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Examples Of Parallelism In Frankenstein

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In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses parallelism between the lives of Victor Frankenstein and his monster to illustrate the coexistence of good and evil in all people, and that whether one is benevolent or malicious is a choice everyone must make. The novel is set during the early 1800’s in Western Europe, and it revolves around the war between the ingenious scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his nameless reanimated creation. Through his perspective on the world, the monster (or as I’ll be calling him, Frankie,) chooses whether he will adopt a deportment of goodness or of wickedness. As he is created as a blank slate, he has no reason or motivation to initially be one or the other; however, he initially chooses kindness: “If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return them a hundren and a hundredfold; for that one creature’s sake I would make peace with the whole land!”(Shelley 148). …show more content…
Later, he explains why he has committed such crimes and chosen wickedness: “I am malicious because I am miserable...Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?...if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”(147-148). He explains that the world is evil to him despite his kindness and open mind for the world; if everyone he has ever encountered has rejected and despised him, why should he be kind to them? Why should he be a light onto a world that only shuts him out? Because of the circumstances of his life, he makes the choice to be vengeful and malicious, though the good in him was once

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