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Walton And Victor Frankenstein Foil

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Frankenstein has two minor characters that foil him through the novel. Robert Walton and Henry Clerval both exploit Frankenstein’s strengths and weaknesses through their personalities and actions. Robert Walton and Victor Frankenstein portray very similar characteristics in the novel. Mary Shelley introduces Robert Walton first, to foreshadow what Victor Frankenstein will be like. Both characters desire knowledge and power and are willing to go to the extremes to obtain it. Victor creates an unimaginable creature to prove his knowledge and conquer death while Walton sailing out at sea to find “inestimable benefit which I shall confer on all mankind” (2). As both are willing to go to the extremes, they do not have a permanent home, therefore no companion to …show more content…

As they both want to do big things in life, Henry focuses on moral relations to achieve success while Victor uses isolation as his tactic for achievement. Henry is adventurous and allows himself to live in the moment to soak in all the knowledge. Victor acknowledges the difference that “the delight of Clerval was proportionably greater than mine, his mind expanded in the company of men of talent” (150). In contrast, Victor keeps to himself, allowing himself to think and reason solemnly. On the trip to England, Victor experiences guilt for causing death to his loved ones and pressure to fulfill the promise to the monster, while Victor experiences happiness and able to fully enjoy the journey and nature surrounding him. Henry is selfless and kind-heart, even to Victor who ignored all his close friends for years at the university. Victor rants about how sweet Clerval is and that “the voice of Clerval soothed me, and I could thus cheat myself into a transitory peace” (147). Clerval always brought about the feeling of reassurance and serenity to Victor, even in mass chaos and

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In conclusion, Mary Shelly uses her great words and flow of her sentences to show how Victor has changed throughout the book. Victor at first seems happy and has a love of nature. In contrast, when the monster completes his revenge Victor is isolated from society and this causes him to have loneliness. Mary Shelly compares Victor to a romantic hero. He has some specific traits that apply both to the romantic hero and himself.

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Just as Satan is the snake in the Garden of Eden, Victor is the snake on Walton’s ship, both tempting humans in the pursuit of power and

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Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, shows how a character who is portrayed as a tragic hero, in the beginning, can become the monster in the end. Victor and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s captivating novel showed how rival enemies share striking similarities. The similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their dreary isolation from the secluded world. A large difference is that they were both raised in two completely different environments but understood the meaning of isolation. Physical differences are more noticeable rather than their personalities.

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"I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavoring to bestow mutual pleasure. I was now alone. In the university whither I was going I must form my own friends and be my own protector" (26). The isolated Victor is different in several ways including his manner, and the way he goes about his education, which is more focused and ultimately more obsessive. He has no one to comfort him and this leads to the madness of creating the monster.

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In James Davis’ literary essay “Frankenstein and the Subversion of the Masculine Voice,” he discusses the oppression of women and the minor roles of females in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. With a feminist perspective, Davis claims, “He [Victor Frankenstein] oppresses female generation of life and of text; he rends apart both the physical and the rhetorical ‘form’ of female creativity. In fact, all three male narrators attempt to subvert the feminine voice, even in those brief moments when they tell the women’s stories” (307). Throughout his essay, Davis demonstrates the underlying message of Shelly’s subversion towards men and the social consequences of misogyny. Davis draws parallels between the three men, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Victor’s creation, Frankenstein, in which they

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In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelly, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature. The creature and Victor Frankenstein have conflicts between each other, which is why Robert Walton is necessary to help the reader relate to Frankenstein, by having many of the same attributes are Victor Frankenstein does. Robert Walton has many similar traits to Victor Frankenstein, ultimately helping the reader greater relate to Dr. Frankenstein. Even though Frankenstein is viewed as a monster himself and Walton is considered a normal person.

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The novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley depicts certain ideas that can not be described or written within novels. For example, the telling of the story between three different narrators can teach the reader about putting together “pieces of a puzzle” in order to understand the plot of the story. The three narrators in Frankenstein are Victor, Walton, and the Creature, all with very distinct personalities and character traits. Of these storytellers, Victor could possibly be debated as the most extraordinary. The qualities that make Victor pictured as this unique character, that the fact that he is a dynamic character, and that he is an unreliable narrator.

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Victor is stirred by his work, but not in a positive manner. He goes on to explain his feelings towards the creature by saying, “… my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred” (136). Victor is so bewildered and repulsed by the creature that he misses key signs of violence, from the creature, that may have saved Victor’s family had he not been so

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Victor realizes that he has lost control of the monster’s actions and regrets not taking the proper precautions in seizing the monster when he has the opportunity. Ultimately, Victor is victimized. After the murder of Elizabeth, Victor reflects on the deaths of his loved ones and says, “The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife; even at that moment I knew not that my only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend” (174). Victor suffers watching his loved ones die one by one, yet lacking the ability to save them. Overall, Victor’s victimization is due to his timorousness dealing with his initial

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When he was just a boy, he met Henry Clerval and they became best friends. “I was indifferent, therefore, to my schoolfellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them.” They were friends until the creature killed Henry. Victor also had Elizabeth, his life partner. She lived a short life, due to the fact the creature killed her on the night of Victor and her wedding.

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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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These actions lead his family to suffering, and Victor loses his dear ones. Walton said to Victor, “feel his own worth, and the greatness of his fall”. His suffering is not without reason. Victor loses not only family, but also those who he cares for, Elizabeth, Justine and William, and best friend Clerval. Each of them are not only dear to him, but also symbolise the good in the world - love, bravery, morality, kindness, and innocence.

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While Victor is not literally alone, due to his family and best friend Henry Clerval, Victor understands himself to be emotionally imprisoned. As a result of this he resolves that he cannot communicate his emotions to the people who, on the surface seem to be the ones closest to Victor such as Clerval or his wife Elizabeth, but in all actuality, Victor comes to the conclusion that he must face his emotional turmoil alone. In his younger years, Victor would attempt to cope with his emotions by engrossing himself in his studies of science, biology and early genetics, however, by encompassing himself in his work he only solidifies himself as an outcast. Victor even displays the depth of his emotional solitude when he asserts “swelling as it proceeded, it became the torrent which, in its course, has swept away all my hopes and joys. Natural philosophy is the genius that has regulated my fate”(Shelley 27)

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The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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In Frankenstein, Shelley presents two characters who represent the different sides of the same character. The monster was a clear reflection of his creator because; they had the same development, same pain and suffering, and were recluses. Victor and the monster did not physically resemble each other, but they had the same personality and traits, therefore,

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