What Are The Similarities Between Macbeth And Frankenstein

Evil is represented by the making of monsters in both Macbeth and Frankenstein.

Both stories have strong feelings towards monstrosity throughout, although the 'Monsters' have been portrayed under different lights. In Macbeth the monstrous character is seen to be Macbeth himself to the other characters as he actually performs the monstrous acts, however the actual monster which is explained to the reader is Lady Macbeth as she persuades and pushes Macbeth to commit these acts. In Frankenstein the actual monster Frankenstein creates doesn’t perform any monstrous acts on purpose as it seems, he is being pushed to make these choices due to a baisic lack of care from his creator Frankenstein. Both Macbeth and Frankenstein have a character who is perceived to be the bad or evil one by other characters, however it actually another
characters actions or decisions causing the 'monster' to commit monstrous acts.
Firstly I am going to look at why the writers have created monsters for in their stories. As both stories revolve around the main theme of monsters and how they are interoperated by the characters and the reader. In Macbeth Shakespeare created monsters to give an interesting twist to a story of a power hungry war hero killing the king for a higher status. In Frankenstein, Shelley creates the idea of a 'monster' who is in fact a vulnerable character being pushed to perform monstrous acts due to lack of basic care from his creator. This shows how both stories use the idea of monstrosity as Macbeth commits selfish and unfair acts just to become a person with a higher status in life however he is not at all bothered about his reputation.

Ambition is another theme in both stories which is very closely linked into how some of the acts that took place are monstrous because they were caused by characters wanting to get somewhere in their
lives, pushing for it and causing destruction for other people. Ambition in Frankenstein is shown through Victor and Walton mainly, Frankenstein portrays humans as being deeply ambitious but with that also thoroughly flawed, both Victor and Walton dream of glory and transformation in society, however with this they don’t think of the consequences to their actions, so Victor turns himself into a creator by bringing a monster to life, this only highlights his fallibility as he is completely incapable of fulfilling the responsibilities that a creator has to his creation, with this he causes himself a problem as he cant control the monster. Walton turns back from the north pole on his ship before getting himself and his crew killed, but he does this in anger thinking he has had his glory stolen from him. In Macbeth Shelley uses an idea that people who cheat life and seek glory are selfish with faulty natures. In Macbeth, Macbeth and Banquo are shown to be ambitious characters from the beginning although their reactions to the witches prophecies are both very different, Macbeth is very excited by the idea of becoming 'Thane Of Cawdor' and king, we know this because when he is announced Thane he says to Banquo 'If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me without my stir' this is Macbeth's ambitions coming through as he is saying that he also may become the king without having to take any further action. Banquo however is worried about the prophecies, this is shown when Macbeth is announced Thane by Ross as he says 'Can devil speak true?' this really puts out how Banquo sees the prophecies, as opposite to Macbeth he sees them as a bad thing.

Power is another very strong theme in both stories, In Macbeth there is a very strong lust for power driving Macbeth throughout however further through the story he realises being powerful isn’t all that great if you are not safe in your position, for example when Macbeth discovers power without security is not worth having he says "To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus." this shows he has realised that he can do anything he likes but it will destroy his public image and therefore he will be loosing his power as the people will start to work against him. Lady Macbeth too realises she cannot enjoy her new position 'without content' because she knows it is wrong for them to be in this position as the way they have got there hasn’t been in a lawful or respectful way. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein holds a large amount of the power in the text, as with creating the monster he then holds indirectly the ability to help or destroy other lives around him. However the monster also holds a considerable amount of power For example, he held power over Justine’,s fate when he incriminated her with the necklace. He holds some power over the De Lacy family, as it is his actions in collecting firewood that decide whether or not Felix must work as heavily during the day, this story shows how power is fragile as throughout the story it isn’t held and kept by one person.

In conclusion, monstrosity is I think a very wide topic in both stories as