Thesis Statement: In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley uses symbolism and metaphor to illustrate the conflict and agony an individual feels when negleted and not accepted by society; which leads to evil and destruction

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4 November 2007

Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein

In the novel Frankenstein ' Mary Shelley uses symbolism and metaphor to illustrate the conflict and agony an individual feels when neglected and not accepted by society which leads to evil and destruction . The novel shows how the society ignited the anger of Frankenstein 's monster which eventually led to a series of evil deeds . Mary Shelley was able to illustrate how the society singled-out the monster just because of its enormous size and hideous appearance . Because

of this , the monster felt hatred towards his creator and the people living around him . He seeks revenge by killing the loved ones of the person who created him , in to make him feel the pain that he has suffered

In to successfully show the conflict and agony which the monster felt at that time , Mary Shelley employed various literary tools in writing Frankenstein ' One way to do this was through symbolism . She was able to embed important meanings to iconic representations in the story . Another way was through the use of metaphor , or the comparison of seemingly unrelated subjects . Through these literary tools , Mary Shelley was able to show the readers how the monster felt when everyone turned their backs against him , including his creator , Dr . Victor Frankenstein

Symbols and Metaphors in Frankenstein

One of the early metaphors shown in the novel was when Frankenstein 's monster was created . Here , we see that Dr . Victor Frankenstein desired to create a beautiful creature only to find out that what he has created was an utter monstrosity . Dr . Victor Frankenstein carefully selected every part of his creation , wherein every feature was considered beautiful . Despite all these , he realized that what he created was a monster , just about the time he breathed life into its patched-up body ADDIN EN .CITE Lawless2Stephanie Lawless The making of a monster - Mary Shelley apos s Frankenstein2007November 42007http /www .threemonkeysonline .com /threemon_articleshelley_frankenstein_making _monsters .htm (Lawless

This action by Dr . Victor Frankenstein can be considered as an imitation of God , wherein he wished to breathe life to a non-living thing , made up of limbs taken from dead people . This curiosity of Dr Frankenstein was put to a conclusion when he successfully gives life to the unnamed creature , the supposedly beautiful creature he has laboriously patched up in his laboratory . This however , didn 't turn out the way he expected it to be . Instead of a beautiful creation , he came up with a monstrous creature , with horrible features completely different from that of man . This just proves that despite the fact that there is a possibility to do something like giving life to non-living creations it doesn 't mean that it has to be done . Dr . Victor Frankenstein 's hunger for knowledge and recognition has come to an end when he was able to give life to a monster , but it doesn 't mean that he was successful enough to fulfill everything that he desired ADDIN EN .CITE Britton2Kim W BrittonThe deification of creativity in relation to apos Frankenstein apos 2007No vember 42002http /www .kimwoodbridge .com /maryshel /bushi .shtml (Britton

Upon seeing his monster 's shriveled complexion , straight black lips and watery eyes , Dr . Frankenstein immediately flees the place , leaving the creature alone . This action shown by Victor symbolizes his denial of the mistake he has made . He is afraid of facing the monster he created that 's why he chose to flee . This can be compared to the way people react to their mistakes and shortcomings , whether they are going to face it and correct it accordingly , or deny it , escape from the truth , and flee from responsibilities . This also shows that Dr . Victor Frankenstein is irresponsible , and that he lacks the courage to make up for his mistakes . At this point , Frankenstein 's monster is not responsible for anything , for he is just the product of Victor 's mistakes ADDIN EN .CITE SparkNotes .com20067 7712SparkNotes .comFrankenstein Themes , Motifs and Symbols2007November 42006http /www .sparknotes .com /lit /frankenstein /themes .html (SparkNotes .com

Dr . Victor Frankenstein 's initial reaction could also be a symbol of a father fleeing from an unwanted child . He is afraid of any responsibilities whatsoever regarding his monstrous creation that 's why he went away , not minding what would happen to the creature he has given life to . With this reaction , it is possible that the unwanted child could develop hatred towards his parents , or in this case , towards Victor . He left a seemingly helpless ' creature to fend for himself with no one to guide him and teach him what is right and wrong

We could trace the monster 's evil deeds from the initial reaction of Dr . Frankenstein . Despite his appearance , Frankenstein 's monster was large , ugly creature , but his mind was like that of a child . He has no idea about the world he lives in and how people would treat creatures like him . What he needed that time was a guardian a guide who can direct him with his actions , teach him about what is right and what is wrong ADDIN EN .CITE U .S . National Library of Medicine2U .S National Library of Medicine ,The Birth of Frankenstein2007November 42002http /www .nlm .nih .gov /hmd /frankenstein /frank_birth .html (U .S . National Library of Medicine

Instead of guiding his creation , Dr . Victor Frankenstein went away leaving everything behind . What he didn 't know was that his creation is capable of developing emotions about the things around him . He may be monstrously large and ugly , but he can also feel . With no one to turn to , Frankenstein 's monster learned to live a life full of fear and hatred , anger and disapproval . These feelings were the emotions he developed with his interaction with different kinds of people . They feared his size and appearance , driving him away from one place to another , with some of them even attempting to kill him . This reaction from the society has driven him to fight and defend himself , creating a lot of damage and destruction wherever he goes

Recurring Metaphors in the Novel

There are several metaphors which have been recurring throughout the novel . These metaphors are repeated in to remind the audience of prevailing issues between the characters of the story , mainly of Dr Frankenstein and his monster

Sickness

One of the recurring metaphors in the novel Frankenstein ' is sickness . Here , we see various characters growing sick because of severe stress caused by problems . This is evident in the main character , Dr Victor Frankenstein who grew ill after he created the monster Throughout the process of creating his monster , he secluded himself from other people , only to find out that what he created was unacceptable : he breathed life to a something which he can 't handle . When he went away from his creation , he grew ill and was under treatment for more than a year ADDIN EN .CITE Novelguide .com19993 3312Novelguide .comFrankenstein Metaphor Analysis2007November 41999http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /metaphoranalysis .html (Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Metaphor Analysis

This metaphor tells us that despite all the efforts to give life to a beautiful creation , he ends up giving life to a monster . His illness could signify that what he did was wrong , and that it foreshadows further disastrous events . These events occurred at almost a snap of a finger , just when Victor recovered from all the stress that bothers him The series of disastrous events started when his brother was killed which he suspects was done by the monster . This has triggered other characters to grow sick as well , like his father and mother . Victor further suffered from severe illness when his best friend , Clerval , was also killed

But for Dr . Victor Frankenstein , this sickness serves as an escape from the harsh realities of his life . When he created the monster , his health failed him and he was under treatment for a long time . It gave him a fresh start from all the problems he has created . He unknowingly succumbs to poor health in to escape the guilt and the problems that is being caused by his monster . This has ended however , when the monster finally got to his family . Its revenge is inevitable : it 's out to get everyone that Dr . Frankenstein loves in to make him suffer to make him feel what it 's like to be hated , to be alone , and to be left by the one person who created you

After all the sufferings that Dr . Victor Frankenstein received from his monster , he would eventually have to accept the fact that he is dying Despite his illness , he still waged his own war against his creation especially when it killed his best friend and his bride . He spent the last part of his life following the trail of his monstrous creation , no matter where it takes him . The monster took the chase literally to the ends of the Earth , up to the Arctic Circle , where Captain Walton finds the sickly Dr . Frankenstein . He finally finds peace when he dies , where even his monstrous creation was saddened by his death . Frankenstein 's monster promised to join him in his death by committing suicide by burning himself . Up to the end of the story , the illness metaphor still served as his escape from the harsh realities of life

Weather /nature

Another metaphor that was shown throughout the novel was the weather /nature . In this novel , weather has been used to foreshadow coming events , especially those miserable ones being brought about by Dr . Frankenstein 's monster . When bad weather usually comes in the story there is an impending danger in someone 's life . This happened to some characters related to Dr . Frankenstein . Frankenstein 's monster has extended his vengeance to the people close to Victor ADDIN EN .CITE Novelguide .com19993 3312Novelguide .comFrankenstein Metaphor Analysis2007November 41999http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /metaphoranalysis .html (Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Metaphor Analysis

This foreshadowing by the weather has been evident with what happened to Victor 's youngest sibling , William . There was a storm the night the child was murdered by other than Frankenstein 's creation . The death has started the chain of disasters that happened to Victor 's family When William died , the one put to blame was put to the family 's beloved maid . Victor knows that she 's not at fault , but he can 't do anything or else his creation and his mistake will be discovered

This metaphor of the weather is also manifested by both Dr Frankenstein and his monster . Both of them have high spirits during the warm weather . This similarity indicates certain alikeness ' between the creator and the creation . This could be seen as Victor 's shortcomings towards his creation . Despite the humongous size and horrible appearance , the monster was still capable of feeling various emotions . Victor created the monster the best way he can , and has devoted all his time in to breathe life into it . He jumped into conclusion about it being evil . But if he has devoted time to teach the monster about what 's right and wrong , he could have corrected his own mistakes . The similarity between the two shows that the creature was a manifestation of his creator . It was the hands of Victor Frankenstein that brought it to life

Various elements of nature also affect Dr . Frankenstein 's emotions . For him , the Alps is a good place for self reflection , a good place to heal and relax , and to deeply understand what he feels . He awakens spiritually because of the place he is in . On the other hand , the cold weather in the arctic north brings nothing but depression and the thoughts of death . In the novel , he died in a boat sailing the Arctic Circle . This could mean that despite the depression and other hurtful emotions that he felt because of the cold weather , it was still his last means of escape . Death provided him his much needed rest . It was the only way to solve his problems he was unable to keep up with his chase for his monster , but when he finally finds peace , Frankenstein 's monster was the one who approached him and gave him the best solution for the problem . Despite all the evil deeds that the monster has given his creator , he found it pointless to live if your only reason for living already passed away . Despite the monstrosity , there are still traces of human affection and emotions left inside Frankenstein 's monster

The monster metaphor

Another metaphor evident in the novel is the monster created by Dr Victor Frankenstein . The monster himself serves as a metaphor to his creator 's life . Throughout the novel , we see that both these characters are each other . The monster is chasing Dr . Frankenstein for vengeance in to make him feel the pains of being alone , being an outcast being neglected by the person who created you . On the other hand , Dr Frankenstein literally chased his monster to the ends of the Earth in to correct his mistakes . Frankenstein 's monster has done a lot of damage in has life and has caused a lot of destruction to other people ADDIN EN .CITE SparkNotes .com20067 7712SparkNotes .comFrankenstein Themes , Motifs and Symbols2007November 42006http /www .sparknotes .com /lit /frankenstein /themes .html (SparkNotes .com

From the very beginning , the monster received nothing but neglect from the people around him . The human society does not accept anything like him , that 's why anywhere he goes , he gets chased away by people . With these feelings of neglect and indifference from the people , he develops fear from the human society . With these feelings of fear towards the people , he develops feelings of hatred and anger towards is creator . He becomes hostile and dangerous , and was looking for revenge from everything he has suffered . But unknowingly , he shares these feelings with other than Victor Frankenstein . His actions greatly affected Victor , starting from the loss of a brother , to the loss of his parents then his friend then finally his bride . All the sufferings being experienced by the monster as he goes through his life is equally being suffered by his creator . The monster 's quest for vengeance was a success , but it didn 't end there

Unknowingly , Dr . Victor Frankenstein has just become like the monster himself . They are interrelated no matter how we see it , and opened the doors for Victor himself to act just like the way his monster acted . He isolated himself from the people who loves him , and went on a quest to finally settle the score with his creations . His heart was full of anger and vengeance , and he wouldn 't stop until he finally solves his problem He chases his monster up to the Arctic Circle where he finds eternal peace in his deathbed . He continued to look for his monster until his body wasn 't able to take any more sufferings . Death for him was a favor granted by his body . With his creator gone , Frankenstein 's monster found no sense in living . We all know that the latter part of is existence , he used to torment Victor . But with Victor gone , there is also no reason for him to exist in the cruel world he lives in ADDIN EN .CITE Novelguide .com20074 4412Novelguide .comFrankenstein Theme Analysis2007November 42007http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /themeanalysis .html (Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Theme Analysis

In the novel , there are various symbolisms which tell about the current society that the author , Mary Shelley , lives in . These symbols may be obviously placed in the novel or just has its subtle meanings . With these symbols , we could be able to tell how the monster developed hatred towards man and his creator ADDIN EN .CITE SparkNotes .com20067 7712SparkNotes .comFrankenstein Themes , Motifs and Symbols2007November 42006http /www .sparknotes .com /lit /frankenstein /themes .html (SparkNotes .com

One of the symbols evident was the pursuit of knowledge . Pursuit of knowledge in this novel is somehow being discouraged , and it is more on promoting that ignorance is bliss . At the beginning , we see how Victor Frankenstein struggled to come up with a living creation . His task is considerably god-like , since giving life to a non-living thing or creature is surely outside norms of human understanding . Victor Frankenstein is merely living up to his dreams , wherein he dreams to come up with a living beautiful creation from the slabs of limbs and other body parts he gathered from different places . To a common observer , this feat that Victor Frankenstein wishes to attain is insanity . But he was able to give life to his creation , despite his disappointment that his creation didn 't turn up to be what he expected it to be . Because of his curiosity , eagerness and hunger for knowledge Victor Frankenstein was able to defy what others dictated him to follow His actions were like that of God , the giver of life ADDIN EN .CITE Novelguide .com20074 4412Novelguide .comFrankenstein Theme Analysis2007November 42007http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /themeanalysis .html (Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Theme Analysis

But Mary Shelley lived in a time where human reason through the use of science and technology greatly challenged the existing understanding of how things have always worked . It challenged the religious beliefs at that time , that is why it is better to remain ignorant than to doubt what others perceive as the reality . It is better to turn a deaf ear than to stand out and question how most of the people understands things . Mary Shelley , along with others in her time believed that the mysteries of nature , including the creation of life itself , should be left alone and not duplicated

Frankenstein 's monster was the proof of man 's follies , where it shows why we should not play God ' Even though we are capable of duplicating his feats of giving life to lifeless creations , we shouldn 't do so because we don 't have a full grasp of how things work here in our environment . Frankenstein 's monster is the embodiment of man 's futile attempt to imitate God . Despite the success in breathing life to a lifeless creature , we are unable to handle our own creations , just like what was shown by Dr . Frankenstein

Another symbolism evident in Mary Shelley 's novel was the physical appearance of Frankenstein 's monster . He was created different , despite being composed of mostly human body parts . He stands way above the normal height , that 's why many people feared him . His face was yellowish and pale , the color of the skin of those who have been long dead . But the appearance of Frankenstein 's monster is not just a superficial feature . Mary Shelley used the monster 's hideous characteristics to show how the people during that time showed human injustice to outsiders ADDIN EN .CITE Novelguide .com20074 4412Novelguide .comFrankenstein Theme Analysis2007November 42007http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /themeanalysis .html (Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Theme Analysis . Just because he is different , he has been treated by others badly . He tried helping other people , but despite all his efforts , he was still chased away . He showed that he has no evil intentions at first , but because of what the people did , he developed the sense that these people are evil

Nobody wanted Frankenstein 's monster , and he has been neglected by his creator . Because of this , he has no choice but to defend himself . He realized that everyone has a fair chance for survival , but if these people chose to do those horrible things to him , he can repay these deeds by doing it back at them . He killed a lot of people just to make his creator suffer , but in his creator 's deathbed , he finally shows that there is still that trace of humanity left in him . He chose to die by burning himself , and vowed not to do anything evil again . His main purpose for existence has passed away , that 's why it is useless for him to go on living and be tormented by others more

Works Cited

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Allingham , Philip V "Mary Shelley 's "Frankenstein (1818 ) -- a Summary of Modern Criticism . 2002 . November 4 2007 br

ADDIN EN .REFLIST Britton , Kim W "The Deification of Creativity in Relation to 'Frankenstein . 2002 . November 4 2007 http /www .kimwoodbridge .com /maryshel /bushi .shtml

Callis , Michael "The Art and Legends . 2003 . November 4 2007 br

Grant , M . L "Frankenstein . 1995 . November 4 2006 br

Lawless , Stephanie " The Making of a Monster - Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein . 2007 . November 4 2007 http /www .threemonkeysonline .com /threemon_articleshelley_frankenstein_m aking_monsters .htm

Monstrous .com "The Frankenstein Monster . 1998 . November 4 2007 br

Moraine Valley "Frankenstein : Penetrating the Secrets of Nature 2000 . November 4 2007 br

Novelguide .com "Frankenstein Metaphor Analysis . 1999 . November 4 2007 http /www .novelguide .com /frankenstein /metaphoranalysis .html

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SparkNotes .com "Frankenstein Themes , Motifs and Symbols . 2006 November 4 2007 http /www .sparknotes .com /lit /frankenstein /themes .html

U .S . National Library of Medicine "The Birth of Frankenstein . 2002 November 4 2007 http /www .nlm .nih .gov /hmd /frankenstein /frank_birth .html...