Victor Frankenstein Character Analysis Essay Sample

Some might deem it arrogant to play god, for it disturbs the natural world and its order. One must not interfere or cause a disbalance to the world around us, especially the circle of human life. Either to preserve its beauty or to not displease those responsible for creating it. In Mary Shelley’s ground-breaking 1818 novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, through ambitious studies of life and death and the complex combination of various body parts and even animal parts, is able to create consciousness without conception. Throughout the novel and its various settings with romantic descriptions of different environments of European nature, the monster he created experiences life with all its prodigious marvels and deep cutting slivers. Rejection, Isolation and Anger lead to a series of murders committed by the monster. Thus, destroying Frankenstein’s mind, his body, his family, and ultimately resulting in his death. In this short essay, I will analyse the stance of nature in Frankenstein in regards to its importance, impact, and intended purpose.

To profoundly examine the theme of nature in the novel, it is important to note that Victor Frankenstein is very compelled by nature, for it has a great influence on his mood. “Mont Blanc, the supreme and magnificent Mont Blanc, raised itself from the surrounding aiguilles, and its tremendous dôme overlooked the valley. A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this journey” (Shelley 92). He uses nature to escape and put his mind at ease. If one were to be obsessed with nature like Frankenstein, one of two assumptions can be made. The first being: Nature is pure and full of wonder. I am part of this world, and thus I shall not try to emulate its delicacy. The second being: Nature is pure and full of wonder. I am part of this world, and thus I am obligated to investigate its cause, for I can contribute to reality. Victor Frankenstein can be associated with the second assumption, which leads him to make a monster in the first place, because his fascination of the natural world and especially human life are the source of his boundless curiosity.

The sublimity of nature stems from Mary Shelley’s own travel experiences, as described in essay by Antonella Braida: “In Frankenstein, the narrators’ description of the power of the landscape is mediated by Shelley’s own experience of her two visits to Mont Blanc, and by the characters’ own attitude to the natural world. In fact, the two aspects cannot be separated because of the narrative structure of multiple intradiagetic narrators” (Braida 28).

For Victor Frankenstein, the natural world is not only of immense beauty, but it is also something that can and, by some, needs be conquered. And he is not alone with his thoughts, because Walton thinks the same way. For him, his journey into ice is of great importance. Like Frankenstein, he wants to be a pioneer. Both want to break boundaries and reach new limits of generation, both driven by an almost child-like inquisitiveness. “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man” (Shelley 6).

The ultimate contrast to the beautiful descriptions of nature in Frankenstein is the monster, especially the creation of the monster. Its sheer existence is an affront against the natural world and everything it stands for. Shelley regards the creation of the monster as a distorted perversion of the act of birth. This is emphasised by the fact that, in Chapter Five of the novel, the motionless body of the creature is described as beautiful, or at least perceived as such by its creator, whereas the exact same body, once it is alive and moving, is described as grotesque: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God!” (Shelley 50). After the daemon is alive and Frankenstein realizes his violation against god, the mere thought of the appearance of the monster frightens him. “Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch” (Shelley 51).

What Shelley is telling us in Frankenstein is that the marvel of life is something not be messed with, for it greatly disturbs the natural order of the world, resulting in agony and a loss of humanity. Her respect and her appreciation for our environment should be seen as exemplary. Her novel revolves about the contrast between the sublimity of nature and its artificial, despicable counterpart.