The concept of “torture” was implemented throughout both of the novels of Frankenstein and Stephen Kings: Cycle of the Werewolf. The word torture means the activity with regards to cause extreme agony on somebody to constrain them to do or say something, or for the joy of the individual dispensing the torment. In Frankenstein, Victor created his own torment by giving life to a monster whose sole purpose was to torture him for the rest of his life because Victor abandoned him and also destroyed the re-creation of his companion. As in Cycle of the Werewolf, it was a continuous nightmare where a werewolf comes to Tarker’s Mills every full moon to terrorize the citizens by slaughtering them. Both of these novels convey the theme of torture all throughout the plot by the actions of the murderous character.
Starting off in Frankenstein the overall torture that the monster brings to Victor is that the monster kept killing off all of Victor’s doted ones. Additionally, in the resolution of the plot, all of the agony caused by the monster caused Victor to die in his attempt to seek revenge on the monster by chasing him down. An example of one of the monster’s victim in the book is where Victor reads out the letter from his father, “I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is impossible; even now your eye skims over the page, to seek the words which are to convey to you the horrible tidings. William is dead! -- that sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my
Victor knew that what he was doing was hurting his body physically and mentally, “My labors would soon end, and I believe that exercise and amusement would then drive away incipient disease” (Shelley 42) Victor felt this way when he was in the midst of the creation of his monster. Victor knows that his decisions were hindering his body and his ruining his limited time that Victor has on this Earth. The hindering of someone’s body and wasting of time is going to be a direct result of Victor’s demise. The actual creation of the monster also took a toll on Victor; Victor describes the monster by saying “No moral could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 44) Another example of Victor’s description of the creation of the monster the night before “I trembled exclusively; I could not endure to think of, and far less to allude to, the occurrences of the preceding night” (Shelley 46) Even the next day, after the monster was created, Victor still was hurt by the creation of the monster which then led to Victor being very sick, only to be nursed back to health by Clerval. All of this could have been avoided by Victor if he would have not of created the monster. But because Victor decided to create the monster, the consequences of these actions were the ultimate demise of Victor with the person responsible for the demise being victor
In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, acts of cruelty serve as the driving force behind many tragedies within the novel. Set in 18th century Switzerland, Victor Frankenstein embarks on a horrifying journey to satisfy his growing desire to create life. However, Victor and his creation are overcome by their selfish agendas and growing hatred of one another, creating seemingly endless misfortune for their selves. The enemies' constant misunderstandings of each other ultimately turn an innocent victim into an inconsiderate and hate-filled monster.
Although the plan itself is truly evil, the way in which the monster carries out this elimination of Victor’s friends and family is also a despicable deed which justifies the name, "monster". Instead of just killing Victor immediately, the monster kills Victor’s friends and family in a calculated way, one which serves to torture Victor. In the true sense of torturing an individual, the subject is kept alive as long as possible in order to experience the maximum amount of pain. Like a torture victim, Victor is kept alive to feel this anguish of having lost his friends and family. This gruesome act is carried out both directly and indirectly by the monster. Besides the simple act of not killing Victor until the end, the monster even goes so far as to feed Victor to keep him alive to experience this maximum amount of pain; "Often, when all was dry, the heavens cloudless, and I was parched by thirst, a slight cloud would bedim the sky,
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
He envied these people most, because they were the perfect beings they did not have his horrific defects. "...from that moment he declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against Frankenstein who had had formed him and sent him forth to this insupportable misery" (Shelley 121). This shows that the monster fought against his label as an outcast. The monster killed William, for something William could not have affected. "...you belong then to my enemy-to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim" (Shelley 150). The monster not only wished to kill Victor for his creation but to kill everyone associated with his eternal enemy. The monster has been pushed so far that he will not give any humans a chance, the same chance he once wanted. The monster is treating William just the way he was treated, with no remorse.
The reader can immediately see this because the Monster says, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (Shelley 124). He begins to murder members of Victor’s close friends and family. His first victim is William Frankenstein. The Monster has no intentions to kill William, but he says, “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed” (Shelley 116). The Monster shows his frustration with Victor creating him in this way and for making him into an outcast. After Victor breaks his promise of creating a female monster, the Monster murders Henry Clerval. The Monster’s anger continues to build up over time and he believes the only way to face it is by taking the lives of those who have a close relationship with Victor. The Monster kills Elizabeth Lavenza on her wedding night. He takes the lives of the people who are in a close relationship with Victor due to the anger he feels toward him. The violence the Monster uses is his way to try and seek revenge on Victor because he feels that he set him up to fail, to be an outcast, and to be unacceptable to
In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the character Victor Frankenstein illustrates betrayal in the way he abandons his creation, with no hesitation he leaves him behind. With the feeling of abandonment ,the creature feels anger towards Victor which leads the “monster” to become a villain. Love and family are all the monster wants, but it is something that Victor could not give due to his own internal battles. As result, the monster begins to take Victor’s loved ones such as: little William and his wife Elizabeth. The monster kills
Through a lifetime of abuse and suffering, all inflicted at the hand of his only paternal figure, the monster still reveals that he did in fact love Victor in his own twisted way. As exclaimed by the monster in the final pages: “I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds” (page 277) In this moment, his confliction, and inclination towards a certain dramatic death in order to now right his own wrongs (ironic, right?) reveals him to be even more human than Victor himself, who can only come to the conclusion that he may hold some affectionate feelings for his own creature, a clear representation of what could be his only child: “His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle these sensations; I thought that as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow” (page
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
Anguish, pain, torment and suffering are all a part of our day to day lives. These may issue from a variety of causes such as great deprivation, hardships to emotional and physical loss. Many texts, such as that of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelly in the early 1800's, depict unalleviated suffering caused by living within societal norms. However very often, these sufferings are inflicted upon people by one individual and in the case of Frankenstein, this source is Victor Frankenstein. This statement becomes evident when examining the intersecting cultural beliefs of gender, class and ethnicity of the time.
Victor was crying because inside he was falling apart, but at the same time the world around him was perfect. The descriptions and natural beauty of the world in Frankenstein help make the theme of appearances.The theme of appearance is most evident in the novel because of the monster’s struggle with his appearance. Throughout the novel the monster is tormented for his looks, but no one takes the time to get to know him as a person. The monster is so hideous even when he does good deeds he is still looked at as evil, “This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted” (Shelley 103). The monster is just walking and notices a girl and she falls in the river, the monster jumps in and saves her and a man comes up and grabs the girl then shoots the monster. The guy that shot him judged the monster by his looks and automatically looked at him as evil. This is how his good deed is repaid. The monster meant no harm he just wanted to help. From this point on in the novel the monster is seeking revenge
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
Because victor abandoned his creation and left it to run wild, the monster was left to find food, clothes, shelter, and educate himself, the monster eventually discovers his creator’s true feelings towards him and seeks out revenge against him, starting Frankenstein’s lifetime of punishment (Mia, 2016). Victor’s sin is not against God but against nature. His sin is that of Hubris, an attempt to become master over the powers of nature through the creation of an unnatural man. His corresponding punishment is to become a slave to the wicked actions of his monster. He is forced to watch his loved ones be murdered one by one, while he remains powerless (Mia, 2016). In the final chapter of Frankenstein, the creature does express remorse for his terrible acts, as they caused the death of his creator, surely he weeps over the body of victor Frankenstein whom he has loved from the second he opened his eyes (Westwood,
He is overwhelmed with these emotions and the only way to release the anger is to bring death to the loved ones of Frankenstein. The monster is deprived of any sort of love from the very beginning of his life; thus, he will make it his goal to replicate this feeling for Victor. The beast does succeed in bringing terror into the life of Victor with the murders of William, Justine, Henry, and Elizabeth. This active desire to harm your creator is something unique about the relationship between the creator and created in Frankenstein.