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What Does It Means To Be Human In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Marry Shelley’s novel Frankenstein raises many critical humanities questions like the question,” What does it mean to be human?” along with many others. It also highlights individual responsibilities along with societies and how important it is socializing with others. In the novel, Victor Frankenstein, our protagonist creates a creature but as soon as this creature comes to life like he wanted it to, Victor gets scared and rejects it. This will not be the only time the creature experiences rejection; every time the creature tires to approach people to form a bond, people refuse to talk to him or start being violent towards him with the expectation of a blind man and Robert Walton. This blind man cannot judge the creature by its looks and is not frighten by him until his son …show more content…

When telling Victor everything he experienced the creature says, “Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (138); meaning that all these events he experienced mold him to be wicked and spiteful. Without human interaction, he becomes an actual monster, when he at first only craved company and longed a friend yet all he received was mistreatment and insults. When he saw Victor’s younger brother he thought “I could seize him, and educate him as a companion and friend…” (138), but sadly the boy was prejudice against his looks and insulted him, and shortly reveled he was a Frankenstein and the monster killed him out of spite. This shows the importance of social connections and just having someone to talk to and lean on. In a way, it is societies responsibility to care for the misfortune and treat them with not only respect but with kindness. However, in the story Victor had the biggest responsibility out of everyone to care for the creature he created. If he was not going to care for it nor have it cared for he should’ve destroyed it. Even his creation after suffering the rejection of a family he came to love exclaims,

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The old man didn 't judge him for having no friends or for being unable to see him, but instead said “Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate; but the hearts of men are full of brotherly love and charity."(105) This encouraged the creature to take more action by asking him and his family to be friends, but since the creature was only seen "monster" because of his appearance, the couple had begun to punch him, where he started to dash out of the cottage and was overcome with pain. This shows that the creature is only judge as not being a human, but if you stop to think and hear him, he is close enough to becoming a human being with his knowledge and

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80 Words | 1 Pages

Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein is a frame narrative of the life of Victor Frankenstein recorded by Robert Walton. It is circled around his creation of a monster that suffered a lonely life and wanted revenge for being created. In Frankenstein, Shelley portrays many big ideas but, one that continues to show importance is the idea of Human Needs and Desires. so, in the novel Mary Shelley presents the idea that all creatures have a basic need for friendship and love.

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687 Words | 3 Pages

The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

Many ideas about the requirements of personhood have been circulating throughout Earth’s history. Many relate to religion and spirituality, and many of the others either contribute to the people v. property debate of the abolition movement or the contemporary pro-life v. pro-choice debates. This paper will address a few of these proposed requirements and how they specifically relate to the Monster created by Victor Frankenstein in the popular novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley in a secular and non-endorsing manner. This character will then be juxtaposed with a character of a separate work: Lucky from Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.

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Frankenstein: Lack of Parenting Parenting is needed in every child’s life. It is one of the most important things that will help a child grow. In the same way though, children need good parenting.

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In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, it scrutinizes the punishments when a man creates life, and plays the role of God. Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

The monster is spurned by society because of his horrific appearance, his body, alone and hated, unfit for the company of strangers, just as Frankenstein fears he is. He is miserable which makes the hatred grow, as he says, “all men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” In fact, this wretchedness and enforced isolation is the monster’s main character trait, parallel to the isolation being Frankenstein’s biggest fear. Now that Victor is in college, he does not have his family to fall back upon for affection.

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An unsatisfied need for a sense of belonging transforms Frankenstein’s creature into the monster it ultimately becomes. Therefore, I argue that the predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the need for social belonging

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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).

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1511 Words | 7 Pages

In life there are many evils that will try to defeat a person but the key to living a happy, fulfilling life is learning to have empathy for others who are facing their own evils. Empathy is hard to have if a person has not endured any real struggles in their life. Being able to know firsthand how it feels to go through difficulties helps create a level of empathy that leads to compassion for one another. Victor Frankenstein is a prime example of someone who has faced evils in their own life but in the end did not find compassion for others, instead he found his own hell. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor’s lack of empathy opens the door into his world of selfishness, cruelty, and unhappiness.

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The monster continues by reassuring the creator of his independent intelligence and power over the creature by telling Frankenstein, “This you alone can do”. Here, the creature assumes a role of submissiveness and reliance on Frankenstein. Frankenstein’s monster gains the sympathy of the reader who, despite condemning the murder of innocent people, commiserate with the lonely creature who is in search of an acquaintance, which he will likely never find. The monster also displays power and aggressiveness over Frankenstein; “You are my creator; but I am your master; obey!” The monster wants to desolate Victor’s heart, not by killing him directly,

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656 Words | 3 Pages

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Virginia Brackett asserts in her analysis of the novel that “Due to the monster's rejection by the cottagers and other humans, Victor serves not only as his creator but also as the only social construct on which he can build his reality” As the creator of the creature, Victor adopted the responsibility of his creation and the duties that accompany it, however, instead of answering the call of duty he fled and disregarded his obligation to the creature. The creature

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929 Words | 4 Pages

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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Throughout the novel Victor and the Monster come across many relatable situations that they are forced to overcome. Victor Frankenstein had a very happy childhood, and he describes his parents as being “possessed by the very creature of kindness and indulgence”. Although Victor had a very happy childhood, these characteristics do not seem like the foundation of good moral character. Similarly Victor’s monster was not raised with the foundation of a good moral character. When the monster was first created he possessed more strength than he knew what to do with.

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