Frankenstein

This is an extract from a roman, written by a woman named Mary Shelly. The story is about a man named Victor Frankenstein who is trying to develop a new scientific discovery. He completes his mission and creates a monster. This monster is getting ostracized because of his looks. When Mary Shelly started writing “Frankenstein” she was only 19 years old, and she had just lost an unborn child. That made her think about scientists, who were able to regain life.

In this essay I will focus on Victor, as a mad scientist, his responsibility, his self-confidence and my own opinion on Victors morals and personality.

In this extract of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelly, she shows us that Victor Frankenstein is a mad scientist by using long descripting sentences to describe how Frankenstein get’s sick in his passion to accomplish his mission. For example “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree;” By writing this, she gives us a chance to understand Victor’s eagerness to complete what he thinks is his duty for mankind. He works while he is sick. A part from that, Mary Shelly also describes how Victor get’s and furnished his materials from a slaughterhouse and a dissecting room. “The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials;” once again by writing this, she shows that he will do almost anything to complete his duty. All from breaking in to a slaughterhouse and steel and use materials, to collecting bones from the charnel-house –“ I collected bones from charnel-houses.”

Mary Shelly also shows that Victor isn’t a man with lots of responsibility. Right before these sentences, the monster was born. “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe?” right after this he went to bed. “I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams.” By writing this Mary shows us that Victor isn’t the best father figure. He has just made a big baby with no chance to fit in by civilized men and women and Victor are just abandoning the monster. During Mary writing this, she uses a pathetic fallacy “the rain pattered dismally against the panes.” She uses rain to make a setting. Rain is a symbol of dark weather and something bad is coming. Pathetic fallacy I often used I gothic literature, just to make the perfect setting.

Last but not least, Mary shows us that Victor is very self-confident. At the end of the extract Victor said “"Devil," I exclaimed, "do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head? Begone, vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust! And, oh! That I could, with the extinction of your miserable existence, restore those victims whom you have so diabolically murdered!" Mary shows us that even though Victor earlier left the monster, he is ready to clean up and take action for his science project just like he should have done from the start. But also that he clearly wants nothing to do with the monster and he doesn’t see him as a son. What father would call his son “vile insect”?

I think that as a scientist Victor is one the most irresponsible you will ever hear about. He just turns his back and tries to forget his creation. The discovery he accomplish to make, is still to day, one theory many scientist are trying to solve. As a scientist I think that Victor should have continued his theory and see if the monster would be able to learn, talk and so on. It is no matter what his creation, so it is no matter what his responsibility. In real life you can’t turn your back on your newborn baby for any reason, I would say that Victor is doing precisely that. I think that Victor before making the experiment, should have made a theory for what to do after, because it seems like he had no plan. He sees for the first time his creation and goes to bed right after. Victor seems like a man who lives for his work, and will do anything to complete what he is doing. Victors missing father potential can’t be caused by something in his childhood. In the beginning Mary writes “No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself .” so from that I can conclude that it is not previously father issues that is currently in this situation.
My conclusion to who the bad guy is, I must say that I think its Victor. I think that he should have taking action for his creation. The monster raised himself, and there are no doubt that it is a missing father that makes the monster so aggressive and churlish in the society.