Arrogance In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story of scientist Victor Frankenstein. Throughout Victor’s young life he has been fascinated with several different forms of the sciences. He has a great knowledge in this area, and this leads to him having arrogance in his abilities. After Victor sees a tree struck by lightning he decides to study Galvanism. Victor spends years going to the slaughter house and gathering pieces for his creation. Victor worries more about if he can do this, rather than if he should do this. Victor arrogance leads him to follow through with his project, creating a terrifying beast. Victor jettisons the monster out of fear of his appearance. This has a tremendous impact on the monster since the first person he sees, and …show more content…
According to Kibin, “Victor’s arrogance in his studies of the human body made him lose his sense of humanity” (Kibin). This is evident when he takes on the experiment of creating a living being using various dead body parts. He allows his arrogance to blind him, and he is unwilling to accept the consequences of his actions. Shelley knows that arrogance is a dangerous quality in a person because it will cause them to overestimate their capabilities. Shelley uses this as a warning because she wants readers to always be aware of what they are doing, and how to deal with the outcome of their …show more content…
One large impact that was prevalent in Frankenstein was the death of her child. She viewed Victor as the father of the creation, which was not a normal creation by man. She feared that after the death of her child she would be continuously affected by this. According to people.brandeis.edu Shelley had, “the fear of a woman that she may not be able to bear a healthy normal child...” (people.brandeis.edu). This was significant in her life because during the writing of Frankenstein, she had already lost a child and she was pregnant with her third child, so this thought haunted