Preview

An Analysis Of Victor Frankenstein's God Complex

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1166 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
An Analysis Of Victor Frankenstein's God Complex
Alex Smith
Mrs. Joyner
Honors English 4
1/7/15
Victor Frankenstein’s God Complex In the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a God figure. He creates the monster, which makes him like God because according to Christianity only God can create life. Frankenstein abandoned his creation, just like God turned his back on Jesus as he was crucified. Frankenstein made the monster, which killed people, which is a reference to when God created Adam and Eve and they sinned. When Frankenstein created the monster, he was even God when it came to power. According to Christianity, only God can create life. The monster was Frankenstein’s creation, which makes him the father. In Catholicism, which is a branch
…show more content…
It is in a human’s natural instinct to sin because we are not perfect and we don’t know any better until we actually do what we will learn is wrong. This goes with the popular phrase “learn your lesson”. But in honesty, the monster never learned its lesson because no one taught him differently. It continued to kill because it was following its natural instincts. This being said, if Victor had taught it right and wrong, what would the monster have done? For starters it probably wouldn’t have killed anyone. It would have found a friend somewhere instead of wandering the world alone. In Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Victor states that “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.” (Shelley 2) This proves that Victor, while being like God, had the choice of showing the right or righteous path, or leaving it to fall into the ways of darkness and evil. We can obviously see what route was …show more content…
With him being portrayed as God, he had certain responsibilities to his creation. He was supposed to teach him right and wrong and shelter it. But since he failed to do so, his creation went down the wrong path and killed or sinned. This means that we all, as humans, have an obligation to teach our creations, or children, what is right and what is wrong. If we do not teach them these things, their life can take a turn for the worst. They can end up on the streets, in jail, or the worst, in the ground. An anonymous publisher said in an article called, “Frankenstein: a Warning to Society Today”, said that “Her writing tells us that using technology to go beyond human abilities can have bad consequences.” (Anonymous 1) If this was Shelley’s warning to humanity, she could have retold the story of life. Starting with the birth of the first humans or the monster, then showing where the creation kills or sins, and then finally reaching the very end where not even the creator can escape. So Shelley poses the reader with this question, will you be the creator of a masterpiece or a failed

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Mary Shelley wrote ‘Frankenstein’ as an outlet of her experiences throughout her previous years and to express her feelings of grief, anxiety and shock from her childhood. When Mary Shelley was younger, her own ambition was to have a child to love and care for. This ambition and hope was shot down when her baby died soon after its birth. This could be the inspiration that she used for the creation and the unkind response given by the world to it. We learn much about the protagonist victor Frankenstein and his utterly selfish ambition throughout chapter five. This is the…

    • 906 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley explores a wide range of themes concerning human nature through the thoughts and actions of two main characters and a host of others. Two themes are at the heart of the story, the most important being creation, but emphasis is also placed on alienation from society. These two themes are relevant even in today's society as technology brings us ever closer to Frankenstein's fictional achievement.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Frankenstein is a novel book in which the mistake of Victor leads to the death of his loved ones. A scientist decides to interfere in the plans of nature and nature represented by the creature severely punishes him for that. Only “God” should take responsibility of creating a human form of life. Victor and the monster both die.…

    • 58 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    When Victor created the monster he did not have the intention to get rid of him. He created the monster and regretted it but he did not know he would feel that way before he made it. “You see for knowledge and wisdom, as i once did and i ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (9) Victor also seeks knowledge and wisdom so that he can do good. He had good intentions to seek those things and was planning on doing good which it acquired. Victor Frankenstein and the monster have good intentions when they do things and do not intend for them to go wrong yet things tend to go wrong for them. The monster had good intentions also. The monster may have had hate for Victor since he created and abandoned him but the hate was not sincere because he actually cared for his creator. He could die once his creator was dead. When the monster killed the boy he did not have the intention to murder him.. The monster did not know its strength even though he did not intend to hurt anyone, this is seen when the monster says “I drew his hand forcibly and said, “Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intent to hurt you””(16). Whenever he does something with good intentions and it goes wrong, he gets very angry. He only wants to do good but he does not know how so his anger is because he can't do what he wants to do. He never had the intention to…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the case of Victor Frankenstein’s creature, there was no opportunity to be instructed by a father figure, so the monster was faced with the more difficult task of forming morals completely on his own. The creature was forced to learn to live on its own because Victor abandoned it as soon as it opened its eyes. This causes…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein, written in 1818 by Mary Shelley, is a novel written in a narrative structure and in the characters’ point of view which makes more easy and understandable for readers to know the characters’ feelings and thoughts. The story illustrates how the main character Victor Frankenstein, falls into a total destruction due to the usage of his superficial knowledge to play God by creating an abhorrent monster. As a result of his imprudent behavior, the monster undergoes a lot of hardships such as loneliness and ignorance which affect its life hugely. By the halfway of the novel, the monster tells Victor how lonely and sad it is compared to Adam who is the first creation of God. The monster’s speech manifests how appearance has a significant…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays her idea that creatures are born with good intentions, but this innocence is soon snatched away by the gnarled hands of life. The monster, when he is first created, wanders until he finds a family which he observes intently. At first the monster would steal some of their food, but “when [he] found that in doing this [he] inflicted pain on the cottagers, [he] abstained” (Shelley 99). The monster has been alive for a very short period of time and knows little of social norms, yet he has an instinctive predisposition towards good actions. Victor was also innocent in his youth, and remembers fondly how he was raised by devoted parents. Victor recalls, “I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, secretly blames Victor throughout the course of the novel as the cause of his own suffering and pain. Victor ultimately is the one and only monster within the novel because of relationship that has built between him and the monster. Victor Frankenstein has created a monster that throughout the novel harms him because of his lack of responsibility and selfishness. The monster commits a number of different crimes which in return causes Victor to view him as the true monster however if Victor wasn’t so self- concerned with achieving his own goals, he would have seen the negative effects of the way he treated the monster earlier then he did.…

    • 1761 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The human mind is something scientists have been trying to comprehend forever. Science can not alter how the mind communicates with one’s body, or even how it works. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the creation of a fake being to emphasize the fact that the human mind cannot be altered or replicated effectively. Dr. Frankenstein thought he would be able to create and control the mind of a creature. He had tried many times, but to no avail. After talking with a professor, he finally figured out a way that he would be able to complete what he had been trying to for years. But does Frankenstein pass that natural boundary placed before us by our peers? To create life, a being with its own mind, had never been done before. What are the consequences of his actions and was it truly worth it to go beyond those limits?…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Victor Frankenstein wanted to become this eccentric scientist who conquers death in bringing eternal life to mankind by creating a different form in his vision. With him using his knowledge as power to portray God, Victor never asks himself if he should, but only if he could. In the book of Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein claimed to be creating the monster for the betterment of humankind. He did it out of arrogance, or out of a desire to become like God. Victor not only created life, but destroyed many by becoming the monster that he created through his sinful attempt to be God to only fail by abandoning his creation.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein was a scientist who decided to go against the laws of nature and create life out of death as a science project. The use of the words ‘creator’ and ‘creature’ implies that Frankenstein wanted to act as a God, which he wasn’t.” Mary Shelley displayed the image of God when writing the story. She influenced the readers to think that Victor is the overall villain in Frankenstein, by showing them that you cannot just go and create or destroy life like you are God. That’s what Perry is saying, he is saying that Victor tried to create life out of death. He also took all the dismembered body parts and sort of threw them together without thinking about the end result and how that creation would feel. Victor created the monster without himself having a stable father figure which in the end lead his creation to not have a father figure. The monster was created just because it was possible, not because there was a good or scientific reasoning behind it. When creating the monster, Victor was thinking about how astonishing it would be to prove to his father that he could do something that his father didn’t think he would be able to do. The monster didn’t want to be created and when he was, he wanted to have a family and a home. While the monster looked at the world around him he thought he would get the courage to ask Victor for a companion. Victor couldn’t bring himself to make another creature because now he has realized the mistake he made in the first place and he doesn’t want to make another…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Frankenstein Essay

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Mary Shelley’s science fiction novel, Frankenstein, is a Gothic horror story that captures reader’s attention leaving them with questions of their own morals and of the main characters. The novel arouses questions like, who should be allowed to create life? Is it right to kill for a greater good? Are some secrets best untold? These are all questions of morality and individuals will come up with their own opinions and answers based on their upbringing. In Frankenstein, main characters Victor Frankenstein and ‘The Monster’ are morally put to the test with decisions that will greatly affect their lives. In the end many readers find themselves wondering who are the antagonist and protagonist of the novel; Did Victor do wrong by creating The Monster, or did the Monster do wrong by killing innocent people? In this case both made morally bad decisions but in the end one decision had more of a lasting impact. The Monster’s quest of killing is only justified due to the fact that he was hunting his creator.…

    • 1585 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    By this definition, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein both Victor and his creation can be perceived as monsters. Both characters breach socially established boundaries with the creature blurring the lines between life and death as well as humanity and bestiality through his combined circumstances of birth and outward appearance. Frankenstein’s creation is not of human origin, but rather exists as an amalgamation of corpses created through scientific experimentation, “a product of nature – his ingredients are 100 per cent natural – and yet by the process and the very fact of his creation, he is unnatural”. Admittedly, Frankenstein’s creation fits the definition of the archetypal monster as “a large, ugly, and frightening imaginary creature” however, this is only true in regards to his aesthetical appearance for he is shown throughout the novel to exhibit the essence of humanity through his morality, intelligence and emotional capacity. In fact…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein has a lot of similar qualities to the god in Milton’s Paradise Lost. One great example is what was said earlier, which was the fact that they both want to create life. There is also the fact that both creators rejected their creations. The quote from page 57 Frankenstein says, “Oh no mortal could support the horror of the countenance”, which is him completely rejecting his…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frankenstein

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Throughout the novel Frankenstein, author Mary Shelley clearly illustrates the moral of the story. God is the one and only creator; therefore, humans should never attempt to take His place. Literary critic Marilyn Butler sums up that we aren’t to tamper with creation in her comment: “Don’t usurp God’s prerogative in the Creation-game, or don’t get too clever with technology” (302). Butler warns that as humans, we should never assume the position of God. As Victor Frankenstein takes advantage of his deep scientific knowledge, he is punished for taking his experimenting too far.…

    • 1894 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays