The character of Frankenstein seems to have been written as quite an ambiguous character. Our emotive responses to him change throughout the novel; mostly on account of the changing narratives. The main emotions we seem to feel are – sympathy, anger and empathy. Overall these are fairly positive responses to the character. I shall be writing about these three topics, illustrating how Mary Shelley does this, and what the features of them are.
From the beginning of the novel we feel sympathy for Victor Frankenstein. He has lost his beloved mother, and seems frantic. As Walton is revealing news of him to his sister, our interest grows. We become curious towards this newly introduced character, and question his presence. We feel sympathy for him as he seems to be in some sort of desperate state. He talks of his destiny and fate-
‘…but it is useless, my fate it nearly fulfilled. I wait for but one event, then I shall repose in peace’,
‘Nothing can alter my destiny….you will perceive how irrevocably it is determined’.
We wonder why Frankenstein appears to be in such an almost paranoid state. He talks about his death, and uses very negative, yet emotive language, allowing us to feel sympathy towards him. Frankenstein wholeheartedly believes in fate and this continues to arise throughout the novel. ‘I should regard to threatened fate as unavoidable’.
As we progress through the novel, it seems, to us also, that Frankenstein’s destiny was pre-ordained. Frankenstein ventures further into chemistry and philosophy, becoming more and more obsessive over the phenomenon of life and death. To us, he seems destined to create the monster from this point on. However, his interest in death, may relate back to when his mother died, and that may have been when his fate was sealed.
It may be fate that makes Clerval arrive at a fatal time. He comes as quite an ambivalent character, and could be seen to have many possible features within his role in the book. One of these possibilities is to distract Frankenstein from his responsibility. This indicates the monster’s later fate to roam, and kill. Another possible incident of fate is when the monster finds Frankenstein’s diary. This angers him, and causes many killings.
If the monster had never found this diary then some killings wouldn’t have occurred.
The monster and Frankenstein have many similarities. One of these is that they are both Byronic heroes. Both Frankenstein and the monster are tortured by their own consciousness and being. They long for oblivion, and seem unable to remove the curse that plagues them. This makes the reader feel great sympathy for Frankenstein as we want everything to be dealt with, and know this is not quite possible.
Frankenstein seems to go from one social extremity to another; as does the monster. First of all Frankenstein is socially accepted by all. He is well respected, and loved by many. The monster longs for exactly this. But as Frankenstein progresses to a worsened state, he slips to the other end of the scale. He is isolated, in his mind and in his environment. This is how the monster is.
Frankenstein has a fatal flaw, his passion for science. This gives him status to be a tragic hero, which arouses the readers’ sympathy. Frankenstein dies at the end of the novel; this is perhaps hinted when we discover his fatal flaw, thus, being a premonition to his later fate.
His uncontrollable passion for science relates him to Prometheus- of which the novel is subtitled. Prometheus was perceived, in those times, as a striving creature, fighting against the restraints society bore. Longing to be creative he almost brought life from death. Through Frankenstein’s grave robbing, he did indeed bring life from death.
Frankenstein’s passion for science is, also, an admirable quality. He puts his heart and soul into his work, absorbing himself, succeeding at any expense. He loses his family, his friends, and in some ways his sanity, to create the monster. He is such an ambitious person, at the beginning of the novel So much so; he is alienated from the rest of the world and reality. We feel sympathy for him, as we realize he is just following his aspirations, yet is being severely punished. He didn’t want to create, only discover. He cannot tell anybody what has happened; he is isolated, all because of his terrible secret.
He wanted to create the ‘perfect’ human, so he could control death. He didn’t understand his mother’s death, so now wants to overcome this, by creating a, perhaps immortal, being. It is evident from this he still suffers from his mother’s death. This makes the reader feel sorry for him, as he is still in a state of mourning after all these years.
His emotions for his passion take over him and he is soon scared of his own power.
As his actions spiral out of control and the monster is set free, he starts to feel remorse. The death of William evidently strikes Frankenstein greatly, as it is now he realizes, he is responsible for the tragedy. He starts to feel guilt and remorse.
Another key emotion we must feel, for the novel’s emotive power to succeed, is empathy. These feelings are very similar to our sympathetic feelings. We often feel subconscious empathy for Frankenstein. This is highlighted for us when it becomes clear that in fact the overall narrator is Walton. He narrates all the way through. Yet we are so drawn in to what Frankenstein’s tale is, that we overlook this and empathize deeply with Frankenstein.
We empathize with him, as eventually he does let his love shine through for Elizabeth. They agree to get married. We share Frankenstein’s happiness, and feel very positive towards his character.
We also feel empathy when Frankenstein appears to show remorse for his actions. We realize he is only human, and only wants what would make him happy. He thought creating a ‘perfect’ being would bring him self satisfaction, yet it just caused him pain. We feel sorry for him as he did not wish for any of this, yet it is all upon his own head.
By the part of making Frankenstein a nebulous character, Mary Shelley has given the reader reasons to feel anger towards Frankenstein. For the most part of this anger we feel, Walton is narrating through the monster. This is a key feature if we are to feel the emotions felt.
The monster is an admirable and loveable character. When he sets out on his journey he is illiterate. This is a feature that may cause us to feel anger towards Frankenstein; he set this monster up to be what he wanted, yet he did not allow him any knowledge, which all beings should have. We begin to admire and feel positive towards the monster, as he teaches himself to speak and read, using only materials he has come across.
It seems that the more we feel sympathy and positive emotions towards the monster, our positive emotions for Frankenstein seem to lessen, and are replaced by the feeling of anger, as he is responsible for all of the monsters flaws and mistakes as he is the creator.
When William dies we know it was on the monsters part, as does Frankenstein. Yet the emotions of anger we feel are not to the murderer himself, but to the true killer, Frankenstein. Frankenstein knows it was the monster that killed young William, yet he allows the poor, young, innocent maid, Justine to take the blame. We feel a lot of anger here; as yet again he is neglecting responsibility. Only this time, it is at the expense of two lives. Justine is hung for the suspected murder she has committed, and Frankenstein is left to live with his lies, and the fact that he is now responsible for the death of two close members. Mary Shelley uses a lot of features when describing the sighting of the monster after William’s death. She uses the repeated ingredient of gothic horror; the strike of lightning illuminating the ‘offending’ creature. This is a motif that appears again and again. She uses language that was a turn of phrase in Victorian times. Words such as ‘gloom’ give a bleak and dismal effect. There are also long dramatic sentences to excite and entice readers’ to continue. In addition to this, she uses defamiliarisation, which makes us wish to continue. She uses brackets to hint at an interior monologue. These imitate thought processes and draw the reader in deeper.
Frankenstein neglects his duties many times in the novel. If he had not have neglected his duties at the beginning of this novel-when Clerval arrived-the monster would have never been left to roam; thus, saving a lot of lives. Somehow, even though we are aware it is the monster causing all the killings, the anger is felt towards Frankenstein. This is because he is the one who is truly to blame. The more of the monsters flaws we see, the more we realize the true perpetrator.
We feel great emotion towards the monster, as he watches the De Lacy family. We feel a lot of sympathy, as we see him long to be a part of this family, or any family. He needs someone to love and someone to love him in return. This reminds us that he is, in fact, quite human, as he has the human instinctual nature. Again, this makes us feel anger towards Frankenstein, as he seems not to consider that the monster, too, may have feelings of love. We feel as though Frankenstein does not deserve the companionship of his loved ones, as he has deprived the monster of having any compassion felt towards him at all. When the monster decides to finally try to fit in with the De Lacy family, he is brutally rejected, affecting our feelings for him greatly. We feel a huge rush of empathy for him, as he was doing nothing wrong, and yet when he felt he was at last fitting in with the father of the family, the son came home and viciously beat him. Again, we know Frankenstein is ultimately responsible for this incident, as he made the monster so hideous to the eye, and this is what triggered the De Lacy son to harm the monster.
Alike to the De Lacy’s, the environment around the monster play a large part on his forthcoming feelings and actions. As he is deemed unacceptable to society he declines within himself. The fact the he seems to be unacceptable to anyone or anything, including Frankenstein, changes his character. Here, Rousseau’s theory does apply. If, in fact, the monster has turned evil, it is most definitely because he is abandoned by society. This is, again, on account of Frankenstein’s misdoings.
In this novel there are many possibilities of the motives of Frankenstein and the monster. One of the possibilities of this is, perhaps, an alter ego. Frankenstein seems to lose consciousness at frequent points throughout the novel. For the majority of these instances, a murder is committed. He first loses consciousness when the monster is first brought to life. It is then that he dreams of Elizabeth dying, and himself holding his mothers corpse in his arms; ‘ her features changed and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms;’.
When creating the monster, Frankenstein lost contact with loved ones, seemingly denying his compassion for others. The monster seems to embody this. At every murder the monster makes, Frankenstein realizes his own culpability. He realizes he is responsible for the deaths, yet shows no compassion for anyone, by confesses he is the due cause. When Justine is accused he realizes he is to blame; ‘I am the true murderer’, yet still allows her to die. This is the neglecting side of Frankenstein, as, due to his suspected alter ego, the monster seems to have taken his compassionate nature.
The monsters tumultuous life sharply contradicts the happy childhood of Frankenstein. It seems to be that although the monster may be deformed on the outside, its creator is deformed on the inside.
In conclusion to this essay, I think the feelings Mary Shelley had us feel for the character Frankenstein, are quite contradictory. The fact that we may feel two conflicting emotions about one incident shows us the depth of Frankenstein’s complex character.
However, as Frankenstein dies at the end of the novel, our lasting feelings may take a change. It is human nature to feel sympathy at the death of somebody we have grown to feel we know. Readers certainly feel they are involved with Frankenstein, and so subsequently, take away from the book, the lasting feeling of sympathy towards him.