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Social Illusion In Frankenstein By Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is the story of how an irresponsible scientist named Victor Frankenstein brings a creature to life without considering all the repercussions that may occur. Victor was not prepared to face any challenges that came along with creating new life and he failed to meet any of his creatures' needs. Throughout the entire novel, the creature was given a negative connotation, but the reality of the situation was the creature is the victim despite any of the sinister actions that took place. The creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein lacks the social acceptance required to prosper as a functional member of society. Societal standards of beauty create a one-sided opinion in which the creature is viewed. From the …show more content…

Humans are social creatures and for one to be isolated will lead to major developmental delays. Furthermore, isolation greatly impacts one’s mentally and will lead to anxiety, depression as well as psychosis as found in Harry Harlow’s study, which was deemed inhumane due to the extensive damage induced, on the mentality of the primates. Additionally, as found with the case study on Genie Wiley, a girl that was locked in her bedroom for the first thirteen years of her life without contact to the outside world, once a person is isolated the person cannot regain the basic development factors necessary to become a functional member of society. There is also a self-fulfilling prophecy that comes along with identifying oneself. As found in several studies on gang members, a major reason why gang members are so violent is that they feel the need to fill the image in which they are given. Also, Charles Horton Cooley found that people’s identity is shaped based off of how others perceive them. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs highlights the specific developmental factors a person has to go through within their life. According to Abraham Maslow, social acceptance is the third stage of life a person has to reach at least one in their lifetime in order to fully develop. Although one can skip a level on the pyramid of hierarchy they will eventually have to return to the missing step in their lifetime, but if a person is denied

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In the modern world, when a person hears about Frankenstein, they think of an abhorrent and detestable monster, but that is not the case. In the book, “Frankenstein”, by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein is a scientist that pursues his dream of reviving a human. Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, conducts a series of experiments and creates a monster. Abhorred by his creation, he leaves the monster. Through desolation and isolation, the monster is driven by society and Frankenstein to commit crimes.

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Joseph Aharoni Period 6, 10/2/14 Frankenstein: Misunderstood Monster Throughout the course of Frankenstein, Victor’s creation struggles to find a purpose and his own self definition. Tossed into the world with absolutely no guidance, hated by every living being he encounters, and remorseful of his own wicked deeds, the Creature shapes one of the most contradictory and enigmatic characters experienced in literature. The way that Victor and the Creature view each other, as well as themselves, shifts drastically throughout the course of the story, and ultimately the decision of whose beliefs are more correct is arbitrary to each reader. I find more truth in the Creature’s view of himself as opposed to Victor’s.

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the story of a young man named Victor Frankenstein who does the unthinkable, creates life from dead flesh. Victor is a young, educated and wealthy member of society who grows up in a loving home with high standards of ethics and morality. He creates a creature out of impulse with little thought of its future well-being and abandons it carelessly. The creature is left to discover life without teaching or direction. Only when the creature impacts Victor’s life, by taking away his loved ones, is Victor forced to deal with the consequences of his own actions.

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To try and categorize something that does not yet exist is impossible, and in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, categorizing the existence of Victor Frankenstein's creature is no less troubling. Throughout the novel the creature is described to the reader from the point of view of Victor, but to only consider this perspective would be wrong. Through the murders of William, Henry Clerval, and Elizabeth, Victor can only see the creature as a creator of chaos and not as the creation that he should have helped assimilate into human society. Frankenstein’s creature must thus take matters into its own hands and work towards being accepted by both Victor and the rest of society. Unfortunately, the creature’s failed attempt in assimilating only causes grief

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In Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the creature 's acquisition of knowledge leads to his diversion from benevolence to pure hatred towards mankind. The works of Victor Frankenstein, the monster was created by old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a spark making him come to life. The Creature enters life as an eight-foot giant only to have been created with the intellect of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, the Creature attempts to integrate himself into society only to be shunned away in disgust by humanity. The Creature then makes his way and lives next to a human family which is essentially the start for the creatures detestation towards humanity.

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The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

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In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature is an outcast in society, without a friend in the who world is thrust away by humanity due to his appearance. The creature devolves due to a series of events feeling different emotions for the first time in his life. These experiences due to the fact his creator, Victor Frankenstein turns his back on the creature leaving him to his own instincts on learning how to survive and integrate into society. devices to learn how to survive. becoming helpless, discouraged leading into leading into retaliation of anger and violence.

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Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply. The creature was known as a monster and was doomed due to his appearance.

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Throughout the novel of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s creation has many similarities of a human being. To start, the creature wants someone to care for him and to be accepted. For example, the creature states, “ you must create a femal for me with whom i can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.” (Shelly 104) In short, the creature needs attention and compassion.

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Perhaps, if a human such as Frankenstein had accepted the creature, onlookers would have had an easier time welcoming someone with his appearance into their presence. Society’s false perception of what makes someone “normal” is what altered their first impression of The Creature. People had a hard time distinguishing the difference between mind and body, which resulted in The Creature’s undesired abandonment and a gut filled with hatred towards his creator. In contrast, Victor Frankenstein refers to his family in a positive way several times throughout the novel.

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The creature is wretched from the moment he is given life, and is immediately abandoned by his creator (34). He is rejected and hated, for no reason other than the fact that he exists, by no choice of his own, but rather as the result of Frankenstein’s obsession with knowledge. The first time he is even privy to any show of kindness is after he has fled and hidden himself in a cellar. He has no capacity for language and has only known fear and disdain. He receives his education by watching a poor, but gentle family as they interact with one another.

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Simultaneously, Victor failing to take responsibility for his own creation leads the creature down a path of destruction that manufactures his status as a societal outcast. The creature's dissolution from society, his search for someone to share his life with, the familiarity with intense anguish, his thirst for retribution, each of these traits coincide with Victor as he is depicted throughout the novel. Victor unknowingly induces his own undoing through his rejection of the creature. Shelley foreshadows his downfall by stating that “the monster still protested his innate goodness, blaming Victor’s rejection and man’s unkindness as the source of his evil” (Shelley 62) The creature essentially places Victor at fault for the creature becoming an outcast of society, by expressing this Shelley constructs a very austere portrayal of man’s contact with outsiders.

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The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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1941 ) makes noteworthy statements in her essay ‘Making a ‘Monster’: An introduction to Frankenstein’. According to her, the entire novel is a consequence of “Victor’s total failure as a parent”. Agreeing to the argument, I would like to point out how the entire novel is based on the relationship of the selfish irresponsible parent-Victor Frankenstein and the abandoned child- The Monster. While Mary Shelley creates a horrific creature to physically contrast it to the entire human race, she provides various character similarities between the creator and the created; this provides a new perspective to view the characters from.

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The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a science fiction story about a creature created from non-living matter, by a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The conflict between society and Frankenstein’s creature is largely perpetuated by a split between those considered attractive, and those who are not. The conflict and language use in Frankenstein demonstrate that most of society judges others based on their physical appearance, which leads to excluding those who fall outside the accepted definition of beauty and sometimes life-threatening consequences for both groups. Frankenstein and his parents demonstrate that they also fall victim to the habit of judging others initially based off of their appearance. The Frankenstein parents first

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