Frankenstein history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Frankenstein history - Essay Example Despite the horrifying elements that the book contains, most people are for the fact that the book is a work of science. As Victor is seen joining the university at Ingolstadt, he creates a monster, a grotesque act committed by him, which removes him far from the victory of committing a scientific triumph. He attempts to go beyond accepted human limits of knowledge in order to create secrets not known to mankind. The story behind Frankenstein thus may be viewed as a lesson about the search for knowledge as well as the dangerousness that accompanies the pursuit. This paper helps to provide an insight into Mary Shelley’s characterisation of Victor and helps to portray his role as an admirable scientist and also delves into the subject of whether or not some lines should be crossed when it comes to understanding human science. Victor Frankenstein grew up in Geneva and moved to the University at Ingolstadt to understand the secrets of human life. He was extremely interested in and inquisitive about the ‘secret’ life of humans and wanted to pursue the discovery of the creation of mankind. The entire novel has been written by Shelley from the perspective of three protagonists as the novel begins with Robert Walton writing letters to his sister, within which he includes the story of the creation of the monster, Frankenstein. It is Victor’s obsession for wisdom that led him to the predicament that he was caught up in when Walton found him at the North Pole, almost dead. The story thus is in the form of a narrative by Victor, which then takes the form of an epistolary as Walton writes it to his sister. Victor gave rise to a grotesque monster which he called Frankenstein. The monster eventually killed his youngest brother, his best friend as well as his wife, and caused a few other deaths which brought great remorse and grief upon the scientist. Despite the ramifications of his weak judgement in creating a source of destruction, Victor was not able to admit the guilt of his creativity as he transforms into a disillusioned man on the path of destroying the fruits of his own career and ambitions. Throughout the story, the author emphasises on the lack of humanness that he possesses. She depicts this throughout various instances, for example, right in the beginning, when Victor refuses to marry Elizabeth despite the marriage being his dying mother’s last wish. He leaves the poor girl and flees to the university. Even after creating a monster which ends up killing his loved ones, he does not stop to think about his emotions and gives no comfort to his feelings. Thus, by these incidents, one may witness that the character of Victor was not very admirable. However, throughout the beginning when Victor had a focus on science and wanted to go about a certain way, his traits with respect to his goals and ambitions were very admirable. As the reader moves further into the story, Victor moves farther away from his emotions an d feelings, giving the reader a sense of feeling putrid for his admirableness. Victor Frankenstein could thus be deemed as a stoic man, incapable of feeling for people around him. He proved the same by giving into his scientific curiosity and letting go of the people he loved sub consciously. Upon creating the monster, he left horrified by what he had done, and this made the monster feel confused and afraid as well. This shows relentless ambiguity on Victor’s character as he is not able to stick to his decisions or make up his mind regarding what he wants. Victor’s narrative has been deemed upon by a number of critics as a reliable source of information because it comes straight from the little emotions that he was able to muster up and talk about. He tells the story to Walton in a very matter of fact manner, stating everything he