Have you ever been through a traumatic experience? How did you get through it? In Frankenstein, Victor and the creature faced trauma for approximately six years. By the end, they were mentally and physically defeated. Throughout those six years, they collectively went through these types of trauma: traumatic loss, abandonment, physical neglect, and coercion (Types Of Trauma, 2023). How did they get through it? Victor Frankenstein grew up in a healthy, stable family; nothing seemed unusual until his mother died and he went to college. From then on, Frankenstein isolated himself and created a “human being”. The first trauma we see was when Frankenstein was nineteen and his creature came to life. He flees right away, which is the general reaction …show more content…
When Frankenstein ran away from the monster, this sparked an extreme turn of events. He had to go learn how to live. Once he started to realize what emotions and feelings were, his trauma started. When the monster reached the old man’s hut and went on to the village, the reaction of everyone would have scared him, especially since he was still navigating through his thoughts and feelings. Once the monster reached the DeLacey house, he was sad, alone, and confused. Throughout his stay, he started learning who he was, what his potential kind (humans) was, and that he never wanted to feel as alone as he always had been. He would constantly relate himself to Adam and Satan due to his rejection and abandonment, saying, “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a friend” (Shelley, 1818, Chapter 11). After many months of helping and learning about the DeLaceys, he built up the nerve to talk to them so he would never have to be lonely again. His plan backfired and he lost everything he knew. Once this happens, we see a shift in the monster’s thoughts and actions. He is hurt and traumatized and due to his lack of wisdom, he puts these feelings into the wrong area. He begins doing things he never thought he would like: setting a house on fire, killing a child, and by a relation, killing his creator. We see that his trauma was from being rejected and alone, which is why he threatened Frankenstein to make him a mate, wanting to have someone to relate to and care for him. When the monster commits suicide, we see how he regrets his life and how he lived it when he says “But it is true that I am a wretch”. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless”( Shelley, 1818, Chapter 23). He then lists everything he
He feels remorse and guilt for creating a monster. The guilt comes from all the monsters actions and for putting his loved ones at risk. Frankenstein also feels sad and wants avenge for the deaths of Justine and William. Chapter 10: "I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king, if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest me.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley emphasizes that Frankenstein’s Monster was a sad and extremely lonely creature. At the beginning of the book, Frankenstein’s Monster tried to communicate, connect, and socialize with people; however, the whole village was terrified of him, and even his own creator ran away and left him
"It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half-frightened as it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate" (Shelley 68) For the monster it is the constant rejection and its abandonment by Frankenstein at birth that leads it to loneliness and extreme anxiety. "In all probability, the creature was reaching out, as a small child does to their mother, but his ugly appearance only frightened Victor into running away" (Coulter) The main reason for its rejection is the monster’s outward appearance. The rejection by humans in general and specifically by its creator only increases the monsters feelings of loneliness, emotional abandonment, and, as a result, anger.
He took a family he didn’t even know under his wing. He helped them get their food so they didn’t go hungry. He helped chase off someone threatening them. He protected them, whether they knew who he was or not. Once he got up enough courage to show himself, even if it was to a blind person who couldn’t see him, he was happy. He was talking to him, finally had a friend. But then the family came home and assumed he had done a horrible thing and they made him leave in a mean manner. Frankenstein acted the way he did because of the way he was treated. He had a good heart, and a smart brain but people made him a bad
As the Monster becomes mad from his continuous emotional seclusion, he “Swears to take revenge by killing everyone close to Victor. to demonstrate to Victor what it feels like to be alone”(Valiki 147). His madness and anguish evolve into physical violence, which results in the creature physically harming his creator's relatives. When the beast meets his creator again, he is driven by his secluded psyche. In that state, he threatens Frankenstein's relatives if the scientist does not assist him in diminishing his psychological isolation.
Frankenstein’s and society’s rejection of the monster, however, drove him to an uneven passionate pursuit for a companion. He forced Frankenstein to create a female monster, and he provided motivation by killing Frankenstein’s loved ones and threatening to kill more of them. The monster recalls in this final scene of Shelley’s novel how his desire drove him to evil. “. . . do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse?--He . . . suffered not more in the consummation of the deed;--oh! Not the ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the lingering detail of its execution. A frightful selfishness hurried me on. . . .” (153) At that point in the novel, the monster has changed from good in nature to evil in nature. His own desires are more important to him than the well-being of others and he is willing to commit murder in order ensure the fulfillment of his desire.
Victor was so nauseated by what he had done, he rushed out of his apartment never to look back. Frankenstein has now neglected his creation, which was not a great choice. His selfish decision will significantly affect his life. Towards the end of the story, because of Victor's selfishness he loses almost his entire family. Since Victor broke his promise to create a companion for the creature, in return the creature goes and murders the remaining members of his
After the creation of the creature, Frankenstein had abandoned him leaving him as ‘a poor, helpless, miserable wretch,’ (71) who was clueless about his sense and how to survive. When we found a farm he stayed there to gather food however ‘children shrieked, and one of the women fainted,’ upon seeing him in which some attacked him.(74) He later found a place to stay aside to the DeLacey family’s cottage, however he didn’t enter due to his last experience. He lived outside for months observing and learning. The creature learned knowledge of feelings. However this ‘increase of knowledge’ only made him discover ‘more clearly what a wretched outcast’ he was. (93) He was once again rejected which led his rage to increase towards his creator, Frankenstein, because he had created a monster who wasn’t accepted in society. (97) His first action was the killing of William because the creature had ‘sworn eternal revenge,’ upon Frankenstein.(102) This is significant because after learning what society consider ‘normal’ he started to have an inferiority complex leading to build rage towards his creator for his deformity . Seek of revenge is further emphasized when he asked Frankenstein for a woman companion and is denied of one.(121) Once Frankenstein had agree to create a companion he then rethinks about the negative effects which later causes him to destroy the female creature. This builds on the creature’s rage leading him to threatened Frankenstein indicating he will be there with him on his wedding-night. (139) On the day after of Frankenstein’s wedding he noticed that he held in his arms ‘had ceased to be the Elizabeth,’ who he had ‘loved and cherished.’ (145) She was killed by the creature as an act of revenge because Frankenstein had denied him to a female companion. In the end, the creature cried out ‘I shall die and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be
The monster has such a gruesome and horrifying appearance, that Frankenstein is automatically scared based on the monster’s looks and therefore flees from his creation. The creature then goes out into a world that he knows absolutely nothing about and has to provide for himself without any knowledge of how to do that. When the creature scares the humans in the village and the farmer he is only trying to find food and never once thought of harming them. The monster shows many acts of kindness in his early stages of life. For example, when he is observing the family, he realizes that they are poor and he has been stealing their food. Once he understands that he is hurting them, he stops stealing. He cuts up firewood and leaves it for them in hopes of making their life easier. These actions show us that the monster does not start out doing bad things only things that might benefit the family. The creature has a desire to learn like a child does, he is fascinated in everything the family does and says. “I shall relate the events that impressed me with feelings which, from what I was, have made me what I am”(Shelley 135), this quote
Perhaps the most important takeaway from Frankenstein is the causes of the evil actions of the characters, specifically Dr. Frankenstein and his creature. When isolated or rejected, each character resorts to violence and acts of ill-intention. Isolation and rejection are painful states of being, and even sub-human creations react to them poorly. Victor Frankenstein frequently projects his feelings as a result of the isolation he feels in quotes such as this: “…the shades of my murdered friends heard and approved my devotion; but the furies possessed me as I concluded, and rage choked my utterance.” (Shelley 218). He explains that his mind shifts to thought of evil when he ponders how he lost his friends and family, proving Shelley’s opinion on the harms of isolation. Victors creature falls victim to violence in response to isolation as well. Following William’s rejection of the monster, declaring him a “…monster! Ugly wretch!” and an “ogre,” the monster strangles him (150). Both Victor and his creation experience moments
The tragic fate of Victor in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley never fails to leave an impression on its readers. The life of an unfulfilled dream, the deaths of his loved ones before his eyes, and the association with whom he considered a monster. Did he cause this upon himself? Many believed his life was dependent on fate, but I’d like to differ. Throughout the novel, I noticed many patterns of his behavior that I believe led to his miserable life.
Throughout the whole story Frankenstein is never able to get a hold on his creating and to tame it, and this caused great damage because the monster was lonely and hurt and he used his hurt to hurt and murder other people. Only evil came out of this
In page 53, Chapter 5 Frankenstein explained, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." When Victor said this when he decided to abandon his monster. The author gave the monster human feelings which made him realize that he wasn’t wanted by his own creator. This made the monster self-conscious and wanting to seek revenge on his creator Frankenstein. Throughout the story, the reader realizes that the monster expresses more emotions when he stayed with the cottagers. In Chapter 14, he spoke, “I admired virtue and good feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers, but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except through means which I obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and unknown, and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming one among my fellows." In the end, the monster feels bad for killing everyone and can not live with all the guilt. The monster said at the end of the story,
The negative reaction of the family caused him to view himself more and more as a monster. The creature blamed Frankenstein for creating for him a life of suffering. He sought out to find his creature and ask for one thing: a
This is where the ambitious intellect kicks in according to the reading “two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries, which I hoped to make” (Frankenstein, Vol.1) that quote proves that he neglected his family just so that he could achieve his goal. Moving forward, overtime his body began to show how worn out he was because of how much time and effort he put into making this creature. For example, “My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement” (Frankenstein, Vol.1). It is easy to see that when a person is truly dedicated to something there is nothing that can be put in their way to stop them. In this case, Victor making the creature not only brought defeat upon his body, but it also brought misery to his family.