created, Victor runs out of his apartment in fear due to his horrible image. Monster’s mutilated face is a prime demonstration on the consequences if nature is disturbed.
At first glance, Mary Shelley displays Victor’s creature as a blood-thirsty, grotesque monster, but as the story develops, it is revealed as pure and innocent, however it was corrupted due to the abuse and suffering that society caused him. Through this character development, Mary Shelley perhaps wanted to tell the readers that everyone is born righteous but they can be changed due to the actions of the people around them. Throughout the plot of the novel, the theme of rejection and isolation is discussed many times; however, in chapter 5, we see the beginning of the monster’s life and how his own creator rejecting him affects him. At first, Victor says “I had selected his features as beautiful.
Did his ‘perfect’ childhood cause Victor to have unrealistic images of what was supposed to be a ‘perfect’ human being? Does this then put the blame off of Victor for abandoning the monster? Either way, Victor has evidently influenced on the development of the monster’s violent nature and desire for revenge through complete rejection and abandonment of his own creation. Point 3: Society’s rejection + Rousseau Society’s hostility towards the monster and the resulting pain of loneliness and not belonging is another factor that motivates the monster to revenge. Rousseau also had a major influence on Shelley’s views of the nature nurture debate.
After the creature is finished explaining its story to Victor, there is a turning point in the novel. Victor realizes that he needs to take on some responsibility for his creation: “did I not as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow?”(Shelley 148). Victor also thinks, “…the justice due both to him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that I should comply with his request. ”(Shelley 150). Victor is finally understanding that he needs to take on some responsibility for this creature.
In the preceding volumes Shelley delved into the individual faults of Victor and The Creature. However, the theme of actions having consequences within this volume is reinforced through the collaborative efforts of these two characters. Consumed by the goal of enacting what they viewed as rightful vengeance, Victor and his Creation pursue each other relentlessly; To where Victor chases after The Creature and it somehow manages to elude him every time. Victor figured that it was his responsibility to end the creature’s life to atone for his wretched actions while The Creature saw his constant torment of Victor as revenge for how Victor abandoned him early on in his development. Shelley uses this intense rivalry to drive home her central theme, being how unchecked tendencies such as overambition, jealousy, and vengeance ultimately end up dictating one’s life instead of the other way around thus leaving one powerless.
Throughout the story, Victor faces a series of consequences as a result of his unethical behavior, which extend far beyond his personal pain and infect the lives of people around him. His reckless use of knowledge and abandonment of the creature resulted in the creature's loneliness and sense of rejection, causing its spiral into violence and vengeance against its creator. Frankenstein's failure to recognize the creature's rights and humanity increased its agony and fueled its need for vengeance. Additionally, his actions set off a chain reaction of disaster that affected not only himself but also his loved ones, demonstrating the ethical consequences of playing god and ignoring one's responsibilities as a creator. The devastating death of
Through the use of Parental Abandonment, Shelley initiates and almost justifies the fatal unchaining of malicious acts done by the hands of the monster, by depicting the events from both Victor’s and The Monsters’ point of view, resulting in The Creature being turned into the monster that everyone thinks him to be.
Throughout the entirety of the novel, nature is presented in a way that allows the characters to be restored and reach a more peaceful state of mind. Using the common style of nature being presented as a maternal presence, Shelley is able to use nature as an external force throughout the novel. One of the vital ways Shelley illustrates nature as an external character is by her use of seasons affecting specific characters in certain ways. Victor
( Shelley 45 ) This moment marks the beginning of his emotional turmoil, as the reality of his creation clashes with the idealized vision he once held. His guilt intensifies when he witnesses the devastation caused by the monster he brought to life. The creature's actions, driven by loneliness and rejection, become a mirror reflecting Victor's own moral shortcomings. One of the most poignant moments illustrating Victor's guilt occurs when he meets the monster in the mountains.
In the same way, while the creature is learning how to survive he finds a fire in the woods he “examined the materials of the fire, and to [his] joy found it to be composed of wood. [He] quickly collected some branches; but they were wet and would not burn” (Shelley 95). The creature is comprehending how to use nature and its impacts on mankind. This plot point thrills the creature to finally being able to use nature as humans do. In short, both Victor and the creature are inspired by nature appearing to change their mental state to a more positive
Just as the Romantics believed in nature providing a source of happiness for human kind, they also believed that nature, or ‘un-nature’ could too, be a source of misery. Victor’s creation, the monster, is an example of such misery. The monster despite his appearance as an unnatural being must be considered natural throughout the text, as he is living. Although born from unnatural circumstances with a heightened sense of capabilities to that of man, the monster shakes the artificial stigma by copying human nature. Providing an intellectual, and emotional voice, that begs for empathy from the reader.
The novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is a depiction of the Romantic Movement because the Romantic Movement was an era that rejected the idealistic and rationality that symbolized classicism and neoclassicism in particular. Romanticism was a response against the enlightenment era and against the eighteenth century logical way of thinking. Romanticism in brief highlighted the individuality and the subjectivity of literature (Britannica, 2017). Therefore, the Romantic Era people were freer to be themselves, they were not subject to logical thought – the people were able to think in a new way. While Mary Shelley was writing Frankenstein, she was only the age of nineteen years old.
After this, the creature becomes hard hearted and starts killing people to make Victor suffer for the lack of adoration he has felt since his birth. The need to make Victor suffer would not have been present if not influenced by a darker natured person. The proverb “we are what we dwell on” is the perfect saying to explain the turning of natures in this novel. A good natured person who is exposed only to dark nature becomes only what they see and/ or experience.
The interaction between Victor and nature help to exemplify the Gothic traits in the novel. Shelley shows that defying nature comes with consequences, such as misery and violence. When Victor is thinking of and planning on how to build the
Nature is quintessential to the concept of romanticism. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, during the late romantic period, used nature symbols when writing her novel. One of the major symbols in the novel is children. Children are a romantic symbol, as they display youth and innocence. During the period of romanticism, the natural purity of children stood out amongst the ever growing mechanical and scientific life of adults.
