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Who Is Victor's Motivation In Frankenstein

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Thesis: In Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, the obscure principles of good and evil interact and depend on each other through the character of Victor Frankenstein and his creation of the monster as an extension of his dark raw instincts and emotions. On the surface, Victor Frankenstein appears to be a kind and good human being, merely a tragic hero, but in truth, beneath Victor's benevolent surface lies his egotistical motivation. This is shown in the beginning of the novel in Victor’s purpose for creating the monster. Initially, Victor's purpose could be mistaken as good for he states that "in the process of time... [he] might renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption." (Shelley 54) The thought of reviving …show more content…

No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs." (Shelley 54) Victor clearly desires to be thought of as a creator and to have beings owe their lives to him. This heretical thought demonstrates how clearly his motivation for the monster became. This unhealthy motivation of pride manifests itself deep into his soul to the point where it consumes his every move and thought. Elizabeth, Victor’s one love, notices this and asks, “Have we lost the power of rendering you happy?” (105). His obsession and madness became visibly clear to the outside world and were no longer only present inside. Additionally, Victor desires awe and fame and wants to ensure that his name is marked down in history, for he states, "while I …show more content…

The fact that Victor emphasizes the individual effort and the amount of pride present in his discover portrays the egotistical underlying reality in his scientific purpose. This shows a side of his where he thinks that he, above of all, is a supreme being, and that he has made the single-most fantastic discovery that must be made known to the world. Frankenstein's monster, though often depicted as a cruel, unfeeling monster, is neither one dimensional or easily labeled for he not only displays clear signs of evil, but also demonstrates a strong sense of emotions, remorse, and kindness. In the beginning of his development, it is made clear how much his surrounding environment affects him. Everywhere he turns, people run in fear of him, always showing signs of disgust and hatred. The monster’s first interaction with humanity was Victor’s flight after laying eyes upon him. The very first interaction with human kind, was an act of repulsion, only to be repeated continually throughout the monster’s life. Again, the monster meets repulsion in his

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

At first, Victor is horrified by his creation but eventually becomes more and more like it. With a desire to destroy each other both are left alone to come up with a plan of revenge since they took each other's most prized possessions. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster that he creates are alike in ways he didn’t expect them to be. For example, Victor creates the Monster to be like himself. Anger is a trait that Victor and the Monster gain because it is brought up in the society around them.

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1361 Words | 6 Pages

The Creature’s Unjustified Morals of a Monster Frankenstein’s horror tragedy leaves the reader with a dilemma about Victor’s creature guiltiness and moral responsibility. This dilemma arises due to the irresponsible care from his creator and general hatred received from the human species; contrasted by his unjustified actions towards innocents and commitment of murders as the catharsis from his problems. It is true that this being was inattentively abandoned in the most fundamental stages of its life and that circumstances may have corrupted his initial good benevolence. However, in this essay, I argue that the actions, motives, and values expressed by the unnamed creature in Shelley’s story make him solely responsible and, because of their

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796 Words | 4 Pages

Using this creation as a symbol of his obsession, Shelley portrays the importance of how knowledge is handled, and the dangers that can come if it is handled incorrectly. Since Victor’s “quest” to create life is mainly based on gaining knowledge and thus power and since, “Systems based on power are imbued with a fundamental expectation of danger and attack, which leads to a prevalent fear of the ‘other’” (Bennett 111), Shelley foreshadows that Victor’s quest is destined to be full of these “dangers.” In order to personify the dangers, Shelley uses the creation of the monster.

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771 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Shelly uses fire and abortion in Frankenstein to support the dangers that occur when science is inhumanely pursued. For the monster, fire is good until he gets too close; for Frankenstein, science is good until he gets too close. Abortion shows the negative effects that come with pursuing science past what is natural, like creating life. Victor Frankenstein’s monster first encounters fire when the monster enters a small town at night after his creation. He recalls the experience “[I] was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it.

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1718 Words | 7 Pages

This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede’” (156). The monster did not end up receiving this gift, as well, and the same can be said about Frankenstein’s pursuit for glory. Though Victor had a loving childhood that never rang with solitude, he still coveted respect and admiration from humanity, only not for his similarities with them—like the monster tried for—but with his superiority. This contrast perfectly displays to the audience

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1762 Words | 8 Pages

From this place of understanding, the monster meets this reaction in an extremely calm way stating how he “expected this reaction” (Shelley 72). He begins to speak to Victor by relating his situation to Creation saying: “remember, that I am thy creature: I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed” (Shelley 72). In this statement, the creature is explaining to Victor why he has become a “monster”. He is saying how because he is Victor’s creation, Victor is God and he should be like Adam. He is also implying that because Victor is like God, he has a responsibility to provide and care for the monster.

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1037 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout ‘Frankenstein’, we discover that Shelley presents Victors responsibility as flawed, We see him as childish and unable to accept his failures and mistakes. Rarley does he accept the “demonical corpse” who is “more hideous than belongs to humanity”, as his creation. Rather than dealing with the conequences and raising the monster, as his father and god. He abanondens it into society. We Can look back into Victors childhood to see where he gained his original morals, and where the drive for the creation of the monster was.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

Dangerous Minds- Rough Draft Knowledge has the capability to be used for both good and evil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, there is a consistent message throughout the novel showing the dangerous and destructive power that knowledge can have. Two key characters, Victor Frankenstein and his monster, are shaped through their obsessions with knowledge and the power and responsibility that it brings. Ultimately, Victor’s downfall is a result of his uncontrollable thirst for knowledge, and is brought about through the monster which is the embodiment of his obsession. Victor is a brilliant scientist who figures out a way to create life from death using galvanism, or electricity.

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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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542 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever been held responsible for the tragedies caused to others? For most the answer is no, however, for some, their actions have led to the misfortune of guiltless lives. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because of the absence of attention and teaching, the reanimated creation Frankenstein is unstable; Victor Frankenstein is who to blame. Two events that he should be accountable for are not training his creation to know right from wrong and abounding the monster which led to the murder of innocent people. Firstly, Shelley uses conflict of “human” versus nature to demonstrate the major idea that Victor Frankenstein is responsible for the loss of innocent lives.

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

The creature’s mental knowledge is very small-minded and intolerant, causing his understanding of justice to be exceedingly narrow. The monster’s isolation from society is forced by its fate. Nobody could with handle the hideous looks given by the creature 's appearance, this made it nearly impossible for the creature to have any interaction with any sort of human. To illustrate, the creation said while reciting his tale to Victor “And what was I?

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596 Words | 3 Pages

Readers can conclude that Victor Frankenstein is the actual monster in Frankenstein because of how he views himself, how he creates destruction, and how he destroys himself. Many people characterize themselves as being a monster because of their self-image. Readers can deduce that Victor thinks he is a gruesome individual because of what creates. Even though he is not at fault, he blames himself for every atrocious act that his creation carries out. Additionally, Frankenstein permits readers to come the conclusion that Victor sees himself as being lethal and malignant.

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987 Words | 4 Pages

The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster.

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1921 Words | 8 Pages

Such passion is seen in Victor’s ‘noble intent’ to design a being that could contribute to society, but he had overextended himself, falling under the spell of playing ‘God,’ further digging his grave as he is blinded by glory. His creation – aptly called monstrous being due to its stature, appearance, and strength – proved to be more of a pure and intellectually disposed ‘child’ that moves throughout the novel as a mere oddity, given the short end of the stick in relation to a lack of familial figures within his life, especially that of parents. Clearly, Victor Frankenstein had sealed his fate: by playing God he was losing his humanity, ultimately becoming the manifestation of Mary Shelley’s hidden desires, deteriorating into The Lucifer Principle by which the author Howard Bloom notes social groups, not individuals, as the primary “unit of selection” in human psychological

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808 Words | 4 Pages

Simultaneously, Victor failing to take responsibility for his own creation leads the creature down a path of destruction that manufactures his status as a societal outcast. The creature's dissolution from society, his search for someone to share his life with, the familiarity with intense anguish, his thirst for retribution, each of these traits coincide with Victor as he is depicted throughout the novel. Victor unknowingly induces his own undoing through his rejection of the creature. Shelley foreshadows his downfall by stating that “the monster still protested his innate goodness, blaming Victor’s rejection and man’s unkindness as the source of his evil” (Shelley 62) The creature essentially places Victor at fault for the creature becoming an outcast of society, by expressing this Shelley constructs a very austere portrayal of man’s contact with outsiders.

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