Introduction
The title of the novel is Frankenstein, and at times, it is referred to as the Modern Prometheus. The first section of the book illustrates a scientist famously known out throughout the novel as Victor Frankenstein. The story is about the Greek god, Prometheus, who made the first human beings. Besides, after Zeus seized fire away from the people, Prometheus took the responsibility of giving it back to them. This led Zeus to get angrier, instigated a punishment for his action, chained Prometheus to a stone for life, and directed an eagle to consumer his liver. Without their knowledge, the liver started growing back every day and night the eagle returned, thus sentencing Prometheus to a long-lasting agony. The book links Prometheus and Victor, who defy the reserved authority of paradise in creating life, and the outcome for them is tremendous suffering. The author illustrates that “our activities in the society have penalties and sticking to them makes us look like we are playing with God” (Shelley, 2012).
Is the Creature in Frankenstein the Double of Victor Frankenstein?
Similarities between Victor and the Creature
The main similarity is experienced in their loneliness when the people around them, because of their outrageous appearance, isolate both of them. Besides, Victor is more isolated because he is obsessed with the creation of life and science. Secondly, the desire and ability to interact with others portray another similarity between the monster and Victor. This is experienced when the monster destroys life while Victor creates it making him get advice from people who have better skills than he does, but he continues with his creation without considering what he was advised to do. Similarly, the monsters execute innocent humans' lives without any fear of ethics, making both of them similar (Shelley, 2012). Vengeance and hatred are other similarities whereby Victor insists on eliminating the monster, and the monster, in return, swears to create more from his image. In this regard, the monster can be viewed with the notion that it is an extension of the characters possessed by Victor, thus portraying their similarities.
Difference between Victor and the Creature
The most common distinctive character between the two is their state of mind. After analyzing their behaviors from how they relate with people, it is easy to conclude that the victor's thinking is unstable while that of the monster is somehow balanced. In addition, the nature of victor is more linked to psychological illness, such as being so obsessed with his scientific action. On the other hand, his creature is perceived as cruel because of the courtesy shortage of hyperactivity disease. However, as both have a sense of isolation, their difference is illustrated when Victor's feeling is based on guilt and remorse. At the same time, the monster does not experience this sentiment. Furthermore, the feeling of victor begins because of the demise of William and along with the demise of Elizabeth. On the other hand, the creature feels that it is its mandate that victor carries that feeling, and he will never be happy. In addition, Shelley's message is that “creatures are not born as monsters, but our mistreatment and how we treat them is what defines their character.” (Shelley, 2012).
Uncertain Moments
Despite the similarities and the differences the monster and Victor possess, it generated some uncertain moments throughout the book. When Victor conducts his studies, he is pushed farther from the people who advise and love him, thus conducting his experiments in an isolated place (Shelley, 2012). The idea creates an unhealthy obsession, which leads him to create a monster that drags him to search for old body parts, thus limiting him from open social establishments. Nevertheless, Victor becomes more secretive when he is not prepared to inform Henry about his experiments of creating a monster leading him to sink into regret and shame for his hopes towards making a new life.
The Enlightenment in Frankenstein
In the book, the author portrays both the positive and negative themes of enlightenment through the ideas that constrain a person to be a powerful independent unit. In the same consideration, she illustrates an enticing scene where a man can raise a baby without the need of a woman (Shelley, 2012). This scenario is portrayed when she gives a comparison of the baby to the created creature and creating a conflict when comparing Victor to God. She further facilitates the era of enlightenment as time was invested and populated by greedy people. Furthermore, she acknowledges pride and arrogance to the point of enlightenment philosophers who measure human skills restrictions and try to degrade the doubts of natural occurrences.
How Victor Frankenstein Embodies the Enlightenment
Concerning the victor perspective, it is not enough to study science and philosophy, but individuals must give trials to the scientific ideas to achieve the unbearable. Furthermore, he is the symbol of passionate thinking in the logic that he centers on finding problems in a new way. The romantics held thinking that people and communal imagination of individuals would generate a new concept of the world to become a better place, thus creating perfect models of the society and communities in which they reside. Victor is seen as romantic because of his motivation to be a dreamer who is captivated by unattainable and strange notions. “How sweetened is the care of others to someone like me who is suffering!” (Shelley, 2012).
How the Creature Embodies the Enlightenment
On the other hand, the creature that victor created is tangled in the fight of realizing the inspiring relation with his environments and other living creatures. The monster makes various trials to unite with other mortals before noticing that he is not similar. However, all his determination fails to bear fruits since he cannot communicate and observe physical characters that would make him be regarded as a human being. By comparison, the creature shows that he has gained teachings that are of great value throughout the story. Besides, he has managed to control vengeance, envy, and anger after regretting his previous deeds. When the demise of Frankenstein occurs, he feels disturbed that the monster is still living, but the beast is reunited to passing away to the extent he is focused on committing suicide. This is because his creator's death made him feel lonelier and isolated, enlightening to the fact that continuing with his life had no actual point. “I am an unlucky and abandoned living being; I stare all over the place and I have no relative or colleague upon soil” (Shelley, 2012).
Conclusion
In summary, from the essay, Victor can be blamed for the creature's actions, generated by its denial. The obsessiveness of victor to his work in science led him to create a monster who he later rejected, causing the monster to live a life of loneliness. Moreover, the creature tries to seek approval to being included in society, but he fails. Because of the rejection he faces from Victor, the beast, in return, pursues an action of revenge through killing the people who were close to Victor. Hence, if victor would have given all his attention when creating the monster, the differences would not have been experienced. Still, only the similarities could have been portrayed between both of them.
