The Importance Of Actions In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” exposed the reader to a tragedy and horrific story of the life of Victor Frankenstein. We’re introduced to a series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister, that in which explains the story of Victor Frankenstein. A man determined to create life, accomplished the goal but soon led to his downfall. Throughout the novel, I learn that our actions can sometimes determine someone else’s fate. As shown in the many flashbacks of the multiple narratives of Victor, the creature and Walton. You see how each of their actions had impacted those around them. A creature, eight feet tall, brings fear to the eyes of those who see him. And Victore, a man who was once loved turned into a lonely man determined to fix his

Within the epistolary novel, the narrative changes from Walton to Victor, then the creature. This way, it shows different perspectives of how their lives had been affected by Victor’s actions. Another reason multiple narrators are used in the novel is to show separate events occurring at the same time but at different locations. It’s shown when the creature became the narrator and explains his story to victory about where he had been all those years and what he encountered after he was given life, while at the same time in another country, Victor fell ill and was taken care of by his best friend Clerval. The series of flashbacks used in the story was to show what led Victor aboard Walton’s ship. You see his life develop from a Happy child to a lonely adult dying aboard Walton’s ship in the arctic. The flashbacks serve to show the consequences of his actions and how his family and friends died in the process. Within Victor’s flashback, the creature himself became the narrator, explaining to Victor what led him to become the monster he is. Isolated and lacking a family, he sought love and acceptance from the DeLacey family, whom he had secretly learned many things from (language, history etc..), but was denied that love due to his appearance. His lack of love and family turned into Hatred and he desired revenge for all the misfortunes that was cast upon him after his creation. Furthermore, the story’s distorted time sequence can create confusion to the reader. It’s shown based on how the novel is set up, from the beginning with Walton meeting Victor, then flashbacking to victor’s past and actions, then another flashback of the creature explaining his action, then resume to Victor and led to the present (with them on the ship). To put it in a simpler way, the story is made up of Walton’s letters, that in which contains Victor’s story, which also contains