Frankenstein Character Analysis
Name: Riddhi Maru
Semester:2
Batch : 2016-2018
Paper no : 5
Roll No : 21
Unit : 1
Submitted To : M.K.Bhavnagar university , Department of English
Assignment Topic :
Frankenstein Character Analysis
1. Victor Frankenstein
2. Elizabeth Lavenza
3. Dr.Henry Clerval
1. Victor Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein is the
protagonist of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus.
He an ambitious intelligent and hardworking scientist oh yes and it’s important
to mention that he’s completely obsessed with the concept of Renimation, or
reawakening the the dead. Which is just what he does create life from a corpse,
and it pretty much re...
Frankenstein’s mother passed away
when he was only seventeen, which fueled his obsession with death. He shows
himself early on to be a whiz in science, especially chemistry. He falls in
love with his cousin ( in a later edition of the novel she’s his adopted sister
)Lizabeth, eventually getting engagad to her although she’s killed by
Frankenstein’s creation on their wedding night frankenstein as mentioned
mentioned before stubbornly pursues his scicntific interests , and
unfortunately it’s this that eventually leads to his downfall, along with a few
important character traits.
O) Frankenstein Traits: Intelligence
From the start, victor Frankenstein shows
a great aptitude for science, although he does pull away from it for a brief
period as a boy. He’s a voracious reader and a quick learner as a youngster,
and he reads out of date works by ancient physicians and alchemists. He’s very
smart, and pursues his interests in chemistry and the human body at the
University of Ingolstadt. Interestingly enough, although he’s intelligent and
at one of the premier learning institutions in Europe at the time, he chooses
to study the idea of reanimation. He devotes himself to his studies, pushing
his intelligence to the utmost, using his brains for an idea those around him
think is bonkers.
someone who is as smart as
Frankenstin could maybe lend his intelligence to some other pursuit, curing a
disease or discovering ponicillin or something , but no not Frankenstein. He
applies his brain to a far more dangerous pursuit, and through constant
perseverance and his intelligence, he winds up creating life from death and
making his monster a reality. However , his brains also come in handy later
when he must track this creature across the Arctic pursuing it in revenge and
hoping to destroy it.
o)
Frankenstein Traits : Pride and Ambition
You can imagine that it takes a lot of ambition and a lot of faith in yourself to
reanimate the dead, and youd be right in thinking that not every average joe
would struggle with his effort for more than two years. But Frankenstein does
his ambition knows no bounds. He absolutely will be the first man to give life
to the dead despite all the odds against him and this leads him to struggle on.
Not only this , but it’s Frankenstein overwhelming pride, his hubris’s that
leads to the obsession that ruins his life , Hubris , or extreme arrogance can
lead people to do some fairly dumb stuff like .............For Example
.............tamper with the forces of life and death one may not fully
understand playing god in a way to human being should. You know, the way so
many horror filings begin. And it’s this trait that makes victor Frankenstein
the perfect tragic hero or character who is doomed to suffer due to his or her
own actions he relentlessly pursues an idea he pretty much has no business
medding in and suffers grievously for it . He thinks he can truly raise the
dead bridge that gap between the bere and the hereafter, and in doing so
creates a being he finds monstrous and hideous , a creatu he cannot control and
winds up running away from.
Because Frankenstein believes ,
foolishly , that the can assume the role of creator , that he can know the
mysteries of the universe , he doesn’t stop to think that he may create
something he doesn’t understand . He assumes he’s the big man , the one true
genius , and never even thinks that he may give life to something that has
intelligence and free will , something that may come back to haunt him, of
course not ! He’s victor Frankenstein! What could possibly go wrong!
2.Elizabeth Lavenza
The daughter of the pioneering feminist
Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley , author of the iconic 1818 novel
Frankenstein , embraced Many of her mother’s feminist ideals . Feminine
tendencies toward cooperation and relationship Shelley ‘s lat writing suggest ,
provide a potent antidote to the more masculine traits of competition and
dominance given Shelley’s personal and familial connections to feminism , her
portrayal of victor Frankenstein’s fiancée , Elizabeth Livens , in the novel
mat come as a surprise .
Elizabeth seems to model all of the
traditional characteristics of a woman of her era; she is beautiful sweet, and
nurturing. She scams to exist only by and through her relationships to others,
especially through her relationship with her future husband. But is there more
to Elizabeth then meets the eye? Is the just another pretty ornament and
selfless caretaker? Or is she something more? Passages from Shelley’s text may
prolix some insight.
Many Faces of Elizabeth Lavenza
The orphaned daughter of an ltalian
aristocrat who had fallen into poverty, Elizabeth was adopted at the age of
four into thr Frankenstein family . Her have been assumed from the beginning .
But what is that connection , truly ? And who is the real Elizabeth Lavenza ?
Let’s look at truly ? And who is the real Elizabeth Lavenza ? Let’s look at a
quote from the novel.
“ I have a pretty present for my victor
tomorrow he shall have it ‘’ And when , on the morrow , she presented Elizabeth
to me as her promised gift , i , with childish seriousness, interpreted her
words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine - mine to protect , love and
cherish ‘
Victor is promised his present by his
mother on the night before Elizabeth joins the Frankenstein family , but the
possessiveness that victor demonstrates from the beginning is common and
expected. Woman in late 18th century europe had few legal rights.
They few not vote or own property , had few rights in marriage and even fewer
in divorce , and were extremely limited in regard to education and employment .
They were, for all intents and purposes, the possessions of the men in their
lives.
The premise of the ceme couvert or
covered woman , guided most gender Relationships at this time . The patriarch
or male head of the household , was to provide for, protect and ‘ cover ‘ the
woman in his life , especially his wives and daughters.
Elizabeth seems to fit this mold
perfectly. She comes into victor’s household poor and vulnerable, in need of
healing and protection. She enables the Frankenstein family to demonstrate
their moral virtue, not to mention their economic superiority in taking in the
now – destitute daughter of an aristocolat.
Elizabeth becomes for victor the means
to demonstrate his own status as future patriarch. He learns through his
Relationship with Elizabeth how to take care of his own femme covert.
The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like
a shrine – dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours her smile
her soft voice , the sweet glance of her detail eyes were ever there to bless
and animate us . She was the living spirit of love to soften and attract.
In
the 18th and 19th centuries the Separate spheres theory
held that each gender has a amicus and God – given domain. The man’s sphere was
the public sphere of work, politico, and money. Making. The woman’s sphere was
the private sphere of the home of caring for her husband and children. She is
nevertheless the moral center of the Frankenstein home and of victor’s life. He
loving influence, selflessness and nurturing spirit form the spiritual heart of
the Frankenstein family. She is as angelic as the gender norms, or gender roués
and Requirements of her era demand.
“She busied herself with following the
aerial creations of the poets ....... while my companion contemplated with a
serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things I delighted
in investigating their causes “
Elizabeth is emotion and appearance,
victor is rationality and discernment. Elizabeth delights in surface beauty and
transient feeling. Victor seeks empirical knowledge companion contemplated with
a serious and satisfied spirit the magnificent appearances of things, I
delighted in investigating their causes.
Elizabeth is emotion and appearance
victor is rationality and discernment Elizabeth delights in surface beauty and
transient feeling. Victor seeks empirical knowledge and eternal truth in other
Elizabeth is a silly girl victor is a serious boy. This reiterates precisely
those expectations founded in the separate spheres argument. Elizabeth is not
dilly because of a character defect she is according to the standard of her
day; simply doing what is nature and proper to women.
3) dr. Henry Clerval
Friend and schoolfellow of victor
and Elizabeth from childhood: Murdered by the creature.
Victor describes him
as an only child “ the son of a merchant of Geneva, an intimate friend of my
father. He was a boy of singular talent and fancy” . Chervil is almost a family
member in the Frankenstein household: when victor complains that “ My brothers
were considerably younger than myself” he notes,
“ but i had a friend in one of my schoolfellows,
who compensated for this deficiency” and victor inclrval in his account of hoe
“domestic circle” because “he was constantly with us”. The two united by “the
closest friendship”
After parting from chervil
on his departure for ingolstadt, victor does not see his friend until after the
creation of the crcature: he arrives just in time to care for victor in his
first insane fever.
After Frankenstein’s
recovery, larval convinces his father to allow him to join Frankenstein at the
university, studying classical and eastern languages.
“ chervil was no natural philosopher.
His imagination was too vivid for the minutiae of science. Languages were his
principal study, and he sought, but acquiring their elements, to open a field
for self-instruction on his return to Geneva. Persian, Arabic, and Hebrew,
gained his attention, after he had made himself perfectly master of Greek and
Latin”
In the 1831edition, this course
of study is significantly attired in its purpose.
“ he came to the university with
the design of making himself complete master of the oriental languages, as thus
he should open a field field for the plan of life he had marked out for
himself, Resolved to pursue no inglorious career, he turned hi eyes toward the
East, as affording scope for his spirit of enterprise.”
Much later, chervil
accompanies Frankenstein on what is to be a two-year tour of Europe. The two
part in a mate for the creature. After he destroys his new creation,
Frankenstein is arrested for the murder of chervil apparently for Frankenstein’s
unwillingness to complete his work.
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