We all need friends. They care for us, even love us, and life without them would be very lonesome- just like the Creature’s, Robert Walton’s and Victor Frankenstein’s in Merry Shelley’s Frankenstein. Aristotle believes that there are three reasons why people become friends. Those are that the other person is good, useful, or pleasant (Aristotle 262). Furthermore, he distinguishes between a friendship where “two individuals recognize that the other person is someone of good character, and they spend time with each other, engaged in activities that exercise their virtues” (Kraut), a perfect friendship that two people of good character have who are equally virtuous (Aristotle 266), and an imperfect friendship where the people are just friends
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For example, while creating the creature Victor does not write to his father for several months even though he knows that it makes him worried (Shelly 34). They are not engaged in any kind of activity and Victor profits from his relationship with his father who provides his education at University no matter if he hears from his son or not. Therefore, here, this relationship can be called an imperfect friendship (Kraut; Aristotle 264-265). However, when he postpones his marriage to Elizabeth for two years to travel with Henry Clerval (Shelly 109) one could at first think that this is an act out of imperfect friendship, but when we look closer into it we see that he does so to protect his friends. With this, he wishes good things for them without gaining any pleasure or advantage. Despite the fact that they do not spend time with each other I would still call it a friendship. (Kraut). With regard to the journey with Clerval, they spend time together and even though Victor “often refuses to accompany” him and eventually leaves to an island on his own (Shelly 113-117 f.) this is a friendship because he again does so out of good will to protect his friends. Consequently, Victor has two different kinds of friendships because he uses his father for advantage, but also shows good will in wanting to protect his
For example, while creating the creature Victor does not write to his father for several months even though he knows that it makes him worried (Shelly 34). They are not engaged in any kind of activity and Victor profits from his relationship with his father who provides his education at University no matter if he hears from his son or not. Therefore, here, this relationship can be called an imperfect friendship (Kraut; Aristotle 264-265). However, when he postpones his marriage to Elizabeth for two years to travel with Henry Clerval (Shelly 109) one could at first think that this is an act out of imperfect friendship, but when we look closer into it we see that he does so to protect his friends. With this, he wishes good things for them without gaining any pleasure or advantage. Despite the fact that they do not spend time with each other I would still call it a friendship. (Kraut). With regard to the journey with Clerval, they spend time together and even though Victor “often refuses to accompany” him and eventually leaves to an island on his own (Shelly 113-117 f.) this is a friendship because he again does so out of good will to protect his friends. Consequently, Victor has two different kinds of friendships because he uses his father for advantage, but also shows good will in wanting to protect his