...common misconception that “Frankenstein” is the name of the creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; however, Victor Frankenstein is actually the name of the man who creates the monster, who is found to be unnamed. Although the two are not the same being, they are very similar in many ways. Frankenstein and his creature have more similarities than differences. Throughout the novel, both Frankenstein and his creature prove to be fueled by revenge, intrigued by tampering with life and death, and isolated by and from society. Notably, both Frankenstein and his creature obtain a thirst for revenge. After the murders of various friends and family members of Victor, he becomes infuriated with the being he has created: “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation… I wished to see him again that I might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head, and avenge the deaths of William and Justine” (76). The crimes that his creation has committed compel him to seek revenge and rain havoc down upon the creature. After Victor abandons the creature and tears apart the companion that he is constructing for him, breaking his promise, the creature swears to pursue revenge on Victor: “Cursed, cursed creator… my feelings were those of rage...
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...Mary Shelley "Frankenstein" Is a story about a monster that kills people. Know who this monster is is up to the interpretation of the reader. Now in the story of "Frankenstein" we have two main characters Victor Frankenstein and his creation in which I call the creature. These two characters have many similarities and many difference that are portrayed throughout the story. Also many people have had many different views of this story and whether the actual monster of the story is Victor himself or the actual creature in which he created through all of his scientific experimentation that he has done. At first glance many people will say the actual creature that he has created but when we actually dig a little deeper into the story we may reveal the real monster within Victor himself. Victor Frankenstein was really into science and he studied books by Agrippa, Paracelsus and Alberus Magnus. These books were only to be shunned by his professors at which he went to school and studied at. The reaction that the professor's gave was ""Every minute," continued M. Krempe with warmth, "every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost". Pretty much what the professor was saying was that the contents of the books that he was reading was not factual enough and that Victor wasted his time reading them. But Victor being the guy that he is did not take the professor word for it and pursued his studies of these books to try and prove everyone wrong. He spends years...
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...Gregorio Frankenstein Essay 412 Summer Intensive Professor Monaghan July 16th, 2015 Victor attributes his tragic fate to his relentless search for knowledge. Do you think that this is the true cause of his suffering? In what ways does the novel present knowledge as dangerous and destructive? Trace the similarities between Victor and the monster. Consider their respective relationships with nature, desires for family, and any other important parallels you find. Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a story about a brilliant but unorthodox scientist, Victor Frankenstein that rejects the artificial man that he has created, the Creature escapes and later swears revenge. Throughout the novel readers experience and learn about Victors boundless passion for knowledge and discover the positive and negative effects that come with his relentless search for it. Victor’s relentless search for knowledge ultimately leads to the death of his loved ones and friends as well as his own death. The suffering that Victor encounters can also be caused by other things in his life such as lack of family and companionship or lack of a love life. The knowledge that the monster obtains throughout the novel also comes with an emotional suffering that tarnishes the relationship with his regretful creator. As seen in the novel this emotional suffering obtained through knowledge caused danger and destruction that affected many people around Victor. One can surely say that Dr. Frankenstein and his creation...
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...of 1984 and Frankenstein, the protagonist from each work shares similarities with one another. Within George Orwell’s novel, 1984, the protagonist is Winston Smith. Within Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the protagonist is Victor Frankenstein. Winston Smith and Victor Frankenstein each experience similar life lessons as well as similar feelings; however, differences can be uncovered as well. The act of rebellion is an act that both Victor and Winston encounter. Victor was a man of rebellion, beginning to end. Victor Frankenstein would turn his back on society and the rules in which they abide. He had created a creature. He had created a creature far from the ordinary human. Creating a human, even attempting to create...
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...with a similar theme, and it gives a way for the author to further emphasize the main point which he or she is trying to make with the story. By using allusions it may give the reader a chance to better understand and they can draw the similarities between the two different stories and so how they relate to one another. “Frankenstein” and “Adam and Eve” have a lot of similarities. Both stories have characters that portray curiosity that leads to...
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...of Frankenstein, readers must realize the importance of the connection it has to the story Paradise Lost, this is because the forbidden knowledge shared throughout these pieces may foreshadow things to come and help readers gain a deeper understanding of Frankenstein. In the letters, Walton is talking about some of the things Victor has told him, such as the very important advice he advises Walton to listen too, he says “You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been.” (Shelley pg. 15). At the beginning of chapter two, Victor is describing his childhood and what he was like as a young boy, he says “It was...
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...“IT’S ALLIIIIIVE!!!” Everyone knows the famous line from pop culture’s Frankenstein where, surrounded by fantastical science equipment, Dr. Frankenstein, aided by his hunched assistant, Igor, zaps life into a grotesque monster within medieval castle under the cover of a dark and stormy night. At the epicenter, a creature awakens while the mad scientist cackles maniacally. It would be equally shocking for most, however, to find that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the original, poses a quite different, almost anti-climatic, scene–void of any shouting, Igors, and with no clear depiction of the creature’s endowment of life-giving forces. In fact, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contrasts heavily to the pop culture Frankenstein in many aspects, namely,...
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...In Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, Shelley alludes to many other pieces of work such as Rime of the Ancient Mariner and biblical stories such as Paradise Lost constantly throughout the book. All of these allusions carry a compelling meaning between Frankenstein and the other literary work. Shelley’s reasoning for using various pieces of literature in her novel was to compare the characters in her novel to the other characters in the other works. The main characters in Shelley’s novel all portray other characters form the literary works in a way due to their actions and thinking. Frankenstein alludes to the literary works of Prometheus, Paradise Lost, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner to emphasize the certain actions that occur in the novel and how they are similar to the alluded works. All of these allusions provide insight to the actions of the characters and the characters in general. Many of the literary pieces alluded to in the novel are referenced by the protagonists in the story. In fact, the monster is taught how to speak by reading Paradise Lost, after stealing it and through this; he learns the concept of good and evil. The characters are aware of these works and realize that their actions are similar to those of the characters in the other literary works. All of the literary works deal with great tragedy but the protagonists in Frankenstein don’t seem to realize that even though they are acting a lot like the other characters in the literary...
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...creature’s sake I would make peace with the whole world! […] My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and will be content with the same fare. […] The picture I present to you is peaceful and human …” (Shelley 141). Victor agrees to make a female ‘monster’, stating: “I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed. Once commenced,...
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...Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or Modern Prometheus, is a daring tale of the creation of life gone wrong, inspired by the many alchemists and scientists of the time. From a young age, Shelley was exposed to the concept of social engineering and social and moral issues. When she married Percy Shelley, he brought about the ideas of man playing God. A man with a deep interest in chemical experiments, he exposed Mary the whelm of chemical experimentation and natural philosophy. Many will agree that Shelley’s novel was influenced heavily by four prominent European scientists: Luigi Galvani, Giovanni Aldini, and Johann Konrad Dippel. Electricity at this time was a new concept, only explored previously by Albert Einstein. Electricity had compelled the minds of many scientists,...
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...“anonymous” author, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus has inspired numerous adaptations, remakes and parodies across different literary genres. Reprinted again in 1831, this time with an introduction written by Mary Shelley acknowledging her authorship, Frankenstein through its discrediting of science and the omnipotence of nature, confirms ands challenges our own habitual understandings of the world around us. The habitual understanding I will be focusing on is western hegemonic rationalism and the dominance of science as the ruler and explainer of my universe in comparison to the earlier more romantic ideology of Shelley’s time. Frankenstein also carries a warning about ambition. In a society that believes ambition to be a good thing, Shelley attempts to revel catastrophic consequences for humans over come with the quest for glory and science’s obsessive and overly ambitious nature. Western hegemonic ideal is the cultural identity that has conditioned me, becoming habitual, normal and routine. However, Shelley was privileged as she was writing at the beginning of the scientific enlightenment era, and could therefore identify what would be lost if science and technology were to usurp the position of God, nature and fate. Art, emotions, passion, suffering, humility etc were to be restricted into liminal spaces, creating a world not unlike Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World. Romantic philosophies have been endorsed in Frankenstein through the downfall of Victor due to scientific...
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...In the Beginning There Was Frankenstein Many have said that love makes the world go around but we are left with the question of who creates love? What would life be like if we had not experienced love and, ultimately, what would each of us be like without experiencing love? The Holy Bible provides numerous examples of a perfect love from the Creator and explains that people have been created to love. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, creates questions about the responsibility of a creator, and what can happen when some basic responsibilities of a creator are ignored. The novel describes a monster and his actions due to his creator abandoning him. Throughout Mary Shelley’s novel, there is the question of who really is the monster? Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, can easily be compared to the Judeo-Christian God and the story of creation found in the book of Genesis. The God referred to as the creator of all mankind is driven by love for his creation, but Victor Frankenstein is driven to create by his own personal ideas of grandiosity and ego. The Holy Bible is the account of the Judeo-Christian God’s action in the world and his purpose for all creation. The writing of the Holy Bible took place over sixteen centuries, and is the work of over forty human authors. There are sixty-six books that provide various lessons for living and moral conduct, examples of love from a Creator, and a starting point for creation. In Genesis, the...
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...4: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Forbidden knowledge From the beginning of humanity, a thirst for knowledge was born within the human soul. This thirst made it essential for the human mind to seek knowledge constantly and discover new things. We want to know everything. And it has been a great journey for mankind in the field of technology and science; the achievements that humanity has managed to accomplish in the different fields of knowledge are outstanding. Over the past few centuries, the intellectuals of society have made countless advances in science and the development of technology, which, to different degrees, have all benefited mankind. Our thirst for knowledge is what has kept and still keeps us moving forward, and it is what separates us from our ancestors and makes the present life different than the ancient one; without it we wouldn’t have the full-of-technology, modern life we have today. Every scientific discovery is the result of man’s hunger for and dedication to acquiring knowledge, information, and power. However, the innate curiosity and desire for understanding in an individual can grow so immense that his or her moral and ethical boundaries erode, which might result in tragic and disastrous results for all who are involved. Despite that there is a huge number of fields in which humans can seek knowledge, forbidden knowledge have always been attractive for some. The secrets of life and death stand as the most tempting, and in Frankenstein we see...
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...Romanticism Unshackled: a Study of the Modern Prometheus The most remarkable aspect about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the ability to label the novel in so many different ways amongst many genres, ranging from science fiction, to fantasy, to horror, and have all of them be correct. At such a young age, Mary Shelley constructed a narrative so revolutionary, intricate, and involved that it is still pertinent to be written about in college essays almost 200 years after it was written. As the author, Shelley is often attributed with vast creative intellect, and rightly so, as is evidenced while reading through her novel. It is imperative to recognize, however, just how much influence her colleagues—the Romantic poets—had on the ideas that became manifested in her writing. Frankenstein should bear the title of Romantic literature because the novel embodies trademark Romantic ideas, situations, and characteristics throughout the text. In an attempt to categorize any novel as Romantic, however, one must first attempt to identify what, exactly, makes a work Romantic. A group of poets, including the likes of William Blake, Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron and—Mary’s husband—Percy Shelley, who are commonly credited as being the ground-breaking authors of the Romantic movement (Ferguson). A prime example of this method of poetry was introduced in the 1798 collection, Lyrical Ballads. This work, written by Wordsworth and Coleridge, is a compilation...
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...Frankenstein and Golem Frankenstein’s theme that man made creations that are created by opposing the Laws of nature are destined to be not accepted and unwanted are stemmed from the many similarities of the Golem of Talmud. Frankenstein’s monster was made in order to provide proof that you could restore life to dead matter so that he could believe he could bring back his mother. The Golem was made in order to protect the Jewish Community from oppressors. However both Frankenstein and the Golem’s creation were seen as unnatural and were shunned. In the Talmud, Shortly after the animation of the Golem (called Adam by his creator) the creator realizes the fact that like Adam(the first human,created from mud.), all golems are created from mud by...
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