What Character is the Most Sympathetic? Victor Frankenstein or The Creature.

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Christopher Haggart 11MJD

Frankenstein Essay

What Character is the Most Sympathetic? Victor Frankenstein or The Creature

Frankenstein was written in 1816 by Mary Shelley when she was eighteen years old. Her early life mirrored some of the main parts of the story. For example Victor Frankenstein’s mother died when he was seventeen of scarlet fever and Mary Shelley’s mother died in childbirth. This shows a correlation between their pasts as both of their mothers died when they were quite young Mary Shelley’s father’s second wife discarded her and this is reminiscent of Victor and the creature. Frankenstein is a Gothic novel and the Gothic style was very popular at the time. The elements of a Gothic novel are, it is set at night time and there are a lot of superstitious activities. Themes related to Gothic novels include, the supernatural, mystery, horror, surprise, anger, an extreme use of emotions and dreams or visions. The Greek myth of Prometheus is reflected in Victor Frankenstein’s character. Prometheus gave fire to humans without the god’s permission. He was punished by having his liver eaten each day by a bird. This relates to Victor Frankenstein because he created life against god’s wishes. Victor is punished by losing his wife, his brother and ultimately himself to the monster.

In chapter one Victor Frankenstein is introduced to the reader. He was born into an upper class family. He appears to be rather egotistical and felt that he had the right to the best of everything. Examples of this are, “I am by birth Genevese and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic”, and, “I was their plaything and their idol.” This shows that he believed he was more important than his parents and that his family was so rich they could literally give their money away. The language that Mary Shelley uses flatters Victor and his family. She makes them seem rich and handsome. Shelley’s writing about a childhood that she never had and so she exaggerates a lot of her points that appear to spite her childhood. At this point the reader will not feel very sympathetic towards Victor because he has had a very good start to his life and he has been spoilt beyond belief.

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In chapter eleven we are introduced to the creature. The creature is a delinquent and does not know what the purpose of objects that he comes into contact with. Examples of this are, “In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers” and, “The whole village was roused…some attacked me.” The creatures start to life was the complete opposite of Victor’s start to life. The creature has not been taught anything and takes everything at face value. An example of this is when he feels the warmth of the fire and to try and get warmer he ...

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