...In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, constructs a creature with the purpose of discovering how to create life; however, he does not foresee all of the consequences that end up arising from the creation of his invention as great tumults develop in his life and in human society due to the creature’s formation. Unintended consequences are not limited to the creation of Victor Frankenstein’s monster because these consequences are also present in reality with actual human creations. One such example of a real life human creation that has developed unintended consequences is the invention and use of antibiotics. The intended effect of antibiotics is to kill bacteria that cause infections in order to...
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...Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future generations it can often prove to be disastrous, in this case, deadly. Victor Frankenstein is the creator of the creature. Victor becomes obsessed with the idea of creating the human form and bringing it to life. Immediately after creating the creature, he is terrified because he doesn't truly understand what he has created. He returns home to his family, only to find tragedy there. Victor is not fully aware of the consequences of his actions and in a turn of events he spends his entire life trying to destroy the the one thing he spent his entire life creating. Much like a mother figure Victor Frankenstein brings a creature into the world but unlike most mothers Victor...
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...written · Switzerland, 1816, and London, 1816–1817 date of first publication · January 1, 1818 publisher · Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones narrator · The primary narrator is Robert Walton, who, in his letters, quotes Victor Frankenstein’s first-person narrative at length; Victor, in turn, quotes the monster’s first-person narrative; in addition, the lesser characters Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor. climax · The murder of Elizabeth Lavenza on the night of her wedding to Victor Frankenstein in Chapter 23 protagonist · Victor Frankenstein antagonist · Frankenstein’s monster setting (time) · Eighteenth century setting (place) · Geneva; the Swiss Alps; Ingolstadt; England and Scotland; the northern ice point of view · The point of view shifts with the narration, from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to Frankenstein’s monster, then back to Walton, with a few digressions in the form of letters from Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein. falling action · After the murder of Elizabeth Lavenza, when Victor Frankenstein chases the monster to the northern ice, is rescued by Robert Walton, narrates his story, and dies tense · Past foreshadowing · Ubiquitous—throughout his narrative, Victor uses words such as “fate” and “omen” to hint at the tragedy that has befallen him; additionally, he occasionally pauses in his recounting to collect himself in the face of frightening memories. tone · Gothic, Romantic...
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...discover the world on your own. That’s exactly what Victor Frankenstein did to his own creation in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, proving that monsters can come in various physical forms, but they all share the same twisted mentality. Destruction and turmoil were some of the many things brought about by Victor’s reactions towards creating life. Instead of facing the new problems placed in front of him by his decision to create a new being, Victor ran away. He left his creature without the fatherly guardian it needed when first discovering the world, thus creating a vindictive relationship between the two. This relationship leads to the death of Victor’s loved ones by...
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...Shelley’s Frankenstein is a late nineteenth century novel about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a living person from dead body parts and gives it life through the power of magic and alchemy. It serves as a cautionary tale that sheds light on the ethical boundaries of scientific experimentation and the potential consequences of ignoring those boundaries for the sake of knowledge alone. Although science is not inherently good or evil, it can be used as a tool for both in the hands of imperfect humans. Victor Frankenstein betrays the scientific code of ethics when he creates a man that society can never accept. Victor, as a scientist, follows the very same path which elementary school children follow today when learning the scientific method; observation, hypothesis, experimentation, and conclusion. Victor Frankenstein observes the power of nature through the destructive force of lightning. He sees the potential of such energies and develops a hypothesis based on his studies of Agrippa and Magnus (German scholars and philosophers), who he looks to as mentors. His hypothesis is that through the power of nature, he can reanimate organic tissue with the use of alchemy which his chosen mentors have claimed to achieve. Victor Frankenstein’s experimentation requires a form, which leads him to the charnel houses to claim tissue from the deceased. His hypothesis proves true, and a monster is born. Throughout the process of his experimentation, Frankenstein has multiple...
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...The Moral Immoralities of Victor Frankenstein In the novel Frankenstein, the author Mary Shelley portrays the limitations of man in his pursuit of scientific creativity. She illustrates Victor Frankenstein’s attempts and success at creating a human being in his laboratory as an immoral attempt to play the role of God. Shelley repeatedly shows the monster’s harmful effects on society and often places blame on Victor for the Monster’s detrimental actions. In order to emphasize the immorality and mistakes in Victor’s attempts to play God, Shelley constructs a recognizable parallel to the story of Genesis when God creates man and woman. In order to show her disapproval of such an endeavor, Shelley intentionally causes Victor to fail. This deviation from the parallel in Genesis demonstrates that man cannot exceed his natural limitations, or mimic the role of God. The story begins with Victor’s decision to create the Monster. Victor says that he “[s]ucceeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, [he] became capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley 43). Immediately, a parallel is drawn to the creation of man in Genesis. This parallel continues when Victor discloses to the reader that he, “[c]ollected bones from charnel-houses and distrusted, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame” (Shelley 45). Shelley portrays the creation of Victor’s monster in a subtle but similar way that God created man. Her intention is for...
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...Question 1. I think he was average at both. He often cheated on his exams because his memory wasn't very good, but he was able to make the unique, creative connections which is why he could achieve success in creating life where others could not. I admire that he wants to overcome death so that he can be rich by selling the "cure" to wealthy people in Europe. I will never fault anyone for wanting to make money. However, I dislike the fact that he was an anti-Semitic, racist who refused to re-animate "minority peoples." Elizabeth is Frankenstein's childhood sweetheart. They had not seen each other in years and he is attracted to her physically. He thinks she has the "weak and feeble mind of woman, but she is soft of heart and ample of bosom." However, these sentiments were common in the age and not considered sexist so I hardly think we can hold it against him. He views people as equals and inferiors. He feels she is too dim to understand the science he works at, but wants to marry her because her "broad, womanly hips" are primed for childbearing and he would like to produce and heir. He wants to make money. He tells people that his endeavors are more noble than that, but in his private journals he makes plans for how to spend all the money he plans to make. Biology, physiology, medicine, electricity, herbology, mathematics, history, and eurythmics. He is excited, but that is only to hide his true fear. He feigns being happy for the sake of his servant and aid...
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...Many themes shown in the book “Frankenstein” are good representations of life lessons. One theme is, “the quest for knowledge can lead to a dangerous path to follow.” Victor uses his genus ability and his thirst for knowledge to create a monster that ultimately uses his power to destroy Victor’s life. The monster requests another creature’s creation of his kind, and when Victor refuses, the monster seeks vengeance on his creator. During this hunt for revenge that the monster partakes in, many deaths occur and Victor begins to realize he made a huge mistake. In chapter 5, Victor creates a monster because he is intrigued by the capability and knowledge of his learning abilities. Victor portrays a canny personality and one of the only desires...
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...Frankenstein Mary Shelley gives a small glimpse into the mind of Victor Frankenstein. To encourage movement the gothic genre is intensely used throughout the novel. To set the mood, a gothic setting is used to give specific details of weather, sounds, and the environment. Mary Shelley also uses irrational fear to keep the tone of a gothic novel. Without the gothic tone, Frankenstein would not be as impactful of a novel. First, one use of how gothic genre sets the mood is the setting. Use of certain time periods, weather, sounds, and environments keep the gothic tone consistent throughout the novel. “As soon as I was convinced that no assistance could save any part of the habitation, I quitted the scene and sought refuge in the woods” (124) meeting with the family the monster had been observing, it burned their house down. This is important because the monster felt that its place was in the ‘dark and scary forest’, it finally thought of itself as a monster that everyone else saw it as. Another example is when Frankenstein finds out that his brother has been murdered, the use of a gothic ‘scary’ setting is apparent. "I quitted my seat and walked on, although the darkness and storm increased every minute and the thunder burst with a terrific burst with a terrific crash over my head" (59). During this journey Frankenstein is very angry at his creation who he knows is to blame. Without the thunderstorm in the background, Frankenstein’s inner thoughts would not have been as easy to decipher...
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...when one abandons something, it will come back and take revenge on them. Shelly had an interesting way of showing this throughout the chapter; she played on characters emotions, killing their close ones. She created acts of violence that we see in our daily lives, driven by the anger from abandonment or neglect. An example of this is when Victor receives a letter from his father stating that his brother, William, has been murdered. So, Victor goes to Geneva where his family is located, but its too late and the gates are closed. He spends the night plodding around and comes across the spot where his brother was killed. Victor sees the monster hiding behind trees and this brings Dr. Frankenstin to the conclusion that the Monster showed no clemency to William. The audience, know that the monster killed William because his last name was Frankenstein, but Victor does not know this. This shows an act of revenge because the monster knew who he was killing, which was someone connected to his creator, Frankenstein “… Such as the deed which he had now done, nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me (Shelly...
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...In this exquisite piece of literature named “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley depicts Victor Frankenstein, born into a wealthy Genevan family and audacious scientist with a desire for discovery, creating a freak of nature we come to know as Frankenstein’s Monster all through the story-telling framing structure of letters by a man named Captain Robert Walton. Obsessed with old theory books of recreating natural wonders, Frankenstein studied endlessly for decades until he went off to college in Germany. During college, he excelled at his science classes while on the side partaking in several hidden studies to hide the grief of losing his mother shortly after leaving her to go to college. These experiments consisted of delving into the practice of transferring living matter to non-living objects. After concluding with plausible data, Victor Frankenstein took it to the next level; he attempted to create a humanoid figure. In order to fit the entirety of the necessary elements for this being to live as a proper functioning human being, Frankenstein resorted to making him freakishly large and proportionally gigantic. Nevertheless, he had succeeded. The being was alive! Since, the question of technology going overboard as...
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...Introduction Many literary critics consider Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as one of the most impressive and imaginative Gothic horror novels of all times. In the novel, Shelley managed to create one of the most phenomenal creatures in literary history: Frankenstein monster. The epistolary style that the author employs allows the reader to view the circumstances from varied viewpoints and draw conclusions from the plot and the characters. The book The plot has a variety of story-lines rolled into one. The main however is about a Doctor Victor Frankenstein who though born to a well-to-do and loving family, is over- ambitious and thirsts to prove himself. After achieving excelling academically, he designs a technique of creating life from a fusion of inanimate objects, dead bodies an animal parts. The doctor is not satisfied with achieving conventional feats but is determined to create a living being. It is this ambition that leads to the creation after years of painstaking work. It is this creation that leads to Victor's downfall. The creation is 8 feat tall and due to the use of human parts that do not march his massive size, is hideous. He is described as having watery yellow eyes, a withered, yellowish, translucent skin which barely conceals his muscular system and blood vessels. The only good aspects of his appearance are his perfect, white teeth, long black hair and his black lips. The doctor, who had hoped to create a beautiful being is shocked by his creation...
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...disturbing for us was the fact that he was alone, able to think and move on his own outside of a group. We smelled his fear, his struggle to escape and this dragged us further in rage. He ran out of a door into the light of day and we realized at this point, for now, he was out of reach. We got a better glimpse of him once he entered the light: he was the cause, one of the creators of what we are. We are the Dark Seekers and we are a creation of man’s greed. We are the monstrous creation of his kind and we must destroy that from which we are created. Through film, directors can show us a world in which mankind is only surviving on a thread of hope. They can show us a society that only lived to further progress today, condemning the future to the aftermath of their carelessness. They can warn us, visually, of what we as human kind are capable of producing in a way that no other media can. Film itself is a product of human advancement in technology; furthermore, a monster in itself. With this advancement we as society are instilled with visual aids and special effects depicting the horrors that come from taking technology or medicine too far. Film makers show viewers that delving too deeply into technology in order to satisfy our immediate desires without considering the future...
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...wonderful forms include true moral agents who respond to real moral facts and who form a natural moral community. Their existence contributes to the grandeur of Darwin’s evolutionary view of life. What is a moral agent? A moral agent is a decision maker who chooses between right and wrong and is, therefore, morally responsible for his acts. In this essay I will argue that creature in Marry Shelly’s novel Frankenstein is not a moral agent. The monster in Marry Shelly’s novel Frankenstein is Victor Frankenstein's creation, assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, spirited by the mysterious spark of life. He awakes eight feet tall and enormously strong but with the mind of a baby. Abandoned by his creator and confused, he tries to get accepted into society, only to be rejected. Looking at his reflection, he realizes his grotesqueness, a characteristic that hides his gentleness from society. He seeks revenge on his creator, killing Victor's younger brother. Later, after Victor destroys his work on the female monster, the monster murders Victor's best friend and then his new wife. What does it take to be able to choose between right and wrong? Moral agents must have enough knowledge and intelligence to understand how to apply moral principles and to choose whether to be guided by them in planning their actions. A moral agent also needs memory and self-consciousness, so he can remember and evaluate his options. Reason is a tool for achieving inborn...
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...logic in the creature's arguments. Why should he not respond in kind to the way that he has been treated by both his maker, who should have cared for him and looked after him, and by mankind as a whole? If the creature is inhuman, it is only because he is imitating the inhumanity of the human species. Therefore, I think that the novel presents Victor as being more inhuman. * Victor is alien in his society in the way that he removes himself from others, for example when he goes about creating the daemon/creation. Victor is very secretive and seems to like it that way... he doesn't really try to understand people like the creation does. The creation tries again and again to belong in the community, its his greatest desire. With Victor, on the other hand, there seems to be a gulf between him and the rest of society. * Justine’s trial testifies to the inhumanity of man. What is important to note is the way this links in to a vital theme of the novel, which is the presentation of the creature himself. He starts off innocent and wanting a relationship with his maker. It is the way that he is shunned by his maker and by humanity and treated cruelly that forces him into cruelty, but this cruelty is only paralleled by the monstrous nature of humanity as displayed in incidents such as the trial of Justine. We cannot expect the creature to be good when he has no model of goodness on which he can base his behaviour. * Frankenstein's lack of personal responsibility lead to...
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