Consequences For Playing God By Victor Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein was a regular scientist until he became obsessed and mentally ill. “This state of mind preyed upon my health… all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation-deep, dark, deathlike solitude” (Shelley 77). Mary Shelley created the character Victor, who devoted most of his time, research, and effort into creating a being which can hold life. Victor became successful, yet mentally scarred after the sight of his creature. This hurt Victor, but not as harshly as the creature's following actions. The creature goes on to kill members of Victor’s family and kill his closest and dearest friends. The creature’s actions cause Victor to suffer both mentally and physically. Victor then falls back

Victor Frankenstein played the role of God in hopes of getting rid of death and disease so no one else would know the suffering that he felt after the death of his mother. He is a learned man and became fixated on acquiring the ‘secret of life’. Finally he finds the secret, but is unhappy with his results, a foul mangled monster. As a result, Victor is enraged, guilt ridden and consumed with the lust of destroying his creation. As a result of Victors remorse and anger the monster is ridden with suffering and sadness. Henceforth the monster and Victor make a deal for the monster to obtain a companion. Be that as it may, Victor goes back on his part of the deal and the monster is enraged and wishes to make Victor feel

In the novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the character Victor Frankenstein can not be identified as purely evil or purely good. An interest in science leads Victor to create an evil monster, however midway through the book Victor develops sentimental feelings for the monster, even though he has committed many acts of pure evil. Victor abandons the monster which contributes to the overall theme, regarding nurture vs. nature. Throughout the novel, Victor is faced with challenges and hardships as a child that causes his character to become morally ambiguous.

Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .

This need of power led Victor to create what he believed would be a beautiful human being. But he failed to see that combining the most beautiful human features does not necessarily create a beautiful human being. He was inspired by scientists who ...acquired new and almost limitless powers... (Shelley, Frankenstein, P. 47). Victor sought this unlimited power to the extent of taking the role of God. He not only penetrated nature, but also he assumed power of reproduction in a maniacal desire to harness these modes of reproduction in order to become acknowledged, respected, and obeyed as a father. While bringing his creation into the world he was himself alienated from society, and isolated himself from the community. Isolation and parental neglect cause viciousness within man. Because of his upbringing, Victor had no sense of empathy, and therefore could not realize the potential harm he was creating towards himself and his creation. The sole purpose of his project was an attempt to gain power, but instead of power Victor realized that a morally irresponsible scientific development could release a monster that can destroy human civilization.

His friend from home comes to surprise Victor but he ends up consoling him for months — he does not want to confront the horrors he has single handedly created. He is such a disaster that he cannot write his family, only putting them under more stress. Finally, after months go by Victor begins to regain his mind and consciousness. He receives a letter from his father stating that his child brother was murdered. This, of all things, is what finally pushes Victor to return home to his family. Once Victor has returned to his family he realizes what exactly he had done. Victor’s creation had made its way to his family’s home and had taken the life of his brother. Not only is has the life of this young child been stripped away but Justine, a family friend, has been accused of killing the poor boy. Justine had never done anything but love and care for the child as if he were her own. He claims Justine’s innocence but he does not come clean— he cannot. If Victor were to mention that of a monster he would be institutionalized and Justine would still be found guilty. Justine is put to death, the second being stripped of life at the his monster. Victor feels “a weight of despair pressed on [his] heart,” (Shelley 111). These murders are the fault of Frankenstein and the weight he feels is overwhelming guilt. Without the construction of a new life, of a monster, these lives would not be lost… still he manages to fond great comfort in

Then his creation all suddenly turns on Victor killing everything he is dear too in the name of vengeance. The monster eventually murders three people in cold blood as well as one indirectly. First Williams’s brother who is accidently strangled to death. With the death of William the monster framed the servant Justine by placing a picture of William in her pocket. Justin was then executed for the unjust murder of William. Sadly Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s cousin and new wife on the wedding night. He also kills a good friend of Frankenstein’s Henry Clerval. The deaths of these innocent people were a result of the monsters revenge on Victor. The monster is seeking this revenge on the doctor because he did not want to be brought into this world especially looking like he did. Another key point that this book beings forth is why human beings should not try to play God and artificially create a being in a laboratory. When Victor creates a bride for the monster he decides to kill her before the monster can have a companion. Victor can’t give the monster what he wants not after what the monster did to his family.

Victor Frankenstein worried about everyone else and playing God, rather than trying to do right, morally. Victor had to go through a lot of steps and difficulties to create the monster. After the creation of the monster, everyone including Victor abandoned him. Victor refused to create a girl creature to avoid a lot of problems, but he did not realize the hell the monster would end up causing him. Victor regrets trying to play God because his action would cause him great troubles and consequences.

The science of electricity and its uses played a role in giving life to the monster. During the time period in which Frankenstein was written the use of electricity is an ongoing phenomenon in the medical field. In Frankenstein electricity is the implement that allows Victor to give life which creates his creature. According to the author of “Frankenstein: The Man and the Monster”, Suzanne Storment, “Early medical experiments demonstrated this phenomenon as a dead frog leg jolted with the injection of electricity, serving as a bridge between electricity and biology and chemistry.” (Storment 1). This quote explains that electricity can give life to the non living and electricity inspired Victor that he can create life using electricity. According to what Victory says, "I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation up on lifeless matter.” (Shelley 31). Victor understands the power he has discovered in creating life. Thus, like God he can judge as to whether someone shall die or be given the gift of life by him. However, Victor’s creation would have a disastrous effect on him because it would be responsible for the deaths of his family and loved ones. This shows that when the ethics of science are broken and what has been done, while breaking these ethics, can be catastrophic when left

During Frankenstein Victor’s mental state was altered after witnessing the power of nature firsthand when he saw lightning destroy a tree near his home in Geneva.This observation leads him to study philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt where he became obsessed with anatomy. Victor takes God’s power into his own hands, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it.” (Shelly 32) He has the gruesome idea to create his own human from the remains of the dead. Victor sneaks into charnel-houses, digs into graves to collect limbs, disturbing the resting corpses, and studies uses them to find the answer how to make life come from death. During the process of creating his monster, Victor

Throughout the story the Frankenstein’s monster is referred to as a true monster because of the different acts that he has committed, yet throughout the story the reader is made aware of the compassion and morality that Victor’s” creature possesses, like a real human. Victor is the true monster in this horror novel, because he possesses many of the characteristics that would define what a monster is. Victor Frankenstein created his monster due to his eagerness for alchemy and his unnatural obsession with being like God. Victor does not take into account the consequences of his actions. Victor rejects his creation the moment he lays eyes on it, and this caused the monster to perform the acts that he did. The cruel rejection is what begins the a journey that will soon enough be end of Victor. After Victor decides to go back on creating his monster a mate, he then destroys the half made creature which anger Frankenstein’s monster and this cause him wreak revenge on his creator. The monster tells Victor that he will be at his wedding night and the killing spree beings, Victor loses his father, and his friend Henry Clerval because of what Victor had done. In my opinion I believe that should have stuck to creating his monster a mate and this would have made things easier for him and

Victor feels that his relentless search for more knowledge is the cause for all of his suffering. It is true that his knowledge is what created the creature, but what made things worse is that he never gave the creature what he needed, so the neglected creature set out to find it himself. Victor’s tragic fate was not the result of his knowledge but because he did not take care of his creature. 6. Foreshadowing is seen multiple times such as the night when Victor sees lightning strike down a tree and Victor is fascinated with how much power the lighting has. The monster also foreshadows his own death when saying, “But soon I shall die.. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames..” 7. By not giving his creation a name, Victor didn’t give his creature an identity or a place in society. In society, a person’s name is who they are, people make their own judgment of people right away. The creature didn’t have a name and people judged him right away and identified him as monster and only that, rather than an actual being. 8. During the period in which Frankenstein was written, science was growing and it was seen as anything could be possible with the new research and

In the book Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein was a scientist who made a scientific discovery that resulted to his own destruction. He ended up creating a monster to which he failed to give love and support it expected. The monster was lonely and sad which led him to seek revenge from Victor and eventually be the reason of his death. The revenge by the monster was a just punishment for Victor’s actions because he attempted to give life to the dead which was completely against the law of nature and the outcome of anything against God’s will would ultimately be the nemesis of the one who created it.

The idea of pursuing knowledge clouded Victor’s mind and when his creature is born he is shocked to discover that what he has created is far off his own expectations. Not only did the monster destroy his expectations of developing a creature that went beyond human knowledge, but it also affected his life, dignity, and fears. Victor himself admits to his own mistake when he says, “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature...but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless honor and disgust filled my heart ” (36). Victor Frankenstein realizes what his obsession with pursuing an extensive amount of knowledge has brought him. His destiny to achieve the impossible with no regard for anyone or anything but himself shows that he is blinded by knowledge when creating the monster and is incapable to foresee the outcome of his creation. Victor’s goal was meant to improve and help humanity, but instead it leads to