After reading the two novels Frankenstein and The Sorrows of Young Werther, I realized that both antagonist Victor and Werther are disturbing because they caused a lot of problems. Werther is the antagonist in The Sorrows of young Werther, at the beginning of the novel whether is happy because he has escaped because he wanted to avoid the problems that he was facing. One of them was with Leonora the girl he was dating. It seems that she really was in love with Werther, but he ended up cheating on her with her sister. Another reason why he decided to move is because he had some family issues with his mom and aunt. Werther does not want to deal with this problem so he decided to move to a new place in Germany. In Frankenstein, Victor is the main …show more content…
Victor biggest mistake begins at the college, he meets two different professors M. Krempe and Waldman. He is fascinated about what he learns with both teachers which are how the human body is built and how it falls apart. After a couple of years of studying anatomy, he decides to make one of his biggest mistakes. While working on this creation, he ignores his family and becomes lonely and obsessed with his work. One stormy night, Victor completes his creation and it has “yellow skin scarcely covered the work of his muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes” (Shelley 35). When the horrible looking creature is brought to life Victor gets scared and runs to his room and tries to go to sleep. The next day victor spent the whole day walking around the town because he did not want to return to his haunted apartment. Since the beginning of the novel Victor ignores the creature and does not take care of …show more content…
Werther falls in love at first sight with Charlotte. On the way to the dance Charlotte, the aunt tells him to “Take care that you do not lose your heart because she is already engaged with a very worthy man” (Goethe11). Werther ignores what the aunt said, and during the dance they start talking and they both realize that they have some things in common. He later writes a letter to his friend saying that he has met an angel and that she is the most perfect women in the world. A couple of days later he moves to Waldheim and visits Charlotte frequently. He builds a relationship with Charlotte brothers and they start calling him Uncle. At this point, Werther was falling madly in love and is willing to do anything to get
Nearly as important as Victor is to the novel, is Frankenstein's unnamed creation. Myth has led us to believe that "Frankenstein" was a slow moving, green colored brute, devoid of thoughts and feelings. This is not how Mary Shelley portrayed him. The creature possessed superhuman physical capabilities and his is
They were both yearning for love and companion and this was what brought sorrow in their lives. However much they tried to get this love and companion, the world isolated them and they were forced to live in isolation with lack of love and companion. The creature in Frankenstein suffered because of lack of companion and love and that is why he decided to killing mercilessly in order to release his anger and sorrows. On the other hand, Werther killed himself so as to release his anger and sorrows of rejection too.
Throughout Frankenstein, Victor proves to be quite an egotistical person. Victor’s actions will sometimes be selfish and not as noble as he would like others to believe. He creates the monster with a desire to obtain awe and fame and to make sure that his name will be remembered throughout history. “… a light so brilliant and wondrous… that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelley 37). While this discovery of Victor’s may be groundbreaking, he fails to think of the negative consequences, only thinking of himself and what this could potentially
At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.
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.
A women who wrote “Frankenstein” named, Mary Shelley, she was born August 30, 1797, in London, England. Mary Shelley came from a rich literary heritage. She was the daughter of William Godwin, a political theorist, novelist, and publisher. Her ideas to write Frankenstein cameon summer of 1816, Mary and his brother Percy visited the poet Lord Byron at his villa beside Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Stormy weather finally forced them going indoors, while the other guests read a volume of ghost stories. So there, Mary's story became Frankenstein when she was only 19 years old.Frankenstein was published in 1818, when Mary was 21, and
Victor, after being convinced to create a female companion for the monster, realizes that this will only create double the amount of destruction, he then makes the choice to discontinue his project to prevent more devastation. Instead of less damage resulting from this choice it only brings more harm to his life and everyone around him. First, his good friend Henry Clerval is murdered by the beast and Victor is accused of this murder, “The human frame could no longer support the agonies that I endured, and I was carried out of the room in strong convulsions.” (Shelley 129). This was Victor’s reaction upon seeing Henry’s corpse and demonstrates how deeply his pursuit for knowledge affects him. Even though he is later released on circumstantial evidence, he will be scarred for life knowing that he responsible for yet another death. Given that Victor destroyed the monster’s only hope of having someone else like him in the world; the monster swears revenge and that he will return on Victor’s wedding night. Victor misinterpreted this warning and instead of the monster attacking Victor, his creation attacked and
In Mary Shelley´s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, the Monster once claimed, “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” Frankenstein, since the 1910 film adaptation, has known a series of several adaptations that changed drastically, not only the plot but one of the main characters, the Monster, from stealing its creator´s name to being portrayed as a cold villain. Though, in the original storyline, the biggest threat to society is the creator itself, the one pretending to play as God, Victor Frankenstein. This essay will discuss the nature of the main characters of the novel and conclude who is the “real monster” in the end.
Q. Is the monster's vow of revenge a just punishment for Victor's actions and his nemesis?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the tale of the protagonist Victor Frankenstein and his creation. Both Frankenstein and Frankenstein’s creation’s questionable actions lead them both to be considered morally ambiguous figures. Victor is ambitious with good intentions, but his ambition leads to bad results. The Creature is an innately kind and compassionate person who commits abominable actions due to how others treat him. Their moral ambiguity is significant, as it reveals that an obsession with ambition distorts one’s morals.
The Character of the Creature The key aspect of discussion of character is presented by the author through the ‘monster’s’ actions which were justified by the situations that transpired throughout his short-lived life. The monster displayed severe depression after his repeated rejection by society. Simply put he was a serial killer by probable cause. Views on how one should foster their creation very greatly although it easily said that it would be frowned upon to be called a demonic being by one’s creator.
What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor
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
Mary Shelley’s ability to create such multidimensional characters in Frankenstein proves that writing is a powerful tool that has the ability to provoke vastly different opinions amongst readers. Even though each individual reading the story is reading the exact same words, their interpretation of those words often leads to opposing views in regards to the fate of the characters. The creature, in particular, has been a popular topic of discussion when conducting a close read of the novel due to his arguable versatility as a victim and villain. The concept of the villain has evolved over the years, however its basis still rests upon the simple fact that as a character in the story, their actions are a result of malicious intentions
The Antagonist in Frankenstein is The creature. The Creature is the antagonist because, he is against the main character, Victor, along with the fact that he is killing people to prove a point. I feel as though the antagonist is the creature because, he said, “I soon came to declare war against the human species and against he who had created me (Shelly, 10).” The creature clearly is upset about being created, but alternately, he could have honorably said how he feels he decides that he is going to hurt the entire human species as well as his creator. The creature also says, “Yes! Yes, I killed him, so that his death would bring despair to you, and a thousand miseries would torment and destroy you (Shelly, 10)!” The creature has just killed Victor´s, the creature’s creator, little brother William so it would hurt Victor for creating him. I refuse to see why the creature thought it was right to kill those people was to make a point across that he is alone included that he even feels horrible for being created. Also the character is the antagonist because, he says, “Prepare, Father, for your toils have only just begun! Wrap yourself in fur and gather food, for we shall soon enter upon a journey where your suffering will satisfy my hatred (Shelly, 13).” The creature wants to punish Victor more for letting him suffer for so long.