Comparing Frankenstein And The Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

For my dissertation I will be comparing the books Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and finally 1984 by George Orwell. All three books I believe share a common theme which will be the subject of my dissertation. They all hold many themes but the main ones I will be looking at are the perils of playing god, abuse of power, and lastly manipulation and control.

I can compare Frankenstein to the movie I saw by Tim Burton, Frankenweenie. They are similar but instead of a human body, it was a dog and the mad scientist was a young boy named Victor Frankenstein. The young Victor Frankenstein brings his dog back to life after being hit by a car for a science fair project while the real Victor Frankenstein wanted to create a real life human. Just like the real Frankenstein monster, the dog brings trouble. In the book, the mad scientist, denies the monster but in Frankenweenie, the young boy convinces his family and friends to like his creation. Some of his classmates had known the young Victor Frankenstein creation and was intrigued to do the same experiment like his but it went out of the standards of

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

The creature is renounced by Victor throughout the book, which removes any positive role model that the creature might have had. The two encounters that Victor has with the creature when it is first created are evidence of his rejection. The first is when Victor finishes creating the creature. During the process of creation, Victor dedicates himself so greatly that he "pursued [his] undertaking with unremitting ardour" (32). He puts aside everything else in his life, and concentrates completely on his purpose, which is to bring a being to life that would serve him. In order to do so, he spent an entire summer "engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit" (32). Because of the hard work that Victor puts into his work of creation, he never really examines the fruits of his labour. He is too caught up in his work, and has "lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (32) of finishing his work on making the creature. So in the process of his creation, Victor is never really aware of what he is creating because he is too focused on the actual act of creation. However, when Victor finally finishes the work of making the creature, and takes time to look at what he has done, he is horrified by his accomplishment. As the creation opens an eye, and

The enormous difference in the way Victor views the creature before and after its completion shows that he has an altered state of mind while he works on it. As a result of Victor’s secrecy about his creation, he sacrifices his health and happiness to make a creature that disgusts him.

Due to Victor’s unwillingness to accept him, the creature was unable to conform to societal norms. From the creature’s very first moments, he is feared by others - the instant his eyes open, his creator cries out in terror and runs to his quarters. If only Victor had stayed and attempted to nurture his creation, instead of having “turned from [him] in disgust” (93), the creature may have enjoyed a gentle, upbringing in which he

Victor is foolish, as he dedicated half of his life working to create the being, and the second half trying to destroy it. The creature causes Victor’s death, although it was not by the creature’s own hands. The creature drives him to desperation, and it is the creature’s fault that he has nothing and no one to live for in the world. Near the end of his life, Victor gives Walton some final words of advice saying, “Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries" (162). Victor realizes his life has been ruined because of his scientific ambition, and he also acknowledges that the sins of his past will continue to haunt him. In the end, the creature causes Victor’s death just as the creature killed his family and friends; therefore, Victor neglects his health and travels to harsh environments to catch the monster ending in his own demise.

Victor thought “for this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(page). This quote demonstrates that once Victor had concluded his work of creating the monster, he realized that it may have been a huge mistake. He was not satisfied with his creation instead he was filled with terror. In result of his realization, he left the monster to fend for himself and suffer. Victor shows an evil side of himself by abandoning the monster and leaving him to be universally shunned by society. By Victor doing this one evil act, it causes the monster himself to go off and initiate evil acts of his own.

After the creator created creature, he ran away under the horror of the mismatch of his expectation and the fact. People always indulge in what they are looking forward to. The more they put effort to, the high expectation will be, and therefore, if they get the worst outcome that they are reluctant to see, their inner worlds will collapse, generating strong unwillingness and aversion. When this situation comes to Victor, the assumption verifies. What he thought is a perfectly crafted creation with beautiful appearance after he exerted himself utmost effort for two years without enough rest. But it comes out a monster with “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath”, a pair of watery eyes with “the same colour as

A creature, and vampire, combining these ideas will sure enforce fright. In all forms of literature across the world there have been examples of frightful ensuing creatures for example, “The legendary vampire, created by author Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel of the same name, has inspired countless horror movies”("Real Dracula” N.P), land also the main idea for Mary Shelley's’ story was, “to‘awaken thrilling horror- none to make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart’”("What is Scary” N.P). All of these examples can provide readers with teeth chattering experience, Mary Shelley's Novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, is said to be the base for many other frightening creatures; but the question remains, does it compare to others?

In chapter 4, Victor explains the importance of success in reanimating life. For Victor, the reanimation insures that he will be known as a creator in comparison to god. (Shelley 32). In chapter fifteen, the creature states that his life is like Adam because there is “no link to any other being in existence” (Shelley 92). Apart from that, Shelley connects the creature to Satan in regards to the fact that “for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protector, the bitter gall of envy rose within me” (Shelley 93). This shows the conflict within the creature between good and evil.

While attempting to uncover the meaning of life and death, and though he believed his experiments would further the paths of science, Victor fails to see the potential consequences of “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley 37). This, in turn, creates a monster. After his “great” experiment, Victor spends his life in grief. Despite this, he manages to belittle his creation, and act superior to him, claiming that “I [Victor] will not hear you. There can be no community between you [the creature] and me; we are enemies” (Shelley 84). Even later on, when assured by the creature himself that Victor would be left alone if he creates a female counterpart, Victor cannot see past the shreds of pride he has left and refuses, causing the death of his family and loved ones. It’s Victor’s pride and his fear of the creature that clouds his judgement and in the end leads to his

This rejection by society and the creatures response to it forms him into a monster. This is apparent when he tries to communicate with a family of cottagers. He is attacked by one of the cottagers, who acts out of the fear that the creature’s wretched appearance inspires. This invokes wrath in the creature, and he swears revenge against humanity, particularly his creator. He does this because he is lonely, and no one will accept him as a result of his appearance. This leads the creature to murder just about all of Victor’s family, his closest friend, and eventually drives Victor to his death. This merciless onslaught forms the creature into a monster, acting solely out of unrestrained anger, and his desire for revenge. This is particularly monstrous because all of the violence he causes can be traced back to his appearance, something that he could have dealt with in a more reasonable manner. One might argue he was ignorant of his appearance, but this is not the case. The creature himself recognized his fear inspiring image, proclaiming “I had sagacity enough to discover that the unnatural hideousness of my person was the chief object of horror with those who had formerly beheld me.”(121) The creature’s recognition of this fact along with his intelligence would have allowed it to find a reasonable approach, such as a disguise. This truly shows that the creature chose the monstrous path in dealing with its predicament.

Recognising the true feeling of his creator towards him the monster beings to inflict pain on to Victor by hurting his loved ones. Revengeful, Victor wants to“trample [his creation, the creature,] to dust” (Shelley 97) for the murders the wretched monster has done and fully intends to commit, similar to how a God in many religions may deliver divine retribution onto its creation. Victor’s supposition of authority over whether his creation will live or die is another attempt to play God. Victor plans to kill his own creation to protect the lives of his family and friends, however, as Victor pursuits after his creation, other humans are endangered and Frankenstein’s attempt to prevent the monster from harming any more of Victor’s loved ones is

The monster believed that Victor would accept him, but after he realized that not only did Victor not want to assume his position in the monster’s life, but society also rejected him, it became a transitory thought, and instead became replaced with his bloodthirst towards Victor and his loved ones, which he knew would hurt way worse than just killing him; making him lonely like himself. Both Victor and the monster partook in horrid acts, in which held horrendous actions; the main one being Victor creating the monster in the first place which in result caused the both of them heartbreak, loneliness, and pain. If Victor wouldn’t have created the monster, then his life would not be filled with so much grief and emptiness; Victor is the true monster, although they are both the primal protagonists as much as they are the antagonists because of the display of the emotions they both portray as lamenting humans/monsters, and the power they give to nature in order to destroy one another. Victor used nature to his advantage, although it was wrong; Victor used nature to create and destroy the monster; he used the