Frankenstein: Creation Is the Beginning Destruction Is the End Essay Example

it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid.

Two years passed in this manner in which I paid no visit to Geneva. (Shelley 40 - 41) This is Victor’s own interpretation or explanation of his isolation, he tells Robert Walton about how he would be working all through the night until the early morning sun rises to ensure that he is progressing, learning and creating an understanding about the science of life, while at the expense of his social interactions. As the reader progresses further through the chapter Victor has figured out the secret to re-animating dead flesh and he begins work on a little project.

The construction of an animate creature which he plans to bring to life using his newfound knowledge. At this point Victor has severed all ties with the people he knows in order to make the monster in secret. One secret which I alone possessed was the hope to which I had dedicated myself; and the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding places. Who shall conceive the horrors of my secret toil as I dabbed among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? Shelley 44 - 45) What Victor is doing is so vile and disgusting, that it is not a complete shock that he would not tell his family and tries so hard to keep it a secret. He believes that through the creation of the being he will change the way people understand life and death but, it is what he creates that destroys, and changes the

fates of his family and friends, specifically his younger brother William. Victor, now blinded by all of this progress, breaths life into the rotting heap he has sown together, and by doing so, creating life from nothing, he births a hideous beast which he rejects.

It is because of this reckless rejection that the Monster sets out on a personal vendetta to destroy everything that Frankenstein loves and holds dear, even through creation Victor unknowingly destroys. The first to fall victim to the Monster is Victor’s younger brother William. Months after the creation of the Monster Victor receives a letter from home telling him his younger brother William has been murdered, and Justine is taking the blame. Victor does not know it yet but he will soon find out that his own doing has began the process of obliterating the ones he loves. I wish to prepare you for the woeful news, but I know it is impossible; even now you eye skims over the page to seek the words which are to convey to you the horrible tidings. William is dead! ” (Shelley 64) This is the second time Victor is experiencing the death of a loved one, the first was his mother. The death of his mother affected Frankenstein greatly it was the death of his mother that fuelled his desire to discover the elixir of life and to bring such a monstrosity into being. His monstrosity is what changed William’s fate and it is soon to be the same or Justine, for she is later found guilty and executed for a crime she did not commit. Sometime after Justine’s execution is the next

time that Victor encounters the Monster and now it has learned how to speak and function with no help from his creator. During this encounter the monster demands a mate and reluctantly Victor obliges. He then isolates himself as he did before and begins construction on this female monster but, Victor’s destructive impulses and sudden realization of what could transpire with these two abominations, sets the stage for the final blows that the monster will unleash on Victor’s loved ones.

I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on looking up, I saw by the light of the moon the demon at the casement. A ghastly grin wrinkled his lips as he gazed on me, where I sat fulfilling the task which he had allotted to me. As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery. I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge withdrew. Shelley 171) Now is the moment in which Victor realizes what he has done, how wrong it truly was, and where he finally takes a stand. He protests telling the Monster that he will proceed no further in this evil business. But now that his creation has nothing Victor’s destructive act has fuelled the Monster’s rage and it is Victor’s closest friend and companion who will now suffer for it. It is Victor’s destructive impulses that bring about

the deaths of a dear friend Henry Clerval and his more than sister Elizabeth.

After all of this death and devastation at his hand Victor still wants to destroy one last thing, the thing that has caused him so much unhappiness, the monster he created. The day after Victor disposes of the second monster he travels to a nearby island. Upon arrival he is taken in for questioning, it just so happens that the night before Victor’s arrival the islanders discovered the body of a dead man. The Island folk believe that Victor has something to do with it, little does Victor know the victim was his partner and dear friend Henry Clerval.

When Victor sees Clerval’s corpse after his interrogation he comes to realize the severity of this situation and of the monster’s threat to him, he begins to realize through his creation he has brought about rampant destruction. I entered the room where the corpse lay and was led up to the coffin . How can I describe my feelings upon beholding it? I feel yet parched with horror, nor can I reflect on that terrible moment without shuddering and agony. The examination, the presence of the magistrate and witnesses, passed like a dream from my memory when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me.

I gasped for breath, and throwing myself on the body, I exclaimed, “Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny; but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor. ” (Shelley 182) Through the language used in this quote it shows that Henry`s death greatly

affects Victor. We also learn that Victor feels responsible and believes that there are others who will still meet there demise. Nearing the end of the story, Victor has only Elizabeth left in his life and he feels that now he could finally create a relationship and a family with her.

But the Monster will not let Victor get away that easily, so Elizabeth is murdered. “While I still hung over her in agony of despair, I happened to look up. I saw at the window a figure the most hideous and abhorred. A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to jeer, I rushed towards the window, drawing a pistol from my bosom, fired; but he eluded me. ” (Shelley 204) Following this act Victor sets out to bring about the destruction of the monster once and for all, after so much blood shed he at long last realizes what needs to be done. My present situation was one in which all voluntary thought was swallowed up and lost. I was hurried away by fury; revenge alone endowed me with strength and composure; it moulded my feelings and allowed me to be calculating and calm at periods when otherwise delirium or death would have been my portion. ” (Shelley 210)

These two quotes both show the absolute anger and hatred Victor has towards the monster and in the second quote it shows Victor’s devotion to the obliteration of the monster, nd how he is fulled by vengeance, and will not stop until one of them ceases to exist. Victor believes that he is doing something selfless something to benefit others. He is also

committing one last act of destruction one last action to tip the scales and show that his facet of destruction greatly out-weighs his attributes of creation. Victor Frankenstein is a complex character, he has a duality in which he is both creator and destroyer this polarity causes a dissentient effect on those closest to him, this effect is due to the fact that he destroys more than he creates.

In his fascination with the enigma involving the secret to generating life Victor Frankenstein destroys the relationships he had developed with, and the lives of, his friends and family. Frankenstein, throughout the novel, is constantly pushing those he loves away. He has a want for creation, he wants to marry Elizabeth and have a family. But, that is always countered by his need, per say, for destruction. In conclusion Victor Frankenstein is, by definition, both creator and destroyer. Works Cited: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. USA: Tom Doherty Associates, LLC. , 1988