Frankenstein: Similarities Between Victor And The Monster

Victor Frankenstein creates a Creature that he have many similarities to in different ways they both isolate themselves. The Creature has no one to go to because he is not accepted by humans, and Victor just likes to be alone while he is working. They also have the same thirst for knowledge the Creature teaches himself how to read by listening to an Arabian girl named Safie as she is being taught. While Victor will do anything possible to get the knowledge he need “ forced to spend days and nights in vaults and charnel-houses”(42) to figure out how to build the

Frankenstein Rhetorical Analysis Essay An abandoned life from society and that doesn’t follow normal activities could make you a romantic hero. In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, she portrays the main character, Victor, as a man that is intent of learning more about nature. Victor begins to make mistakes which causes him to be full of sorrow and exiled from society. Victor begins to possess some traits from Byronic list of traits that romantic heroes possess.

Life can be rough, and both Victor and the monster figure this out in specific ways. Victor begins by being a dedicated and persistent young lad who just wanted to get his name out there, but his obsession sent him into a spiraling descent into madness; however, the monster figures this out by getting abused, tormented, and treated like a megalomaniac even though all he did was be nice and helpful to everyone he came across. To make things worse, these changes impacted both characters in very bad ways personally. The transformations significantly impacted the way they lived and thought, even bringing on suicidal thinking. If the story would have been any bit different in terms of having a positive change, then the story probably would not have been as entertaining to the audience as it is currently, and in addition, Victor and the monster would have had better lives.

The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

Victor and the Creature are both social outcasts. Since Victor is so intelligent and interested in science he often does not relate to other people and he does not have many friends. Since the monster cannot be around people without scaring them to death he tends to also act as an outcast around

The monster is spurned by society because of his horrific appearance, his body, alone and hated, unfit for the company of strangers, just as Frankenstein fears he is. He is miserable which makes the hatred grow, as he says, “all men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” In fact, this wretchedness and enforced isolation is the monster’s main character trait, parallel to the isolation being Frankenstein’s biggest fear. Now that Victor is in college, he does not have his family to fall back upon for affection.

However, despite the fact that they have slight differences, when comparing their experiences and characterization, it is apparent that they are more similar than they are different. They are similar because, they both lived in isolation, were abandoned, and lived like outcasts in the modern society. They both lived in isolation because other people thought that they were different. For instance, Victor Frankenstein was left all alone at a tender age after the death of his mother, and he never got a feeling of having a family. In addition, Victor was obsessed with dead bodies and creating a being.

He starts his own plan to for revenge against the creature, but this makes him just as beastly as the monster. Victor makes it his life goal, to make the monster pay in any way he can. He wants him to feel lonely and isolated forever. The beast takes a lot out on Victor and makes him feel exactly the way he feels

Victor damages his mindset by allowing himself to go mentally insane. Because the sight of medical tools tortures Victor’s mind, he becomes psychotic and depressed. Secondly, this character devastates himself when he views his monster alive for the first time. Victor becomes ill for several months and eventually recovers; however, this ailment disturbs him for the rest of his life.

He uses the little that he knows to fuel his hatred towards humans and his creator. This shows the exponential growth of the problems that Victor has created as a result of his desire for knowledge. Not only did he create the destructive monster, but now the monster is using a hunger for knowledge, the very thing that created it, to do even more damage. This root cause is linked to everything that is causing Victor’s suffering. The monster also compares his relationship to Victor to that of God and Adam, wishing that he had the same supplication to his creator that Adam did, “I remembered Adam’s supplication to his creator.

This caused a lot of anger for the monster, and he would then release this anger onto Victor to make him pay for abandonment. In the end Victor’s death was “caused by his creature” or really by “his own vengeful pursuit of it” (Lowe-Evans). The monsters death was through “self-immolation” because of the murders he committed to get back at Victor (Lowe- Evans). Both man and monster life was ended in cruel

In the end it truly was the lack of love and care from a mother that initiated the similar feelings of loneliness and anger between both characters. Maybe it was the loneliness that drove both of them to become angry and strive for revenge, as we see Victor and his creation are despite the differences resemble fairly the same traits. Driven by the same desires and goals it feeds the want for pain and want for isolation from one another. Isolated by society, abandoned by their childhood figures, and driven by rage. They are extremely remorse and no one can understand Victor’s

It is quite telling that the most severe punishment in our society other than the death penalty or torture is solitary confinement. Although, isolation is in itself a form of torture, it can drive someone to the brink of insanity. Although published nearly 200 years ago, Mary Shelley clearly understood the potential detrimental effects of isolation, as demonstrated in her famous novel, Frankenstein, where both main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, suffer from and cause isolation for the other. Mary Shelley directs the reader to believe that isolation is the true evil, not the monster, Victor or any emotion inside of them. At the beginning of the novel, Victor is isolated from other people, causing to forget his scientific

For example, when the Monster was exposed to a peaceful natural setting he states: “my [the Monsters] spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future glided by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy” (Shelley 101). Another common interest between these two seemingly contradicting characters is their strong love of knowledge. Although their love for knowledge is obvious, their inability to control their obsession with it often results in something negative. Victor becomes obsessed with science and studying life. His obsession leads to the creation of the Monster, his biggest mistake.