Mary Shelly wrote the Gothic tale

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Lukveer Behal -11sp                      Due data- Monday 1st December 2003

GCSE English Coursework

Mary Shelly wrote the Gothic tale “Frankenstein”. In the novel, who is the true villain, the monster or Victor Frankenstein? Which character do you have the most sympathy for?

Mary Shelly is best known for her chilling Gothic horror tale “Frankenstein”. The story is world famous and is still relevant today. There are two main characters in the novel. There’s the young ambitious student playing god which is Victor Frankenstein who’s finding the secret of giving life and there’s the gentle hearted, gruesome monster who must hide from society because of his appearance, but who is the true villain and which character do we have the most sympathy for?

Victor Frankenstein may possibly be seen as a hero for many reasons also most important of all why do we feel sympathy towards him. Victor Frankenstein could be seen as a hero for wanting to create life. One of the reasons why Victor Frankenstein wanted to create life was because he was devastated by his mother’s death. We know this because he says “It was long the mind can persuade itself that she whom we saw every day and whose very existence appeared a part of our own, can departed forever”. The reader has sympathy towards Frankenstein as he is in shock and grieving over his mother’s death and this could be one reason why he wanted to create life so that families never have to see their loved ones go. Frankenstein had good intentions by creating life to stop death also to make the world a better place as well as he wanted to renew life and we know this because he say’s “I thought if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in a process renew life”. Frankenstein worked out what science could prove and that was to renew life by doing this it means he could be seen as a hero but to make his ambition, his dreams come into reality is a different matter and a dangerous experiment. Victor Frankenstein sacrifices his entire health working consistently we know this because he says “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body”. On the night of the creation, Frankenstein is the first person to reject the inanimate body when he had finished he says “I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep”. This tells us that although all the hard work and effort that he has put into his dream Frankenstein has seen the wrong in his experiment and cannot sleep peacefully due to the horror in his thought. Frankenstein could be seen as a hero for realising straight away that his ambition his dream was totally wrong. The reader feels sympathy towards Frankenstein as he is unable to sleep due to the horror in his thoughts and because of this he falls really ill. He feels extreme remorse when he finds out what he had done and loses his entire family and friends. We know Victor Frankenstein is feeling extreme remorse because he says “I called myself the murderer of William, Justine and Clerval”. The reader feels sympathy towards Frankenstein as he is losing his entire family and friends after making his creation. Victor Frankenstein’s past is catching up with his present as the mistake he made in his past which now cannot be corrected. Victor Frankenstein could be seen as a hero for seeking vengeance from the monster for the murderers of his family and friends and we know this because after William’s death Frankenstein meets the monster and he says “Devil I exclaimed do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wreaked on your miserable head?” After the monster and Victor meet after William’s death the monster starts to tell Frankenstein why he did it then Victor realises where he had made his mistake and realises what his responsibilities towards the monster was and we know this because he says “I had hitherto supposed him to be the murder of my brother, and eagerly I sought a confirm-duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness”. There is another reason why Frankenstein could be seen as a hero he says I ought to render meaning give him happiness in return so Victor here wanted to give the monster some happiness before he complained. Victor Frankenstein did not create a second monster as he now was well aware of the consequences of creating life. Victor could be seen as hero for telling Walton not to follow his ambition as he is endangering his own life as well as his crew and that his dangerous dream could end in a tragedy like himself. Victor Frankenstein travels all the way to the Artic to destroy the monster and save humanity in isolated with extreme temperatures. Victor Frankenstein ends up dead and pays the final price.

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                                         The monster could be seen as a Noble Savage for many reasons and why does the reader have sympathy for the monster? The monster tells the reader about how he had to hide from society because of his appearance also because mankind would not accept his ugliness. He tells the person who reads how he was isolated by the creator also how he had been through a lot when he was just like a little baby and had to figure ...

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