The Role Of Perfection In Frankenstein

Seeking Perfection Many people strive to be the best version of themselves they can be, putting every aspect of their life on hold in order to become as close to the idea of perfection as they can. Although, this idea cannot be reached because it is merely just a thought or obsession in order to succeed. Dr. Jekyll, Victor Frankenstein, and Prometheus all understand this concept very well. They constantly test every limit possible in order to try and achieve the safe haven of perfection and acceptance, going as far as to waste their entire being doing so. Obsession is an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind. All three characters devote their lives to fixing their situation back to “perfection”.

Many people long to be perfect and feel accepted and achievement through how other people view them. Dr. Jekyll lived his life trying to appear as perfect, he was depicted as a perfect Victorian gentleman and respected doctor. In order to try and fit in with the Victorian society, Jekyll bottled his emotions. "And indeed, the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public" (Stevenson 55). Jekyll spent day in and day out creating a potion and injecting himself with it to appear perfect to society. He wanted to keep his clean reputation while his other evil persona Hyde longed to be released. He became reclusive in his own house, losing good friends, murdering innocent people and ultimately wasting his whole life. This battle between his two personas leads to his life wasted. His life was already gone before he physically ended his life. Unlike Jekyll, Victor Frankenstein didn't care as much as to appear perfect to other people, but he wanted to show society what he was capable of doing. He wanted to be the first to intervene with the cycle of life in order to protect people from death. He devoted his life to his experiments and the work they required, causing him to lose all connection to the outside world. He became blinded to what was happening around him and ended up causing exactly what he was trying to prevent,