Narcissism In Frankenstein
In the twenty first century, when the word monster is said the first thing people think of is the Disney movie Monsters Inc. with their cute, harmless, and playful monsters, but that was not always the case two hundred years ago. As evidence in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a Romantic novel written in 1818 about a man, Victor Frankenstein, who through the process of reanimation creates a being but turns himself into a monster instead of creating one. Also in the Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde in 1890 about a nobleman named Lord Henry, who believes he is bettering the life of his protégé, Dorian Gray, but in reality he destroys his life and the others around him. In either of the two novels one will not find the
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Narcissism is defined as the extreme interest in one’s self and physical appearance. Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Frankenstein, show all the characteristics of someone who is a narcissist. When Frankenstein returns to Geneva, he learns that Justine has been accused for the death of his brother William. He knows that to be false and that the creation he brought to life has killed his brother. Frankenstein has the internal conflict and presents it by proclaiming, “During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to be decided, whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow-beings: one a smiling babe, full of innocence and joy; the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror” (Shelley 54). Why does he not tell the judges he knows who really killed William? It is his narcissistic character that prevents him from exposing his knowledge of the killer. He is afraid of what the consequences might happen to him when he says that a “zombie” has killed William. He thinks they would send him to an insane asylum, but he does not think that by revealing his secret he would spare the life of Justine. This event marks when Frankenstein’s narcissism shines through, by putting his freedom over the life of his
Narcissism is defined as the extreme interest in one’s self and physical appearance. Victor Frankenstein, the main character in Frankenstein, show all the characteristics of someone who is a narcissist. When Frankenstein returns to Geneva, he learns that Justine has been accused for the death of his brother William. He knows that to be false and that the creation he brought to life has killed his brother. Frankenstein has the internal conflict and presents it by proclaiming, “During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to be decided, whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow-beings: one a smiling babe, full of innocence and joy; the other far more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror” (Shelley 54). Why does he not tell the judges he knows who really killed William? It is his narcissistic character that prevents him from exposing his knowledge of the killer. He is afraid of what the consequences might happen to him when he says that a “zombie” has killed William. He thinks they would send him to an insane asylum, but he does not think that by revealing his secret he would spare the life of Justine. This event marks when Frankenstein’s narcissism shines through, by putting his freedom over the life of his