In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is first depicted as a hero that turns tragic due to his own detrimental flaws. Victor’s demise began when his mother died while trying to nurture Elizabeth back to health. Due to his need for an escape, Victor turns to his fascination with nature. He feels trapped in his tragic, monotonous life and craves the feeling of living again. Seen first as a genius of science, Victor is loved by others only for him to turn around and become the cause of suffering for nearly every character.
Victor mentions the “sublime shapes of the mountains” in the chapter before the creature kills Elizabeth on their wedding night. This chapter is interesting structurally because it uses sublime settings to restore a sense of ease to Victor, before the next chapter shatters his false sense of security. However, while the use of sublime settings is sometimes used positively to reflect the beauty and power of nature as well as Victor’s mood, it is also used by Shelley to highlight Victor’s isolation – another example of how it is impossible to say whether places or characters are more important because they both co-operate in Gothic literature. Shelley uses the sea in particular as a place that reflects Victor’s anguish, isolation and nature as a tormented Gothic protagonist. At one point Victor states, “I looked upon the sea; it was to be my grave”.
Later, however, the author uses the same description for his creator Victor as he soon becomes “so miserable a wretch”, demonstrating how they ultimately face the same fate. One may also recognise that both Frankenstein and the creature seem to share a strong need for the support and love of a family. Even though Victor often acts quite egoistical, he sincerely loves his family. Without them, he feels life is pointless, which is evident when he contemplates suicide, “I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake”, but he decides against it as it would cause too much pain for his loved ones, “But I was restrained, when I thought of the heroic and suffering Elizabeth”. There are also parallels and opposites in terms of the experiences
Ernest is described in terms with positive connotations such as “spirit”, while Frankenstein is described in pejorative terms such as “loathing”. The juxtaposition allows Shelley to critique the Enlightenment and promote Romantic ideals. Humanity * Example: Frankenstein: “I ardently desired the acquisition of knowledge”. * Technique & Effect: Shelley uses the technique of dramatic irony to highlight Frankenstein’s error in the acquisition of knowledge, as the reader is already aware from the start of the novel the failure of
Victor Frankenstein correspondingly arrogates the role of ‘God’ in creating human life, “How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow” (Victor), however despite this he takes on the role of ‘God’ and creates a horrendous monster, whom he tries to abandon at the sight of it. However he is punished for his actions “I foresaw obscurely that I was destined to become the most wretched of human beings.
When people go to see a horror movie or read a horror novel, they expect to see, or read about, possibly an infinite amount of gruesome and disgusting creatures. What people most of the time do not realize is that the creature in the story is usually caused by human error and carelessness. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor, the titular character, creates a creature in which he abandons almost immediately and shows no respect for him; which causes the creature to commit chaos in Victor’s life. The problem in this story is not the hate the creature causes, but in the evil of Victor’s selfish mind inability to see the havoc he can prevent. The first fault that causes Victor’s action is his tenacious view on life and how it works.
Comparison of Texts Draft Statement: ‘Monsters are not born into the world, they are created in it’. The significance of surroundings is portrayed through the use of imagery; it is affected by their attitudes formed by their own idiosyncratic epochs such as sublimity and postmodernism. Disparity in emotional control and behavior distinguishes a monster from a human. Both the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley and film “Blade Runner” by Ridley Scott, contrasts this idea of nature verses nurture and detachment. The creature’s emotions have power over them and they become slaves to it because they are inexperienced.
The desire to succeed interferes with being happy. A person can get lost in the process of solving a problem so intently that they forget those around them, to eat and even where they are. In Mary Shelley's horrific Frankenstein an example is the character of Victor, whose unnatural pursuit of knowledge, of discovering how to create the perfect being, is so extreme that he loses himself in his creation. Frankenstein follows the story of the brilliant Victor and his many achievements, which go astray after he brings to life a creature in order to sate his own curiosity about the "mysteries" of life. It becomes difficult to picture Victor as a human being because he attains in-human qualities like the ability to go countless hours without eating
The reader's empathy for various characters shifts throughout the novel. First the reader empathises with Victory Frankenstein who is a family man and has good intentions to cure the human race of death. Then the monster narrates, which shows the reader that he is not an evil monster under his horrible appearance but an innocent and childlike creature, this makes the reader empathise with the monster instead of Victor Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein narrates again, during which he loses his family and becomes bitter and sad, these emotions help the reader to empathise once more with Frankenstein. The novel's alternative title is the modern day Prometheus.
He went on a tour with Clerval until he felt he was ready to begin making the female monster. Victor no longer had the same intense feeling he had when making the first fiend. This time, he was making it thinking about the fact that the monster told him “Oh! my creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit (Page 99)!” Victor could do nothing but think if he brought this “creature” to life he would have to take care of it as a father would a child, but this was not the case. I guess looks do play a big role in any society.