“Alienation and loneliness plant the seeds for rebellion and consciousness” (Powe). Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, presents how alienation has been apparent since the beginning of man. Victor Frankenstein, a man fascinated by chemistry and alchemy, brings a body made of human corpse pieces to life. Upon bringing the creature into the world, Frankenstein begins to have a growing hatred towards the “wretched being” he created, causing the creature to flee. The prejudice that the creature faced from his creator and upon being seen publicly, lead him to detach himself from society and fall into a melancholic state, thus, acting upon on a violent action.
In the beginning, Victor Frankenstein was animated to see his creation that he had invested most of his time and hard work come to life, however, that changed the moment he had the creature standing before him. Dr. Frankenstein was petrified that he fled, according to his words, “ I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night...catching and fearing each sound as if it were to approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life” (49). It is evident that Victor was not content with the outcome of his creation, as he recoils from his creature at the moment of its birth. The creature’s first encounter with humankind is rejection, which drives him to stumble upon townspeople who attack him at first sight, “the whole village was
Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .
Throughout time man has been isolated from people and places. One prime example of isolation is Adam, "the man [formed] from the dust of the ground [by the Lord God]" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 2.7). After committing the first sin he secludes "from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken" (Teen Study Bible, Gen. 3.23). This isolation strips Adam from his protection and wealth the garden provides and also the non-existence of sin. Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, is able to relate to the story of Adam and the first sin to help her character, the Creature, associate with Adam. The Creature is able to relate because "[l]ike Adam, [he is] apparently united by no link to any other being in existence"
Isolation is the separation from others and/or society whether it be physically or emotionally. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I believe that a central theme is that the isolation from family and society, especially at a time when one is faced with difficulty, can have a negative effect on a person. The main characters in the story, Victor Frankenstein and the monster, both experience the same suffering of being alone in different ways. The negative consequences are the death of their loved one and eventually the end of their own.
Victor Frankenstein had the great idea of creating a human-like creature that ultimately became bigger, stronger, and meaner than everyone around. The process and steps took a lot longer than what Victor predicted. When the creature finally took his first breath, the two long years of anticipation finally relieved Victor of his stress. Victor stayed up numerous nights and missed so many meals stressing over this creature. He never gave up despite all the difficulties wanting to become the first ever bringing life to a creature. “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (sparknotes). The creature was very hideous, gigantic, and didn’t look to friendly to humans. All the time and work Victor put into
Isolation comes from the word isolate which means to cause someone or something to be alone or to be apart from others. Social isolation is the lack of contact between people or things in a society. Thomas H. Schmid says that “it also emerges within larger discourses of isolation”. He is correct: there are many types of isolation, but social isolation is very common. (“Addiction and Isolation…”) In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the main character Victor Frankenstein creates a “monster” that comes to life. Victor becomes terror-stricken by the creature due to it’s hideousness, and he flees from his home, leaving the creature alone and isolated. The creature becomes very lonely and angry toward his creator. He then vows to make Victor’s life miserable for creating, abandoning, and isolated him. (Shelley) Isolation not only has grave effects on the monster’s human interaction and social development, but on humans, too.
Isolation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, has several themes imbedded in the text. One major theme is of isolation. Many of the characters experience some time of isolation. The decisions and actions of some of these characters are the root cause of their isolation.
In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores a wide range of themes concerning human nature through the thoughts and actions of two main characters and a host of others. Two themes are at the heart of the story, the most important being creation, but emphasis is also placed on alienation from society. These two themes are relevant even in today’s society as technology brings us ever closer to Frankenstein’s fictional achievement.
Isolation plays a major role in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The central characters of the gothic novel, Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Frankenstein’s creature, are isolated for the majority of each of their narratives. While Walton and Frankenstein willfully isolated themselves from family and others for exploring uncharted territories and following dreams of grandeur through scientific creation, respectively, the creature is pushed into isolation due to outright rejection from every person he encounters.
Emotional isolation in Frankenstein is the most pertinent and prevailing theme throughout the novel. This theme is so important because everything the monster does or feels directly relates to his poignant seclusion. The effects of this terrible burden have progressively damaging results upon the monster, and indirectly cause him to act out his frustrations on the innocent. The monster's emotional isolation makes him gradually turn worse and worse until evil fully prevails. This theme perpetuates from Mary Shelley's personal life and problems with her father and husband, which carry on into the work and make it more realistic.(Mellor 32) During the time she was writing this novel, she was experiencing the emotional pangs of her
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein we are introduced early in the story to one of the main characters Victor Frankenstein and subsequently to his creation referred to as the monster. The monster comes to life after being constructed by Victor using body parts from corpses. As gruesome as this sounds initially we are soon caught up in the tale of the living monster. Victor the creator becomes immediately remorseful of his decision to bring the monstrous creation to life and abandons the borne creature. Victor describes his emotions and physical description of his creation as follows:
An outcast is someone that has been rejected from society for something that they may or may not be able to control. In Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, the creature is cast out from society because of his looks. He doesn’t get the love and care that people need to survive. Throughout the novel, Mary Shelley uses the creature symbolically, exploring the ideas of false hope, alienation, and revenge.
Likewise, Victor Frankenstein allows his emotional senses to give way to a hatred of the Creature without even giving the Creature a chance. After seeing the hideous creation made by his own hands, Victor refrains from taking responsibility of the actions of the Creature, even when his conscious tells him it is his duty to. On the night of the creation, Victor recalls that the creature, who he emotionally describes as a monster, “held up the curtain of the bed … one hand stretched out, seemingly to detain [Victor], but [he] escaped … catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of
Alienation and isolation have been apparent in society since the beginning of man. When an individual stumbles outside the realm of social normality they are viewed as degradation to society or a threat to normal society.(“Truthmove” 2012) In the gothic tale of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley frequently displays the many different forms of alienation. Victor Frankenstein and his creation were two of the characters in this book that went through alienation and isolation.
Society is the one thing we can count on to shape the way of viewing others whether it’s by race, gender, class or creed, it causes alienation whether it is self imposed or brought upon them by other people. “I would rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” -Kurt Cobain. In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, Shelley explores the idea of alienation through Victor, whom self imposed isolation while creating the creature, The creature whom was isolated because he was different to the rest of society, and Walton whom also self imposed isolation.