In the novel Frankenstein, author Marry Shelley depicts character Victor Frankenstein as a scientist with a strong passion for forbidden knowledge and finding the answers to life through science. Though his intentions are good this leads him to the creation of a monster. Throughout the novel Frankenstein is constantly encountered by obstacles that test his passions for science and responsibility for his creation. For Victor it seems that the choice to abandon the monster is the easier path, rather than taking care of his creation. In the beginning of the book, right after the creation of the monster, Victor fled his home to get away from the creature, only to return and find that it had escaped.
On the night of their wedding day, Victor remembers the promise that the monster gave to him about seeing him on his wedding day and goes out in search of him. When he hears Elizabeth scream, he realizes that it wasn’t him that the monster had planned to kill, but Elizabeth. “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…,” (Shelley, 200). Victor realizes that all he held dear was destroyed because of his selfish ambitions. When his father dies, however, is when he truly feels alone.
He tells him ‘do your duty towards me and I will do mine towards you,’ and if Frankenstein refused, he threatened him by saying he would ‘glut the maw of death’. This shows how the Creature’s abandonment and lack of nurture leads him to become a murderer. Further proof of this is when, during the Creature’s tale he tell Frankenstein ‘I could not conceive how one man could go fourth and murder his fellow’ showing that he was ‘benevolent and good’ and had Frankenstein full filled his duty he may have remained so. The Creature admits to Frankenstein ‘misery made me a fiend’ implying that Frankenstein’s actions, or lack of action, lead to this misery. Primarily it is not Frankenstein who has to suffer the consequences of his creating life, it is the Creature.
The creature then ignites a killing spree against the Frankenstein name by murdering Victor’s family and friends until he is just as alone as he is. However, much like Victor, the creature feels sorrow and guilt towards himself. After being forced away from the cottagers and realizing he will never be able to fully integrate in society, he begins to question why he was brought into this world, “ Why did I live? Why...did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had...bestowed? (Shelly 97) The creature feels just being alive is serving an injustice to society but becomes too involved with his mission of justice against
Being ambitious can let you achieve anything you want. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main theme is ambition. Being ambitious is a great quality for anyone to possess. However anything that can bring you closer to what you want to achieve and to being at the top also has the power to make you fall harder than before. Victor Frankenstein and Macbeth succeeded in carrying through their desires; however they did not succeed in achieving happiness.
Victor Frankenstein was very interested in the creation of life from a young age, and worked hard to find an answer. However, in order to create a being, one mustn’t lack the skills of a parent. Victor wasn’t ready to be a parent. He was only focused on his work, only to in the end, abandon his creation after it was born, eventually leading to many unjust deaths within the novel. So who is to blame for the deaths in the novel, Victor or the creature?
He is trying to avoid the sense of guilt, if anything goes wrong, and the couple had children, because he is responsible for Frankenstein, because he is the creator. Victor has every reason to feel guilty and to have bad conscience, because he is the one who created Frankenstein, and therefore is responsible for the murder of his family, best friend and his wife. These feelings appear in the text: ‘For this I had deprived myself of rest and health.’ And ‘…horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect to the being I had created.’ Because he had created a monster he feels terrible, and he is afraid of him. Which you also can see in the last part of the story: ‘…My teeth chattered...
For example, after Victor Frankenstein noticed that his brother, William died, he threw the letter on the table and covered his face with his hands. (Shelley 60) From his reaction to his brother’s death, he felt regret for not spending more time with his brother or family. Because of his quest for knowledge, he left home and isolated himself in his lab, ignoring everything else that is happening outside the world. Another example is about the monster in the book, the creation of Victor Frankenstein, he was isolated by people because of his “unique appearance”, when his neighbour saw how he look like, they use sticks to beat him, in the beginning, the monster want to attack them back, but when he remembered the old man, he ran away and leave the house and find a place to sit down. After the whole night of thinking, he felt regret and wanted to apologise to the family.
This creates conflict between the monster and Victor as the monster soon begins to hate him for abandoning him. Furthermore, in chapter 16 we see conflict between the creator and the created again: “you belong to my enemy—to him I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim”. The monster’s anger towards his creator is channelled into revenge as he kills his brother. Shelley uses the language device direct address to depict this. The pronoun “you” is repeated, this makes the reader
Are all monsters bad? In the Frankenstein novel written by Shelley, this monster wants is to be your friend. OK so that may sound really strange, but it’s true. Frankenstein’s Creation was badly misunderstood by every person he came in contact with. This Creation was seen as a big scary monster that would kill you if he even laid eyes on you.