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The Exploration Of The Strangers In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Many people wonder what is out there, but there are reasons why people shouldn't rush into exploring the unknown. In Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, three storytellers who are also the main characters tell the reader about their life stories. One main character named Robert Walton goes on an exploration to the north pole. On his expedition, he meets a stranger named Victor who tells Robert about his strange story of how he created life in the form of a creature. Victor explains how this creature, which he had created, had to raise himself and that this creature ended up killing most of his family. As a result, Victor is determined to kill this evil creature. Through this story, Mary Shelley teaches many lessons but some are more important …show more content…

Robert Walton physically explores the unknown by setting off on a voyage to the North Pole. He wants to uncover the mystery of the compass by sailing through the Arctic Ocean. He learns how to sail and reads about other people who have made this journey before, but he doesn'tt consider the dangers that he might face on this journey. Robert and his crew get surrounded by ice, and they don’t know if they will make it out alive. He didn't bring necessary supplies for their escape. Robert is put in an uncomfortable situation of whether to turn back or pursue his dreams. In the book Frankenstein, Robert says, “There is something terribly appalling in our situation, yet my courage and hopes do not desert me. Yet it is terrible to reflect that the lives of all these men are endangered through me. If we are lost, my mad schemes are the cause” (Shelley 158). He is feeling bad for his men because if the ship goes down it would be all his fault because of his lack of planning for the consequences. In the end, he learns for his mistake and takes the crew’s opinions into consideration and decides to turn back. On this expedition, Robert met a new friend named Victor Frankenstein who told Robert about his sad and scary life story involving problems caused by scientifically exploring the

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6.How does Victor’s male ambition lead to dire consequences? Victor was blinded by his male ambition and neglected the outcomes of his desire. Men are thought to be able to achieve anything they put their mind to, that their conquest for knowledge and drive would ultimately be rewarded with the same level of success. Mary Shelley challenges this idea, showing that even the most driven people can also have their goals lost. Victor did not see that his neglection of the monster would result in the monster’s revenge.

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Victor Frankenstein's obsession with creating life is fueled by his desire to unlock the secrets of the universe, but he fails to consider the consequences of his actions. He becomes so consumed by his research that he loses sight of the humanity that should guide scientific inquiry. As a result, his creation becomes a monster that threatens the very fabric of society. Furthermore, the novel also highlights the dangers of the pursuit of knowledge without regard for the consequences.

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A timeless human goal has always been to set visionary goals to advance the coming generations. Although many results can be successful, a great number of them can turn out deadly. In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley illustrates the result of a man’s visionary motive of creating life, which consequents into the birth of the deadly creature. The creatures understanding of justice is based on eliminating anyone or anything preventing him from reaching his goal; accordingly, his actions to attempt revenge upon Victor only led to his downfall throughout the novel. The creature’s understanding of justice and it’s revenge against Victor is the driving force of the story because it builds up the anticipation the reader has for the final confrontation.

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„I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me; whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend” (Shelley 163-164). This is the wish of the scientist Robert Walton whose letters start Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. Unlike the first thoughts coming to mind when hearing the title, friendship is one of the main topics in the story and the wish Walton expresses in the beginning stands for the desires of all the main characters. Not only Walton feels to be in need of companionship, the central character Victor Frankenstein does so too and even the Creature he brings into being expresses its strong wish to belong to someone.

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In the novel “Frankenstein”, written by Mary Shelley in 1818, illustrates the human nature in which consists of ambition versus responsibility as well as innocent versus evil. At the beginning of the story, Captain Robert Walton is introduced as the first character by narrating in the series of letters that he writes to his sister, Margaret Saville. Walton functions as a foil character for Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist and main narrator. By contrasting and highlighting Victor’s characteristics in the book, they have similarities in the desire of acknowledgment in achievement, loneliness, and differences in the realization of life.

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Throughout the novel, these characters toil with the pursuit of forbidden knowledge by suffering through the ramifications of their decisions to satisfy their desires. The author implies that blind ambition can lead to the downfall of beings who don’t limit their curiosity. These endeavors include determining the secret of life as well as its creation, discovering a passage in the North Pole, and learning to understand one’s place in the world. Victor Frankenstein suffers from the cost of knowledge by allowing his thirst for the unknown to exceed his limits. In like manner, he pushes his own limits and spends countless nights working to construct his creature even though he is cautioned that only God is capable of creating life.

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When writing any piece of fiction, an author 's choice of narrative voice has a huge impact on how readers experience the story. From the slightly less personal yet versatile third-person to the narrow, limited view of first-person, the narrative voice literally provides the voice of literature. It affects which characters the reader really connects with, the opinions that influence them, the knowledge they have, and numerous other aspects. While most authors stick with only one tense, Mary Shelley challenged that standard in Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Shelley changes her narrative voice numerous times in order to fully develop all aspects of the story through Walton 's letters, Frankenstein 's story, the Monster 's story, and also the

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In his second letter to his sister, Margaret Saville, he wishes for a friend he could bond with. “You may deem me romantic, my dear sister, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend. I have no one near me, gentle yet courageous, possessed of a cultivated as well as of a capacious mind, whose tastes are like my own, to approve or amend my plans.” Robert Walton was pleased to have Victor on board and connect with him. Frankenstein is intelligent and well educated, like Walton, and took Robert’s interest.

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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

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After Frankenstein experiences the death of Elizabeth, he understands that he is the cause of all the deaths in his family and promises to seek revenge on his creation. All the guilt he has turns into anger and fuels his impulse for revenge on the monster. He very passionately and assuredly describes his anger when he says, “My revenge is of no moment to you... I confess that it is the devouring and only passion of my soul,” (217) and promises to seek justice for what he believes is rightfully his. Frankenstein travels to the ends of the world to enact the revenge he thinks he deserves.

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(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,

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Victor was a lonely guy and all he wanted was a friend so he took science to the extreme. All throughout Mary Shelley's novel she tells a story about how Victor the creator is clearly the real monster and his creation is the victim. Victor

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Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the conflict between Victor and the creature, specifically their predatory relationship in their pursuit of revenge, to emphasize how revenge will consistently push or even exceed moral boundaries. The conflict between Victor and his creature is outlined in Frankenstein through the monster’s attempt to hurt Victor through the killing of William and Victor’s destruction of the creature’s future mate, representing how revenge often cultivates a normalization of immorality. Before William’s murder, the monster had been rejected by the DeLaceys and shot at for saving a young girl from drowning. As a result, the creature’s wish for revenge upon all

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The book begins with the character Robert Walton, a captain of a ship. He is also on a journey to discover the unknown. Walton begins this journey very eagerly saying, “These are my enticements, and they are sufficient to conquer all fear of danger or death...” (Shelley 2).

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This quote makes it apparent that Victor regrets his decision to heavily pursue knowledge and create his monster, clearly showing that the path that he embarked on was one that resulted in severe suffering. In conclusion, it is clear that Victor Frankenstein’s intentions are pure, however he is unaware that his pursuit of knowledge directly leads to his personal suffering. Robert Walton, similar to many explorers during his time, is ambitious to discover land beyond the North Pole. However, to reach this goal, he has to walk the dangerous path of acquiring knowledge. Walton’s goal, which is to reach the North Pole, requires him to captain a ship which travels through thick and thin.

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