Describe the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his monster.

Rosie Corbett.

Describe the relationship between Victor Frankenstein

and his monster.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a book about a man who looks beyond the basics of science. The scientist is called Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein wants to create life; Frankenstein usurps the role of God. He tries to create a monster but it has consequences, which nobody could imagine. Frankenstein is seen in the North Pole by Walton, and this is how Walton describes him, “his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering”(Page 13). The monster is kind hearted but nobody knows this, the characters in the book look at his appearance and straight past his heart, feelings and his life. Frankenstein doesn’t think what effects this could have on his life and those around him. Frankenstein is the creator of the monster and the monster is the created but they still have similarities and differences. The two characters are both driven by power of revenge, and they are alienated because of their actions. The monster is always unattractive during the book, but this is not his fault, it is Frankenstein’s. He made the monster the way he is and the monster knows this. This affects their relationship and the two characters both want good intentions. They do have differences though, as Frankenstein has a loving family but the monster doesn’t and the monster is rational whilst Frankenstein is not.

As Frankenstein’s ambition to create continues his appearance deteriorates, because he creates life, but destroys his own, and those around him. At the opening of the story there is a pleasing picture of Frankenstein, but as the story goes on, it worsens. The only reason Frankenstein doesn’t want to know the monster is because he is ugly, the look of the monster does not appeal to him. The moment of creation for Frankenstein is weird, as the body becomes alive, his mental state changes immediately. Frankenstein states, “but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream had vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”(Page 50) This suggests to us that he has changed his mind about the whole idea of creating life, and this causes friction between the monster and Frankenstein because he already disgusts the monster. Mary Shelley is describing the “birth” of the monster as if he is a newborn baby, “I remember, a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so I was obliged to shut my eyes.”(Page 99). He can’t quite come to terms with what he has done; he doesn’t want to see his creation at all. This does, again, put strain on the relationship between them both. He rushes to his bedroom to try and sleep to get over the outcome of creating life. The monster goes out into the public and is distressed by what people think of him. He wonders why they don’t want to look at him. The monster sees himself in the mirror, “I became fully convinced that in reality the monster that I am”(Page 112).

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The monster isn’t sure of the outside world. He sees a fire and he feels the warmth of it and because he finds this pleasing, he puts his whole hand into the fire and is shocked with the emotion of pain. The monster is very angry with Frankenstein, the monster alienates himself away from the outside world because of his physical appearance, and he is desperate to be accepted, whereas Frankenstein alienates himself, he ignores his family, he feels as though he has too because he doesn’t deserve the company of others. The monster watches a family called the De Lacey’s. He wants to get to know the family but yet is still rejected, “I longed to discover the motives of these lovely creatures”(page 113/131). The monster wants to have a relationship with other people, but Frankenstein locks himself away from being sociable.

Frankenstein and the monster both find nature a way of coping with their mental anguish. Frankenstein went for a walk; “…they all congregated around me and bade me at peace.”(Page 93). Here he is talking about the trees and the mountains and how at peace he is with himself once again. The monster takes notice of nature, “My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature”(page 114). It was important for them to get a normal mental anguish.

By this point the monster is desperate for a family, a real one. Frankenstein has a loving family; they restore him back to health on a number of occasions. They tell him to go back, and Elizabeth says to him, “Get well and return to us...you will find a happy and cheerful home and friends who love you dearly”(Page 57). Mary Shelley has emphasised that Frankenstein has the perfect family whilst the monster hasn’t. At the end of the book they both end up with out a family, again they are the same. This may have made them want to know each other as they both feel alone but still they choose to resent each other.

The monster and Frankenstein are both driven by revenge. The monster sees William playing and he strangles him to death. Frankenstein receives a letter from his home stating William’s death and Frankenstein returns home to his family in the morning to find that Justine has been accused of the murder. Then the monster kills Clerval, Frankenstein’s friend. On Frankenstein’s wedding night the monster kills Elizabeth, “her bloodless arms and relaxed form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier”(Page 201/206). Frankenstein is driven by revenge and has an oath of destruction. Frankenstein’s father dies because of the heart breaking news of the terrible death of Elizabeth. The monster wasn’t born evil but the way his life has been lived brings him to be evil. A man wounds the monster for saving a young girl and his feelings of hatred of mankind inflames inside him more. When they meet, the monster demands a female companion “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being”(Page 146) but Frankenstein refuses. Frankenstein tells the monster to go away and that he can torture him but he will never consent to the monsters request. The monster says to him “I will work at your destruction, nor finish till I desolate your heart, so that you curse the hour of your birth”(page 147). The monster says to him that if he consents then he will never see him, or his female ever again. He is trying to reason with Frankenstein, again showing he is the reasonable one, Frankenstein still doesn’t agree to the new creation. In the end he agrees to create a female, “I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever”(page 149). Frankenstein returns to Geneva and begins to make the female monster but while doing so he has thoughts about the consequences, it says she may not want the monster. He tore the female to pieces that he had started to make. The monster saw through the window Frankenstein tearing the monster apart and he let out a devilish noise and retreated away from the window. The monster says to Frankenstein “You destroyed the work that you began……….Do you dare to break your promise?”(Page 171). The monster makes the threat “I shall be with you on your wedding night”(page 172). This is when Elizabeth is murdered. The monster tries to be reasonable but Frankenstein remains stubborn. The monster wants to leave and lead a new life this angers the monster and they hate each other.

At the end of the book the only thing that is left for the monster and Frankenstein is death. Frankenstein goes to visit the cemetery of where his family lies and this is where he gives his final speech. He kisses the floor and says, “Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep the agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me”(page 109). At the end of this he hears a fiendish laugh, he knew it was the monsters, he tries to run away from him but he grasps his arm but as the moon shone he fled away with more than mortal speed. The monster leaves marks in trees saying, “My reign is not yet over”(page 211). The monster agrees in his final speech that he is a wretch, “I have murdered the lovely and helpless”(page 230). He says he wants to die, “…where can I find rest but in death?”(Page 231). Frankenstein and the monster become mirror images of themselves, they both want to die, they both have no family, they are both depressed and they are both alienated.

Social Context.

Mary Shelley’s book is a gothic horror. It was fashionable in the 19th century to write gothic novels. She was dared to write the novel and she published and sold the book.

The language used was how people used to speak in the 19th century. The language would add effect to the book and the atmosphere of the particular part of the book. Frankenstein describes his family with great detail. Mary Shelley tries to create a mental image in your mind of his family. His family was a typical family for the 19th century.

The ambition of the book is almost the same as the 21st century. The idea of a scientist in the 19th century creating life was absurd. Today, scientist are cloning, it is linked with Frankenstein because they were both trying to create life and people today still are. The scientist’s today are not thinking of the consequences of cloning, this is what Frankenstein did and look at the results of his idea of creating life.

If someone was disabled in the 19th century they were seen as freaks. Mary Shelley wants us to sympathise with the monster because of the way he looked. Her use of words makes us sympathise with the monster. Today, people want us to sympathise with the disabled people too.

Describe the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his monster.