ipl-logo

The Influence Of Actions In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

635 Words3 Pages

T.F Hodges once wrote, “What surrounds us is what is within us.” Hodges implies humans are impacted by their surroundings, especially their thoughts and actions. This concept is prevalent in the book Frankenstein, as Mary Shelley uses death and pain to influence her characters’ actions. Using these events, Shelley proves that individuals change through their experiences. As Victor loses his friends and loved ones, he loses his humanity, therefore supporting the notion of experience shaping an individual’s personality. While telling Walton about his experiments, Victor says, “If my incantations were always unsuccessful, I attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake, than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors” …show more content…

After discovering the DeLacey family is having problems keeping their house warm, the monster “took [Felix’s] tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 102). This action shows that the monster sympathizes with the cottagers and actively tries to remedy their problems. Furthermore, the monster also tries to help others, his reward being the person’s pleasure. However, these actions took a sharp turn after saving a girl from drowning: “I had saved a human being from destruction, and, as a recompense, I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound” (Shelley 133). As he tries to save the girl, he is shot by another person, causing him to lose trust in humankind. Due to the monster being shot for trying to help, the monster soon becomes wrathful and wants retribution on those who scorned him. Soon after being shot, the monster’s prior emotions give way to “hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 133). As a consequence of the experience, the monster loses all positive feelings about mankind and becomes vengeful. Similar to Victor, the monster becomes focused on taking revenge and loses his humanity due to these events. As the monster undergoes these

Show More
Related

The Right Decisions In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

107 Words | 1 Pages

People are often very intuitive, they gets feelings that motivate them to make decisions regardless of if they are morally right or not. They are able to make the right decisions, maybe not for the betterment of themselves, but for the betterment of all humans in general. In the story “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley Victor Frankenstein is given a choice. He is given the choice to either create the monster he created a wife, or be tormented and undoubtedly have more of his family killed. Victor at first agrees, he is promised by the creature that they will travel to South America and be away from

Read More

Isolation In Frankenstein Essay

758 Words | 4 Pages

Emotional and physical isolation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein are the most pertinent and prevailing themes throughout the novel. These themes are so important because everything the monster, Victor, and Robert Walton do or feel directly relates to their poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the three.

Read More

Literary Devices In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

271 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, Robert Walton is on a voyage to discover unexplored knowledge. While on this journey he finds Victor Frankenstein, who tells the reader of his own journey to discover the unknown. In this novel, Mary Shelley employs literary devices such as repetition, imagery, and rhetorical questions to provide meaning to the audience. For example, the author uses repetition to emphasize Elizabeth’s confidence. Expressing her frustration with the situation Elizabeth repeats, “But she was innocent.

Read More

What Role Does Inaction Play In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?

1122 Words | 5 Pages

The book of Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary W. Shelly during the romantic era. This novel started as a dream that the author had one night. She later turned her dream into a short story. This novel was written during the era that created a movement for art, music, and culture. The overall theme of this book fits the romantic era through the actions of the main character, Victor Frankenstein, and his desire for knowledge.

Read More

The Consequences Of Actions In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1265 Words | 6 Pages

The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley says a person is responsible for their actions if they do not weigh the possible consequences of their actions before making their final decision. Throughout the novel, Mary Shelley shows the consequences of actions that are done without proper thought beforehand. Victor Frankenstein wants to create life, he wants to be god, and his lust for this goal overtakes his common sense. Victor rushes into making his creature and then makes rash decisions which also contributes to his demise and the death of several of his close friends and family. The monster should be held responsible for his actions to a certain extent, however, his actions are influenced by Victor’s initial impetuous decisions.

Read More

Motifs And Techniques In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

769 Words | 4 Pages

Would you hurt or abandon a baby? In the fictional novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley the main character Victor Frankenstein believes that he can bring life to a body he makes from human parts. He does successfully create this creature but ends up being terrified and disgusted by it so he runs and abandons it. The creature then departs in solitude and later sets out for revenge against Victor for abandoning him. Shelley conveys the creature as a child learning about life using several different techniques in order for the audience to feel sympathy towards it.

Read More

The Island Vs Frankenstein

1141 Words | 5 Pages

This makes the monster feel unwanted, which is a very human response. In all efforts to reach his creator, the monster fails and to illustrate his anger, he starts his revenge by taking the lives of the relatives of Victor but also the people that fear

Read More

How Does Mary Shelley Use Language In Frankenstein

570 Words | 3 Pages

He confesses that once Victor deserted him, he was scared and alone. He expresses how hurt he was to learn that his appearance terrifies regular folks. His account of saving a small girl and receiving a bullet for his pains displays his inclination to aid those weaker than himself and arouses our fury at society's unjustifiable harshness toward him. These stories demonstrate his empathy for and covert assistance with the cottagers. Even the monster's account of William's murder makes the compelling case that the monster's rage at Victor was what ultimately led to the crime; this is by no means an excuse, but it is at least a plausible psychological explanation.

Read More

Loss Of Humanity In Frankenstein Essay

1019 Words | 5 Pages

This shows the humanity in the monster and his tendency to be amiable. He was also able to learn from his mistakes. For example, the creature realized that he needed to stop stealing the family’s supplies after he noticed how much they needed them. Victor, however, didn’t learn from his mistake of creating the monster, and created another. The monster also refers to the family in the cabin as “[his] friends” when they didn’t know of his existence (103).

Read More

Mary Shelley's Influence On Frankenstein

186 Words | 1 Pages

Mary Shelley was on a trip through Europe, the actual area that Frankenstein took place, when she got the inspiration for Frankenstein. This gave her the setting for her story. Other factors that influenced her writing were, “scientists like Humphry Davy and her father's bosom friend William Nicholson, the two foremost experimenters with galvanic electricity in the early years of the nineteenth century. These figures especially would later have a noticeable impact on the writing of Frankenstein.” (https://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/frankenstein/MShelley/bio)

Read More

Literary Techniques In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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

The Influence Of Nature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

1191 Words | 5 Pages

Numerous research has concluded that several emotional bonds exist between humanity and nature that can impact everything from attitude to anxiety. Novels of the romanticism period, a significant literary era that encompassed most European works written in the early 1800’s, are most known for describing the impacts that nature has on people and implying that unexpected consequences can arise out of this relationship; Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a prime example of such a novel. The prime conflict of this 1818 science-fiction story occurs between the titular character, Victor Frankenstein, and a monster he creates through his own scientific innovations. Because of Victor’s abandonment of the monster, it becomes intent on destroying the scientist’s

Read More

Analysis Of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Thirst For Knowledge

412 Words | 2 Pages

A thirst for knowledge, such as that of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's classic novel, "Frankenstein", can be consuming and deadly even. When one becomes too attached to the idea of "playing" God, their pursuit of knowledge can become a dangerous affair that drives them to be consumed, negligent of their human needs, and blind to the detrimental consequences of their actions. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” goes on to show that an innocent attempt at seeking knowledge and breaking new grounds can lead to unpredictable dangers and uncontrollable insanity for that matter. In the novel, Dr. Frankenstein develops and interest in the sciences and ultimately creates a goal for himself of creating life. Frankenstein becomes frustrated

Read More

Frankenstein By Mary Shelley: Character Analysis

1114 Words | 5 Pages

Imagine being looked at and automatically being assumed in the most negative, narcissistic way possible; this was what Frankenstein's unnamed monster faced throughout his life. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster that Dr. Frankenstein made is experiencing this exact problem, even though he did nothing to deserve that treatment. The book Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, conveys a strong message of people always relying on their own experience and ideas before objectively seeing a situation for what it really is; this can directly be seen with the saving of a girls life, the monsters interaction inside the hovel, and the ending sequences with Walton. An event that expresses the theme seen in Frankenstein is the saving of the young girl’s

Read More

An Analysis Of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: From Benevolent To Feind

1246 Words | 5 Pages

Frankenstein: From Benevolent to Feind “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” (Shelley 69) Said by Frankenstein’s monster, this quote truly defines him: initially an affectionate, love-seeking creature, he transformed into an enraged killer, angry at humanity for the undeservedly poor way he was treated. Victor Frankenstein is an unique, complex individual who encounters a similar change of nature for similar reasons. The quote—though spoken by the monster—encapsulates the evolution of Victor Frankenstein’s personality; misery—a product of isolation and loneliness—aroused a deterioration of temperament from an initially benevolent Frankenstein.

Read More

More about The Influence Of Actions In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Related Topics

Open Document