Guilt In Frankenstein

Superior Essays
Shunned, abused, worthless, pitiful? How is it that we describe a “victim”? So many ways to describe someone who is assumed to be free of fault. Victims are often people we look at with pity, people let astray by forces outside their control. Yet are victims really free of guilt? Should we assume that they are not to be held responsible for their actions because they were placed in certain situations? Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, is still regarded as one of the most famous gothic stories of all time. Still quite popular to this day with many works being done as adaptations from this novel. Such as movies, books, plays and many other works. Why is Frankenstein still popular to this day, despite being written in 1817, and first published in …show more content…
When the creature was brought to life his own creator ran and hid from him because he was so grotesque. The creature, unaware of his appearance, became confused not understand what was happening. Almost as if he was being portrayed as a newborn child not understanding anything in the world and relying on his “parent” to guild it. Sadly this was not the case for the poor creature, because as soon as he was born his creator had turned his back to him and abandon it. Wherever the creature went there was no human who would associate with it. The first village he visited he was driven away by frightened and angry cottagers. The creature did not understand why he was being rejected and attacked, he only understood that it is painful so he retreats from all humans. The creature is still cautious of humans but is still longing for company. He stays close to a little family near a cottage. He watches them and studies their behavior eventually starting to understand how to speak and read. By comparing the beauty of the cottagers to his own appearance, he also learns, and understands, that the people he has encountered have treated him ill and become freighted because of his hideous exterior.” (Good and Evil in Man, pg. 7) As he watches them he realizes how beautiful they are, but reality deals a crushing blow when he sees his reflection, showing him he just how horrifying and ugly he truly is. The creature loves how kind and gentle the family is and is grateful to them for everything they had taught him. He tries to initiate a conversation with the blind father of the family only to be chased away because they too become frightened of him. As the monster is left in sadness and heartbroken he continues to wander through the woods. At one point he comes across a girl who appeared to be drowning with no hesitation he swoops in to rescue her. The girls male companion is spooked and angry at the creature assuming

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    From a young age children are taught that lying and trickery don 't come without consequences. A common theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is also one of Victor Frankenstein’s fatal flaws: lies and deceit in the form of secrecy. Victors biggest secret was his attempt to cover up the creation of the creature. His choice to keep this secret not only affected him and the people around him, but also affected the creature in a negative way. Victor began to keep his work hidden after he started to talk with the philosopher at Ingolstadt.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His own creator could not tolerate the sight of him and deserted him. He was left with nobody. The monster explained that he was a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing". He had to discover survival, language, and knowledge alone. Every time he tried to befriend someone, he was rejected.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite having society abandon him, the creature helps the De Lacey's through poverty. “[The creature] had been accustomed... to steal a part of [the De Lacey's] store for [his] consumption, but when [he] found that in doing this [the creature] inflicted pain on the cottagers, [he] abstained and satisfied [himself] with berries, nuts, and roots... [he] gathered from the neighboring wood” (Shelley 109). Although the creature has been abused by society, he finds in himself to help others. Even though the creature knows what the De Lacey's reaction at his appearance would most likely be.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No ethical man could abandon something who he had just given life to just because of its hideous exterior. We eventually learn in Chapter 11, Page 87, just how difficult life had been for the creature. Without a guide to show him how to properly navigate this complex and unfeeling world, his creation turned bitter. Even today, if you were to release a child out into this harsh and unfeeling world, they would either die or be so hardened by the world that their innocence is lost forever. Because of the creatures abandonment, it turned into the cold-hearted killer that we observed throughout the book.…

    • 794 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, demonstrates many topics that can transform into a theme. Isolation, abandonment, and revenge are expressed within the story the Creature had told Victor. The main topic that stood out the most was keeping too many secrets, which in return lead Victor to his own destruction. He lost himself and his attachment to society after he kept the Creature a secret which lead the creature killing his family and friend due to spite Victor for abandoning him. The novel Frankenstein demonstrates the theme keeping many secrets leads to destruction when Victor’s inability to share his secret about the creature brings destruction of those he loves, the loss of his family and friends causes Victor to lose his attachment to…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Driven by loneliness, the creature seeks a companion so as to finally feel accepted which would supposedly stop his hatred towards society and impulses of revenge. Possibly Frankenstein owes him this as most of the blame of this gloomy story can be placed on his shoulders. He did abandon his creation from his birth and did nothing to stop the creature from going out into the world alone. Untaught and abandoned, the creature did try to be good, but his creator could possibly be blamed for his rage against society. Regardless, that rage is still present in the creature and must not be forgotten.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Suffering In Frankenstein

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mary Shelley strongly portrays the opinion that scientific progress in the extreme will result in suffering, when it passes beyond the bounds of what nature will allow. Humans are flawed creatures that will continue to do unnatural types of wrong and suffer for it. Everyone surrounding the criminal human will be also be negatively affected, and the society in its entirety will be subject to suffering at the hands of nature. Humans generally look for comfort in nature’s surroundings because deep down they too are of natural origin, so when a human strays too far from the right and natural they will pay for their betrayal and imperfection of person. In the novel Frankenstein, there are many examples of death and torture and disruption due to…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The creature pursuits his creator, thus leads to him settling down near a cottage. He observes a family, which resides inside the cottage. The creature was impressed by the cottagers and learned “views of social life which it developed” (Shelley 116) and to “admire their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind” (Shelley 116). The cottagers fill the creature’s void of not having a family. The creature learns vital values and morals from the family, as well as how to speak and understand the French language.…

    • 1489 Words
    • 6 Pages
    • 5 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Frankenstein is filled with many themes and topics all throughout the novel. Shelley does a great job at adding as many themes as possible to her story. Frankenstein shows the outcome of playing God and creating things that should not be created through death, revenge, and guilt. Death is a reoccurring inevitability that affects the characters throughout the book. The monster uses death as a revenge tactic to his creator many times.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An Eye for an Eye Although justice and fairness are nearly synonymous, not everyone in this harsh world receives a fair judgement. More often than not, justice is served to the wrong people, or the people who receive a fair trial sit silently while others receive injustice after injustice. In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, justice is a key theme that is developed through the characters of the Monster, Victor, and Justine. While Victor receives justice and an almost-too-fair trial, the Monster and Justine, along with other characters receive an injustice at least once. In the novel, Victor creates the monster, breaks promises, and sits silently, only to lead to injustice for other characters and justice for himself.…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When things don’t turn out the way people want them to, they easily blame others for theirs actions. Taking responsibility for one’s doing is easy if the outcome is accepted by others. But if the outcome is bad, they easily pass the responsibility to others. Humans are prone to blame others for mistakes they make. A unchangeable mistake was made when Victor Frankenstein created a monster in Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein.…

    • 1728 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, written by Mary Shelley in 1818 there are many central themes. I will focus on the themes of revenge and isolation which are highlighted not only in the passage from chapter twenty-three, but also throughout the novel. This passage comes from the scene in the novel where Victor and Elizabeth have just been married and are now starting their honeymoon. But when they arrive at their destination Victor is very nervous and upset because he remembers that his Creature vowed to get his revenge with him on his wedding night (Shelly 140). The themes of the novel and the themes present in the passage are very similar in how isolation affects the characters.…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    At first he enters the cottage and strikes up a friendly conversation with the old man, who is blind and oblivious to the Creature’s horrid appearance. The conversation progresses as they speak of kindness and friendliness, when suddenly Felix, Safie and Agatha enter the cottage and react out of fear, tearing the Creature away from the old man and forcing him to quit the cottage. The Creature’s only hope for acceptance is now shattered. From then on he vows hatred against humanity, and this becomes the beginning of a monstrous development.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Frankenstein, written by Mary-Ann Shelley, Shelley portrays Victor as the ultimate monster. Throughout the novel, Shelley tests Victor’s morals and concludes him to be arrogant and selfish. Shelley depicts his immorality through the creation of the creature, abandoning his creation, and his decision to uphold his reputation and sacrifice mankind. Shelley illustrates Victor’s immorality through the creation of the creature. When Victor attends university at Ingolstadt, he decides to pursue his studies in the Sciences.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her novel “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley develops a story in which a human attempts to create life out of death, but instead creates his mortal enemy. After Victor Frankenstein creates this creature, he leaves it alone and hopes that it will perish. However, the creature gains consciousness of his surroundings, of his creator, and of the history of the world he was thrust into. As the creature began to gain consciousness and finds the letters that his creator had written about him, he came to terms with his unfortunate position on the planet. He then realized that none of this would have happened if it were not for Victor Frankenstein’s actions.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays