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  • Essay / Victor Frankenstein Creature as the Mirror

    Mixed with haunting similarities between the creator and the created, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein implements the Doppelganger effect to further develop the story of one man's quest for knowledge and the journey that follows. From the beginning of his journey to his eventful demise, Victor Frankenstein goes through a wide range of emotions and experiences, almost all of which his creature endures. As Shelley develops the character of Victor Frankenstein, she uses the creature – as his doppelganger – to dramatize and further elaborate that which cannot be explicitly explained. It is Victor's passion rivaled by the creature's anger, Victor's determination reflected by the creature's obsession and the isolation they cause from each other that foreground the "good" and the “bad” aspects of Frankenstein’s character. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay From his earliest days in Ingolstadt to his last in the Arctic, Victor Frankenstein's passion for his sciences never wavered ; it is a byproduct of these sciences - the creature - which transforms Victor's strong emotions into the anger and vengeance with which he dies. From their first post-animation encounter, the creature develops intense anger toward the man who created it, and this feeling is mutual. "All men hate the miserable; how then must I be hated, I who am miserable beyond all living beings! Yet you, my creator, you hate and despise me, your creature, to whom you are linked by bonds that can only be dissolved by the annihilation of one of us” (95) The creature cannot understand the rejection he faces, just as Victor cannot understand how this detestable being holds himself. always before him. It is his misguided passion that leads the creature to make many of the threats he makes to Frankenstein. As he promises to “avenge [his] wounds if he cannot inspire love; he will arouse fear, and it is mainly towards Victor that he swears unquenchable hatred” because he is its creator (148). anger and lack of understanding: the creature seeks revenge for what it cannot control. It is his encounter with Felix at the cabin that leads the creature to seek out Frankenstein with many questions because his “feelings were those of rage and vengeance” (137). With his confusion of things as fuel, the creature's anger continues as he watches Frankenstein destroy the partner he was striving to animate and "with diabolical despair and vengeance" and seeks to emotionally murder another person close to Victor (171). The abuse Frankenstein suffers at the hands of the creature causes him to become equally consumed with anger and vengeance as he follows his creature across Europe in hopes of destroying it. Although his father warns him not to be filled with "sullen thoughts of vengeance against the murderer, but with feelings of peace and gentleness" when he hears of William's murder, Victor neglects this advice and allows - as the creature does - to take revenge. to consume it (66). After Elizabeth's death, "Victor's present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost." [He] was thrown by fury; revenge alone consumed him to be calculating and calm” (210). Similar to the creature's response, Frankenstein is frustrated and vengeful after the destruction of his companion and wishes to destroy the person responsible. In his seemingly endless pursuit ofthe creature, his frustration takes over and “[he] once again vows revenge; once again, [he dooms you, miserable demon, to torture and death” (214). Dr. Frankenstein's passions have never "turned to childish pursuits, but to a burning desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately," but he loses this with the animation of the book.creature (26 ). The determination Victor carries within him to succeed parallels that of the creature as it works towards different goals; it is the devouring facet of their impulses which generates a destructive obsession. The creature's only request of Dr. Frankenstein is to make him happy by introducing him to a partner, and he goes to obsessive efforts to ensure that this request is granted. When Victor first concedes to his creature and promises to create another visually unpleasant one like himself, the creature promises that if Frankenstein will “Go home and begin your work; I will watch their progress with inexpressible anxiety; and do not fear that when you are ready, I will appear” (151). Frankenstein sets out to complete his work, determined to give the creature what it asks and rid humanity of the monster; However, with Frankenstein's refusal to continue working on another creature, "the monster saw [the] determination in [Victor's] face and gnashed his teeth in the helplessness of anger" as he realizes that he will not receive what he wanted. for (173). With no partner for the creature, and those Victor loves being murdered every time the creature is upset, at some point neither Victor nor the creature have anything to live for, but they are obsessed with ridding the creature of world. on the other that they feel obliged to stay alive until their task is accomplished. The creature makes many promises to Frankenstein – all of which he keeps – and he “will work toward [its] destruction; nor complete until he desolate his heart, so that he will curse the hour of his birth” (148). The doppelganger relationship between the creature and Frankenstein extends not only to the characteristics the two share, but also to the way the creature literally follows Victor everywhere as if he were his ghostly double lurking in the shadows - just like It was his wedding night. After Elizabeth's murder that night, Victor, once again, allows his emotions to manifest as bad ones, while his determination to develop science and learning is replaced by an obsession with the creature and revenge. Victor “worked hard for almost two years, with the sole aim of bringing an inanimate object to life. For this, [he] had deprived himself of rest and health; » yet his determination to create quickly transforms into an obsession to destroy (48). When Elizabeth dies, Frankenstein vows never to give up his “search until he or I perish”; this obsession effectively becomes his end (214). Although introverted from the beginning, Frankenstein was still once capable of being a full member of society, with friendships and acceptance from all; the creature brings Victor back to a state of depression and loneliness that he had to endure. The creature never escapes the exile into which it was born. Finally able to tell his side of the story to someone who won't run away, the creature reveals to Walton what it took him all this time to understand, that sympathy will not be given to him by any human being partial. Even among the cottagers, whom the creature hoped would be the most understanding, he finds himself "unsympathetic, wishing to tear up the trees, sow chaos and destruction around [him], then sit back and enjoy the ruin." " (137). Rightly..