In sum, isolation becomes the worst imaginable fate throughout the novel, which leads to violence, rage and disaster. Knowledge, social responsibility, society's view of beauty, and secrecy are the major themes that were presented in this gothic novel. Shelley identifies the most hideous of human characteristics in Victor and his monster, and she focuses on how obsession can be a very dangerous and blinding force that leads to various disasters. Frankenstein and his monster represent the good and the bad through the reckless pursuit of knowledge. Both of these characters were afraid of rejection.
This is conveyed through short sentences and phrases such as ‘She bent forward to peer in, I flashed a look down the road, no one, and then I got her in’ that create a quick pace showing his hysteria. Clegg’s reaction to his obsession becoming a reality is similar to that of Dr. Frankenstein’s as he also acts differently to how the reader would expect with his disgust contrasting greatly to the years of studying told in his early narrative. As the monster comes to life Frankenstein begins by calling it an ‘accomplishment of his toils’ but his tone quickly turns into one of terror and regret. He describes this moment; ‘but now I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished; and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart’. The way Frankenstein conveys his feelings as he beholds the culmination of his obsession shows a deep antithesis of the ‘beauty’ he had expected and the ‘horror’ which had become a reality.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the tone in the beginning of the passage starts out as ominous when Frankenstein has a “presentiment of who it was” (159) knowing that the monster has discovered the unbroken promise. There is terror and enragement of Frankenstein and the monster that shifts the tone to a more volatile one. When the monster finds Frankenstein and the ruins of the mate that Frankenstein was suppose to create it foreshadows the violence that will ignite between the two people. The tone conveys on the passage that although Frankenstein is seemed to be a man of wisdom and caring, he portrays hatefulness toward the monster and had never really meant to create another creature. His disgust with what he had created caused the
More of this ominous diction that Shelley uses is shown here and it provides very disturbing imagery. The creepy imagery that is used really makes one's stomach turn so they can see the gruesomeness of the monster, and the gravity of the situation that Frankenstein has put himself in. This also helps us know how he must’ve felt in that position! Obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge, Frankenstein ends up destroying his whole life. He now lives in fear that the monster will kill him.
This is a cruel and evil thing that victor has done. The monster responds by saying, “Shall each man…find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and be alone? I had feeling of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn” (110). After several more back and forth between the creature and Victor the monster threatens to destroy Victor by destroying those around him. Again this may seem like the creature is the
By the monster killing William, the monster is representing Frankenstein’s evil side in the most malicious way. Victor’s fear of sex is also evident throughout the novel. Upon being told his mother’s last wishes for him to marry Elizabeth he exclaims ‘Alas! To me the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and dismay!’ revealing his innermost fears of an intimate sexual relationship. This is also evident in his nightmare in chapter five as he dreams ‘as I
Another aspect that is interesting is the turn in behavior for the monster. Perhaps the best quote to represent this idea comes from the actualization of the monster to himself in front of Victor’s dead body “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love...it did not endure the violence of change without torture” showing how evil nature overcomes the good nature in human beings (Shelly, 158). Initially the monster is very amicable, however, due to continuous rejection, he seeks revenge upon all human beings. Is Shelly saying that even though even nature is good, evil eventually overcomes this good nature? Or Is Shelly saying that human nature is bad and full of rejection and isolation?
From the earliest stages of the novel Frankenstein, I was pressed with one question – “Who is the real monster, Victor Frankenstein, or his horribly mutated creation?” Victor Frankenstein was driven by most selfish ambitions. He discovered the secrets of life and kept them all to himself, an act of greed. And upon finding these secrets, through a hermit lifestyle of isolation and the pursuit of knowledge, he creates what is only to be known as the monster. The monster is a hideous yet intelligent and caring creature whom self-taught himself the language around him, only in order to interact socially with people and to seek approval from his creator. Only after being treated so poorly and outcast by every human he comes in contact with is Frankenstein’s monster driven to rage and vengeance.
Frankenstein Essay Murder, violence, and hatred have been the disastrous results of a social phenomenon that has occurred since the birth of humanity. The insider/outsider phenomenon is one that cannot be avoided for all humans are different and all humans have the right to express this. However, the majority has always persecuted the minority, the strong the weak, the “right” the “wrong”. Mary Shelley incorporates these situations within a chilling, yet depressingly realistic story, Frankenstein, in which a confused and lost man learns what it means to be an outsider. Humans have always feared the unknown, frightened by the eruption of a volcano or the trembling of the earth, and labeled these as the wrath of an angered God.
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the creature is assumed to be evil by everyone he encounters. Many people that read this novel believed the creature is born evil. In my opinion you cannot be born evil , but you have to experience many hardships or negative experiences that make you become evil. At the beginning of the novel the creature was never giving a chance to show that he was not evil because his own creator left him. The creature was treated badly by others which made him feel unwanted and for him to do evil things.