Glory in Frankenstein (Free Essay Example)

Mary Shelley’s horror novel Frankenstein shows those who seek glory bring destruction to themselves and the people around them. Through the selfish actions of narrator Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and Victor’s unnamed living creation, Shelley exhibits that searching for greatness uncovers new roads leading to pain for the pursuer and others who suffer from the pursuer’s endeavors. Walton, Victor, and the creature demonstrate how pursuing brilliance requires one to sacrifice their wellness and compassion, abandoning the needs of others for a self-centered quest for prestige.

Victor Frankenstein’s desire to create life for glory leads him to a lonely end. The author portrays the protagonist, Victor, as neglectful. Upon learning how to bring dead matter to life, Victor dedicates all of his time to building a creature and ignores his family, closest friends, and health in the hopes of earning greatness from his pursuits. Victor states he “has become emaciated with confinement” but pushes on with the aspiration that “a new species would bless [him] as its creator and source.” (Shelley 28). For two years, Victor robs graves and spends endless hours researching for the sake of building the creature and potential fame. He understands that his absence from the outside world worries his family, but even so, Victor “could not tear [his] thoughts from [his] employment … which had taken an irresistible hold on [his] imagination.” (Shelley 28-29). Following the birth of the creature, Victor deems his creation unfit for care and runs away, refusing to take responsibility for what he considers a monster. The creature retaliates and murders those Victor holds strong bonds with, sending Victor on a chase that ends with his own death, bereft of the company of his loved ones. Victor allows his selfish ambitions to control him and block everyone out of his life, and as a result, he meets a lonesome demise.

The creature’s quest to find a place to fit into society devoids him of benevolence and directs him down the path of evil. At the moment of the creature’s animation, he faces rejection from his creator Victor, who runs away. The creature wanders off in search of a new home, but every community he attempts to enter refuses to accept him. He stumbles upon the DeLacey cottage and mimics the inhabitants’ actions while in hiding. Through this he discovers communication and picks up the ability to read, and information in books thus allow him to understand the reason for the neglect he receives from Victor as well as other people: his different appearance and abnormally large stature. He “[tries] to dispel [the agony of this discovery], but sorrow only [increases] with knowledge.” (Shelley 68). This revelation and the brutal truth of society bring the creature pain and confusion. He reflects on the disdain Victor and different groups show him and angrily thinks, “But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days…” (Shelley 68). His newfound understanding of the world angers him, and he channels this rage into a vengeful scheme to isolate Victor in the same way as the creature. The creature, seeking revenge and blinded by the hatred towards his neglectful creator, murders and causes the deaths of people with whom Victor had a close relationship. Amid his rage, however, the creature recognizes these humans as innocent beings who faced death for the sole misfortune of holding strong bonds with his maker. He breaks down in tears following Victor’s death and decides to end his own life, dying just as alone as Victor. The creature once possessed a kind heart, but his education and pursuit for revenge took over the goodness within him.

Robert Walton once acted in the same selfish manner as Victor, but he develops to demonstrate that redemption from selfish sins comes from staying within the bounds of human capability. Captain of a dangerous expedition to the North Pole, Walton has a personality similar to that of Victor’s, with both of them holding themselves on a higher pedestal than others and having great ambitions to make a mark in history. Walton laments in a letter that he “bitterly [feels] the want for a friend.” (Shelley 9). However, he isolates himself with his own arrogance; Walton wishes for a companion with “a capacious mind, whose tastes are like [his],” but believes he “shall certainly find no friend … among merchants and sea-men,” meaning he considers himself too knowledgeable to befriend those on the ship (Shelley 9). Walton finds Victor nearly frozen in a snowy landscape, and after saving him, Walton finds himself admiring the man’s notability. Victor tells Walton of his journey and encounters with the creature, and at the close of his tale, Victor, on the verge of death, warns Walton to “seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing [himself] in science and discoveries.” (Shelley 124). When Walton’s ship gets trapped in sheets of ice, the crew implores him to turn the ship around and head southward, for attempting to go forward would kill them. The captain, recalling Victor’s tale and the consequences of the now dead man’s actions, agrees and heads back for England, for he has no desire to end the same way as Victor or his creation. Walton’s decision to stay humble and to choose the well-being of himself and the rest of his crew over glory provides him another chance at life and redemption from his egotism.

Frankenstein shows people that striving towards prestige and rejecting the needs of others to achieve the goal ahead leads to one’s downfall and brings misery upon oneself and those around them. Victor searches for preeminence and glory through his work of bringing life, but he dies alone without the ones he loves. The creature learns the explanation of his past and discrimination in society, but violence from hatred drives him to commit terrible acts and murder innocent people for revenge. He disappears from civilization and has no one to love him. Walton has ambitions to travel far North for the first time in history, but the journey nearly kills him and his crew. Unlike the previous two, however, Walton decides to act in a manner beneficial for not only himself, but also to those around him. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein remains a cautionary tale that pursuing high levels of brilliance brings destruction to the one who seeks such status and innocent people associated with the one acting in such a way.