Internal Conflict of Victor Frankenstein
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Internal Conflict of Victor Frankenstein
Mary Shelley uses Victor Frankenstein's production of a monster to convey the main character's internal conflict concerning the corruption of his creature. Victor feels intense responsible for the deaths that have occurred, and fear of his monster's constant pursuit of revenge. Eventually this emotional state of distress leads him to a state of delirium and, later, to a status of obsession concerning the death of this evil being he has created.
Against his initial feelings of doubt, Victor creates his monster only to find that his experiment is hideous and destructive. Frankenstein finds himself "…capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter" (Shelley 51) and yearns to create a living being, thus becoming equal with God. To Victor's dismay, the creature he produces for the betterment of society reveals an evil demeanor and continues this malevolence by murdering members of his family and friends. "…I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption." (53) Shelley allows Victor to state the previous line to show that he knows his creature will be full of wickedness merely because he states that death has "devoted the body to corruption", yet he fears his creation for this very reason.
An additional example of Mr. Frankenstein's confusion towards the monster is the scene involving the creature's desire for of a female companion similar to his own image. Frankenstein fears for his loved ones and for his own existence and wishes to create a partner for his creation, yet does not wish to repeat his previous mistake by generating another individual of iniquity or spurring the monster towards accomplishing additional homicide. "Three years before…I had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse." (158) "…but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me." (159) His state of bewilderment concludes, for the time being, in the destruction of the monster's female counterpart.
Shelley uses Victor's state of delirium to portray his deep sense of shame and responsibility for the deaths of those around him. His remorse increases because most people believe him to be insane or extremely ill when he proclaims his guilt and count his words as part of his delusions. Because he has produced this hideous monster, Victor feels accountable for its actions. When his brother William dies, Frankenstein cannot be present but wishes he could force himself to announce the truth of Justine's innocence before his family so she can regain her freedom. The emotional struggle is evident in that Frankenstein strongly desires to rectify the crimes committed by explaining the truth, although he refrains from offering his own culpability. "A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman…" (78) Again, after the assassination of Henry Clerval, Victor announces his fault to his father, who "appeared to consider it as the offspring of delirium…" (177) "I am the cause of this…William, Justine, and Henry-they all died by my hands." (176) It is another source of internal conflict that Victor considers his honest proclamations of disgrace to be the "ravings of a madman" and after Henry's death, his own father embraces the same opinion.
Victor's inner turmoil leads to his incessant fear of the monster's next action and dread of who will be the next victim. "…for supremely frightful would be the affect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous…Creator of the world. His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away from his odious handiwork, horror-stricken." He chases the creature that pursues him, both with the same intentions of revenge. (Author's Introduction xi) The selfish desire to gain glory for his scientific experiment places mental and emotional discord in the life of Victor Frankenstein because his greed leads to the corruption of his creation and Victor cannot destroy the evil he has bestowed upon the world.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary. Author's Introduction. Frankenstein. New York: Signet Classic. 1978. vi-xii
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Signet Classic. 1978. [/b] |
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