Sympathy for Frankenstein
Frankenstein Essay | Mr. Manello | ENG3U0-DDecember 19th 2012 | Ashish Singh |
Frankenstein is the story of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant Swiss scientist who discovers the secret of bringing inanimate things to life, eventually creating a human-like monster which proceeds to ruin his life. Victor created the monster with dead body parts that he got through grave robbing. Once he got all of the parts, it took him two years to build the body. Victor was very obsessed with his work because he would not let anyone help him or see him. The creature later became a disastrous scientific experiment. Mary Shelley has written Frankenstein at the age of fifteen and the novel was published when she was twenty-one years old. The life of Mary Shelley was very difficult and troubled as many of her family members had tragically died. Most of her life events are replicated in this book, which makes the reader to be sympathetic. In the novel Frankenstein, many themes are discussed and a major one is sympathy. Sympathy is defined as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.” –TheFreeDictionary. When sympathy is discussed in Frankenstein, we are mostly talking about having sympathy towards the monster or Victor Frankenstein. Different arguments and points support both sides, but it entirely depends on the readers’ perspective; a reader can feel the pain of the monster or Victor. Mostly any person would identify himself with Victor and sympathize with him because losing family members repeatedly, as a human being, can cause much agony and pain. This is also why the novelist also has a soft corner for Victor, however, Frankenstein’s creation/the monster should deserve more sympathy than the creator himself.
In the fifth chapter of Frankenstein, the scenery is described as a “dark, dreary night in November.” –Shelley, P.34. As we all know, this is pathetic fallacy. Pathetic fallacy is “when the weather affects the current mode of the
Frankenstein is the story of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant Swiss scientist who discovers the secret of bringing inanimate things to life, eventually creating a human-like monster which proceeds to ruin his life. Victor created the monster with dead body parts that he got through grave robbing. Once he got all of the parts, it took him two years to build the body. Victor was very obsessed with his work because he would not let anyone help him or see him. The creature later became a disastrous scientific experiment. Mary Shelley has written Frankenstein at the age of fifteen and the novel was published when she was twenty-one years old. The life of Mary Shelley was very difficult and troubled as many of her family members had tragically died. Most of her life events are replicated in this book, which makes the reader to be sympathetic. In the novel Frankenstein, many themes are discussed and a major one is sympathy. Sympathy is defined as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.” –TheFreeDictionary. When sympathy is discussed in Frankenstein, we are mostly talking about having sympathy towards the monster or Victor Frankenstein. Different arguments and points support both sides, but it entirely depends on the readers’ perspective; a reader can feel the pain of the monster or Victor. Mostly any person would identify himself with Victor and sympathize with him because losing family members repeatedly, as a human being, can cause much agony and pain. This is also why the novelist also has a soft corner for Victor, however, Frankenstein’s creation/the monster should deserve more sympathy than the creator himself.
In the fifth chapter of Frankenstein, the scenery is described as a “dark, dreary night in November.” –Shelley, P.34. As we all know, this is pathetic fallacy. Pathetic fallacy is “when the weather affects the current mode of the