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Who Is Victor's Ambition In Frankenstein

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In the book Frankenstein, young Victor had everything he could want for a family, two loving parents, siblings to keep him company, and even an adopted cousin Elizabeth. Yet, he still began to isolate himself from them with his study of outdated natural philosophy and alchemy. A few years later, Victor leaves for Ingolstadt, a college in Germany. This further separated Victor from his family, and also from society. After arriving at Ingolstadt, Victor’s professors tell him that he has wasted his time with this nonsense. After this, Victor begins his studies anew, and all the while he has a side project, one so horrible and outlandish that he never speaks of it. This ambition eventually leads Victor to his ultimate demise.
Frankenstein relates his story of his ambition and how it destroyed him to Walton in their first conversation. "Unhappy man!" He shouted at Walton, after Walton had revealed his plans to discover the North Pole. "Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!" (Shelley 15) Later in the book …show more content…

... About two hours after ... we heard the ground sea, and before night the ice broke and freed our ship. ... In the morning, however, as soon as it was light, I went upon deck and found all the sailors busy on one side of the vessel, apparently talking to someone in the sea. It was, in fact, a sledge ... which had drifted towards us in the night on a large fragment of ice. Only one dog remained alive; but there was a human being within it whom the sailors were persuading to enter the vessel. ... On perceiving me, the stranger addressed me in English, although with a foreign accent. "Before I come on board your vessel," said he, "will you have the kindness to inform me whither you are bound? (Shelley

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