ipl-logo

Symbolism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1625 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on victor Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein attempted to create life without truly understanding life’s implications. Throughout Frankenstein’s relentless pursuit of knowledge it becomes painfully apparent that he has become consumed with his task. In becoming consumed he neglects his humanity and many conventional morals. In their place he instead focusing on self-glorification and personal prowess. He blindly and dangerously pursues the knowledge of the creation of life without maintaining the necessary morals to successful complete his research. In the novel Frankenstein the author Mary Shelley conveys a theme about the dangers of scientific pursuits when they are unguided by strict morals through allusion, characterization, …show more content…

The outward appearance of the monster is symbolic of the inward state of Frankenstein’s soul. Frankenstein already has the soul of a monster, which is evident through his selfish motives. All Frankenstein needs is to have a monstrous appearance, then there would be no question on if he was a monster. The monster’s personality is in many ways more innocent than Frankenstein, but due to Frankenstein’s poor morals when it comes to the creation of life, the monster is also more to be feared (Bloom). The monster in and of itself is more human than Frankenstein because of his mentality. Victor Frankenstein’s mind is completely focused on himself which is symbolic of his lack of morals. This mentality stays with Victor throughout the entire novel from him ignoring his family while he is creating the monster to him assuming the monster will attack him which causes Elizabeth’s death. Frankenstein is completely obsessed with science and cares little for anything else, “In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you and there is nothing more to know: but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery” (Shelley 30). Here Frankenstein’s hunger for knowledge trues him into an animal, voraciously searching for answers. Due to this it is no surprise that his creation of life is a monster. He does not dwell on whether this form of science should be taken on, as he is solely focused on his ability preform this experiment. There is no moral backing for Frankenstein to take on this project. For Frankenstein, “The creation of life is of purely theoretical interest to Frankenstein: he thus conceives of life with blunt disregard for its specifics” (Hustis). Frankenstein’s rushed process produces a rushed result, a result that is symbolic of the error in his ways. The symbolism of the relationship between monster and creator

Show More
Related
828 Words | 4 Pages

In the end, Frankenstein can 't help but blame the creation. He never offers any affection towards the poor creature. All of the death and turmoil tie back to Victor and his blind ambition and fear of real responsibilities. The creature had simply had experiences that morphed his personality and drove him to terrible acts. If Frankenstein had simply taken care of the creation and gave him the correct guidance, lots of needless death could have been

Read More
146 Words | 1 Pages

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley has been an American classic for almost 200 years, which contains both philosophical and moral themes in the text, making the reader question the limits of humankind and its desire for power. For every character presented in the story their independent desire to overcome their intentions becomes so intense that the future that lies upon them is nothing close to what they can imagine. Victor Frankenstein´s desire to quench his thirst for power ends up clouding his judgement and making him elude the future that awaits him. As Victor´s intention to succeed in natural sciences grow to an abnormal point, his judgement about what to do with that knowledge didn't let him contemplate the future consequences

Read More
1037 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1380 Words | 6 Pages

A writer named Nikita Gill once said “When you see a monster next, always remember this. Do not fear the thing before you. Fear the thing that created it instead.” This quote can be related to the novel Frankenstein where instead of the actual creature being perceived as the monster, the person who created it deserves to be called one. Using the archetypal lens, Victor can be seen as the real monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from his cruel characteristics, continuous patterns of monstrosity, as well as symbols and themes involving nature.

Read More
245 Words | 1 Pages

Frankenstein became obsessed with creating life from an early age. He had a great curiosity of creating life and thought it would be good for the world if he could find a way to create life or cheat death. In the book Frankenstein, Victor said, “Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember" (pg 49-50). From Frankenstein earliest moments he had desired to study the origins of life. Frankenstein thought it would have been good for humanity and it would lift Victor up in the eyes of the creatures he created as stated, “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their

Read More
1083 Words | 5 Pages

The classic novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley in 1818, displays the use of literary devices, foreshadowing, allusions and figurative language, which aid the reader in understanding the authors opinion on scientific exploration. These techniques are used to arouse anticipation within the reader, therefore engaging them throughout the text. Along with providing a greater understanding of the novel, by referring to other books, and using the novel to portray the authors own perspective on scientific exploration. All these devices are effectively used within the novel to provide a deeper understandings of Mary Shelley’s work. Add scientific exploration here-

Read More
1000 Words | 4 Pages

Victor questions why men so instinctively attempt to become superior to nature when men are also a product of nature. He criticizes that if humans reverted to our primal instincts, “hunger, thirst, and desire” (67) that we’d be free, or content with our lives. This is his subliminal self-reflection as he understands that seeking the secret to life, by creating the monster, did not bring him happiness but rather brought him misery and self-loathing. In this last line of the passage, Shelley highlights a major morale and theme of the story which is using science to tamper with nature, a critique against the enlightenment period. The consequences of Frankenstein’s creation have not only caused the death of William and Justine but will also become the reason for his own inevitable doom

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, readers follow the life of scientist Victor Frankenstein and his creation. The accomplishment of creating life is quickly overshadowed by Victor’s lack of responsibility regarding the monster’s needs. Victor doesn’t give it respect or love. Society’s rejection of the monster is responsible for his evil tendencies.

Read More
1921 Words | 8 Pages

The fictional horror novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is driven by the accentuation of humanity’s flaws. Even at the very mention of her work an archetypal monster fills one’s imagination, coupled with visions of a crazed scientist to boot. Opening her novel with Robert Walton, the conduit of the story, he also serves as a character to parallel the protagonist’s in many ways. As the ‘protagonist’ of the story, Victor Frankenstein, takes on the mantle of the deluded scientist, his nameless creation becomes the embodiment of a truly abandoned child – one left to fend for itself against the harsh reality posed by society. On the other hand, Walton also serves as a foil to Victor – he is not compulsive enough to risk what would be almost

Read More
679 Words | 3 Pages

The monster in Frankenstein is the one who is hated because of his ugliness. His form is unpleasant, but his spirit may be human. There are two-sided about this. Most people consider that the monster in the story is not a human, in my view he is true human. Most people consider that the monster in the story is not a human because of his birth and vitality.

Read More
758 Words | 4 Pages

(Shelly 42, 43) Here, the effects of his continued pursuit of knowledge and neglect of well-being is shown evidently. Once Frankenstein creates the monster, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge is frightened into silence. He then presently returns to the outside world,

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creature, both display a sense of moral ambiguity. Each character has committed both good and evil alike, and neither knew the consequences of what they had done. However, Victor Frankenstein is generally the morally ambiguous character by his treatment of his creation and his own imperious personality. He wanted to be able to help science by recreating life or bringing it back, but at the same time, he did not want to consider the consequences of doing so. Victor tries to prove himself as a good moral character in the relationship between his creation and himself.

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Previous to the existence of the monster, readers are introduced to an ambitious, benevolent Victor Frankenstein. He exuded an excitement and passion about learning, though only for very specific subjects. “My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn.” (Shelley 19) Though his studies on creating life artificially had eventually grown tiresome—“My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had

Read More
1420 Words | 6 Pages

ENG-3U0 November 20 2015 Frankenstein: The Pursuit of Knowledge Throughout the course of their individual journeys, Victor Frankenstein’s extreme passion for gaining knowledge about creating life, Robert Walton’s curiosity to discover land beyond the North Pole and the monster’s eagerness to obtain knowledge about humans was the principal cause of each of their suffering. As such, In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the pursuit of knowledge is a dangerous path which leads to suffering. Victor Frankenstein develops a keen interest in discovering knowledge about living beings which ultimately results in his personal suffering as well as others suffering. To begin with, Victor embarks on an assignment through combining body parts and following various

Read More

More about Symbolism In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Related Topics

Open Document