Pre1914 prose study Essay

A single eye opens. On the dark, damp night of November, Frankenstein’s creation at last exists. Chapter 5 shows the awaking of his creation, literally his child. For so long he toiled, working towards this moment. But for what? For when the time came, only negative attitude was expressed. And so Victor deserts his â€Å"monster†, plunging the creation into complete darkness, lost, lonely and unaware. Frankenstein wants nothing to do with it, but to his creation, Victor is his everything. He made him; he is his mother, his father, and ultimately his God. Although, to say that Victor is a parent is rather ironic; it’s such an inhumane way of creating a living human being, such a ‘masculine’ form of science cannot work, it’s not naturally correct to deny the feminine act of child birth. Also, Frankenstein never once considered what he would do with the creation once he is alive; therefore, Victor fails as a parent. Frankenstein never educated the creation, and denies loving it. In the absence of love, Frankenstein’s Monster is forced to learn the hard way. The reactions he received drives the creature to realize that appearance and physicality is an important part of the public’s vain judgments. Rejected, uneducated and even nameless, it’s distanced from humanity and branded with such names as ‘wretch’, ‘daemon’, and ‘monster’ in which most of the names are from his creator’s own mouth. Such a gentle soul never had any physical contact with the human race and therefore attaches itself to the De Lacy family. Soon developing new emotions and sensations, he gains pleasure from help the family suffering from poverty. In return, he gains a steady education, Just like a child, and with a child, his knowledge builds off the teaching of Felix De Lacey. An important factor in this is the books he reads; Plutarch’s Lives, Volney’s Ruins of Empire, Goethe’s The Sorrows of Werther and most importantly Milton’s Paradise Lost. All of them represent the idea of romantic thinking in which Mary Shelley was associated. When presenting his arguments, he quotes from one such book: â€Å"I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed† (p. 77-8) He quotes Paradise Lost and relates himself to one character. Satan. Judged by his appearance, the public see him as evil and yet he is a tragic character, isolated from the world. He sees this mirrored in Milton’s Satan. Believing that perhaps the De Lacey family may accept him as a normal person and with that only to fail, was the stimulus to the beginning of his transportation from love to hate. Demonstrated in this novel is that creation isn’t just finished at the beginning of life. Frankenstein gives birth to this child of science, but makes him what he is branded, and ultimately what he is. A monster. By deserting him, he created an isolated and suffering being. With addition to being rejected by any other living person, this makes him a tragic figure. Victor was deeply self-absorbed, never once thinking of the welfare of his creation, but rather how to distance himself further from it. But, when moved by the monster’s happenings, he agrees to make a female partner. But again, he abandons him for his own welfare, and will not complete his companion. After making his creation, he fears making another double of his regret. The creature denies this though, he only wishes for a companion for the rest of his days on earth. Yet roles are reversed in the heart of the novel. In the beginning, power is mostly in Victor’s possession but by the time of meeting, the creature dominates, leading Victor into the wilderness of the mountains.