Self Destruction In Victor Frankenstein

Pride Leads to Destruction Mary Shelley, the author of the well known Frankenstein, centered her novel around two dynamic characters. In this Gothic novel, protagonist Victor Frankenstein bestows life upon lifeless matter, which becomes the antagonist. Victor grew up in affluence and under the aegis of loving parents. Also, he grew up during the transition from natural philosophy to a modern system of science. At age seventeen, Victor’s pursuit of knowledge became arduous. He abandoned his former studies and engaged his soul with the arts of chemistry and anatomy (Shelley 36). Soon Victor developed an ardent desire to create life, so over the course of his studies, he managed to achieve gratification (Shelley 38). His gratification only lasted for a short time. Victor Frankenstein, a man ultimately driven by his desire for self-satisfaction and success, brought misery and disaster upon himself and others as a result of his pride.
Victor Frankenstein embodied a lifestyle based on his own desires. His journey toward self satisfaction began when, at age fifteen, Victor witnessed the laws of electricity as lightning struck a tree and it caused him to question his former studies (Shelley 26). Stricken by curiosity, he sought for more knowledge in order to solve the mystery to his own questions about the …show more content…
Victor’s mind battled his spirit as his emotions turned inward and created an unrest (Bloom 7). Seeing himself as superior, Victor used pride to excuse his moral error, and as a result of his work, his heart became numb; he lost all compassion and awareness for other concerns of the world. He became acquainted with an impulsive life; he did what was right in his own eyes without questioning his motives. For example, in his laboratory he had a slaughterhouse where he formed and dissected parts of dead bodies he had collected from gravesites (Shelley 40). This collaboration of wrongs fomented further