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Victor Frankenstein Selfish

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In the book “The Devil You Know”, British author Mike Carey famously writes, “We make our own monsters, then fear for what they show us about ourselves.” This notion suggests that monsters are not just fictional characters but can also represent the darker aspects of human nature. In literature, a monster is characterized as evil, frightening and grotesque in appearance or behaviour. A human could also be called a monster judging by their actions and what they have done. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein refers to Victor's creation as “the monster”, however, the true monster is Dr. Victor Frankenstein who abandons his creation and demonstrates monstrous qualities himself. He creates life for his own selfish reasons which ultimately leads to …show more content…

By prioritizing his own desires over the needs of others, he causes suffering to those closest to him and loss of trust, as seen when Victor refuses to reveal the truth about the monster and the deaths that have occurred to those he loves. Although Victor's motivations for creating life are initially noble, as he wants to discover how to overcome death, they quickly become selfish as he becomes obsessed with proving himself capable of such great achievements. Victor's creation …show more content…

Parenting is a complex and challenging task that requires commitment, responsibility and most importantly unconditional love. Those who fail to fulfill these responsibilities of parenthood must face the negative consequences in their children, as demonstrated by Victor's absenteeism to his creation. Dr. Frankenstein fails to take responsibility for his creation and its well-being, he’s absent in his life leaving him to the horrors of humanity and society. The monster is tasked to fend for himself in a world that is foreign and hostile with no support of any kind whether it be guidance, money, resources and more from his creator. Victor's disgusted and horrified upon breaking the barrier between man and God creating life from the dead saying, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 56). The quote highlights the emotional detachment towards his creation as he’s immediately repulsed by what he created and loses any sense of parental duty alongside his love for the natural philosophies. His repulsion towards the monster led him to abandon it, denying it the chance to have a meaningful and fulfilling life. In addition to Victor rejecting his creation due to physical appearance, he rejects

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His motives were never to create a being that would destroy life. Quote about innocent creation. His curiously of creating life led him into a predicament that he could not handle. Victor did not know that his creation would transform into a destructive monster that would cause even more death in his family. Obviously, Victor begins the novel as an innocent and curious man

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2028 Words | 9 Pages

His intellectual pruist for knowledge and obsession over his creation causes him to fixate on one thing. He was so consumed by his work that he cut off anyone and everyone to achieve his goal. The night following his creations' birth victor begins to show signs of paranoia. He overthinks what he has done and begins questioning what he has brought upon the world. His soul was filled with anxiety of the thought of what he had just done.

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1061 Words | 5 Pages

Mary Shelley’s famous novel, Frankenstein, has numerous lessons and themes embedded throughout the story. One very present theme in the story was duty. The leading character in the story, Victor, struggled to choose between his parental duty of his creature, and his duty to humankind. Ultimately, he succeeded with neither.

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1845 Words | 8 Pages

Jacob Opalka Mrs. Ramey 4 April 2016 English 12 CP Victor Frankenstein: a Deadbeat Father Figure (Rough Draft) One out of every three children living in America lives without a father figure in his/her lives. Children growing up without a father figure can develop emotional and/or behavioral problems. In some cases, these children even become aggressive and get into trouble with the law (“Statistics on the Father Absence” n.p.). Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, occurs in Geneva and Ingolstadt, and portrays Victor Frankenstein as a deadbeat father figure to his creation because he does not take responsibility for him, and he must ultimately deal with the consequences of his creature.

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675 Words | 3 Pages

Victor Frankenstein is selfish. Frankenstein succeeds in creating life, but at what cost? As evidenced when he said, “Scoffing devil! Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I omit my search for those who even now prepare for me the reward or my tedious toil and pilgrimage.

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1021 Words | 5 Pages

The Monster believes and mentioned several times that the reason that he is so angry is because of Victor. Shelley writes,

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1720 Words | 7 Pages

But these are not thoughts befitting me; I will endeavour to resign myself cheerfully to death, and will indulge a hope of meeting you in another world”(24). Victor shows the strong love of family in his childhood “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than [me]. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence” (Shelley,40), he raised with excellent conditions and with parents who loved their children, but we do not see that Victor gives this love to his creature and ignored him, notwithstanding the fact that the two figures shared many characteristics. As a result of Frankenstein 's darkness and ignorance toward his creature, he refused to accept the monster because of his physical appearance and Frankenstein sees the creature as if he were the monster when the creature

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601 Words | 3 Pages

It actually goes hand in hand with being selfish. Victor is a narcissist in the sense that he behaves as if the whole world revolves around him. In most his decisions, he does not think about anybody but himself (the consequences his actions could have on other people). For example, the monster once tells Victor, “I will be with you on your wedding night”. Most readers can easily understand that Elizabeth will be killed on their wedding night, but the creator only thought about himself.

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596 Words | 3 Pages

When people hear the word “monster”, most people imagine a massive, horrid, and grotesque figure that haunts people. While pondering what a monster is, mankind thinks of the outward appearance. Seldom do people think of man’s internal qualities as being barbaric or gruesome. Authors allow readers to create their own images of these terrifying beings. Frankenstein is a thought-provoking novel that empowers readers to have their own opinions about who the actual monster is and what it looks like.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

His experience with death persuaded him to continue on with mindset of creating the creature was best for the benefit of mankind. Without the tragic death of Victor’s mother, he would have not had continued in his endeavor to create the

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751 Words | 4 Pages

Selfish Desires Selfishness has caused the downfall of countless characters throughout a multitude of literary works. This selfishness is also what usually precedes a character’s isolation due to the consequences of their actions. One example of this can be found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein when Victor Frankenstein defies the natural order to accomplish his personal goals. Likewise, in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Mariner makes a fatal mistake of performing a selfish action without thinking of the consequences. These works use the character’s actions and the main characters to explore how selfish decisions leads to one’s own isolation and the destruction of those around them.

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1136 Words | 5 Pages

Because Victor turns a blind eye to the creation, he vows revenge against him and all the people Victor loves. Even though the man receives little guidance and support, he becomes a monster similar to Victor because of his choices to do evil: murder and take revenge. Critic Magill explains, “His revenge, although excessive, is motivated” (322). The creation could have the decency to move on with his life, but one factor prevents him. His appearance restrains him from having a normal life despite the capacity for love and affection he harbors in his heart.

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1852 Words | 8 Pages

When Victor’s mother dies, this familial dynamic shifts as a sudden lack of protection, which a child is able to easily interpret as (though unintentional) abandonment and neglect, which skews Frankenstein’s perception of parental figures and the requirement to stay. In turn, when he needs to take over the parental responsibilities of his creation, he does it without love while expecting love from the creature, and abandons any opportunities to create positive reactions with the creature. When Victor obsessively constructs life, which is driven by his life force to create life in the absence of a maternal presence, he explains that “[a] new species would bless [him] as its creator and source;

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1135 Words | 5 Pages

Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.

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1220 Words | 5 Pages

In 1818 Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a novel that follows Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious man on his journey to defy the natural sciences. In Volume I of the novel, Victor discusses his childhood, mentioning how wonderful and amazing it was because of how his family sheltered him from the bad in the world. “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me” (35). When Victor brings up his childhood, he suggests that parents play a strong in how their kids turn out, either "to happiness or misery" (35). In particular the main character was sheltered as a child to achieve this “happiness” leading to Victor never developing a coping mechanism to the evil in the world.

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