Upon completion of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there is always much debate over who bears the responsibility for the tragic events of the novel. And now, it is your turn to lend your voice to this timeless debate. In your humble opinion, who is responsible for all of the death and misery in the novel? Is it Victor? Is it the Wretch? Is it little William?
Pick a side and support your view with a MINIMUM of TWO CONCRETE examples from the novel. Be sure that your argument is convincing and contains the dreaded "textual evidence" as support!
The "most convincing" argument will earn and extra bonus (5 points) on the exam. Best of luck, my little wretches....
You really have to get rid of the hamster and those fish Mrs Silva, they're extra distracting.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, the reader gets to hear different sides of the story of Victor and his wretch. Although it is the Wretch who technically does all of the killing, I think Victor should be the one that the blame is laid upon. He jumped into this project not even considering all that could go wrong; that he would be creating LIFE, not just some science project. The Wretch turns out to have feelings and thoughts just like those of a human being--though technically he isn't "human". Due to this element, along with his huge stature and repulsive features, the Wretch becomes an outcast in society.
As the creator, Victor was the equivalent of a parent to the Wretch. He brought him into this world and it was his responsibility to give him the necessary life tools and skills to survive and, preferably, thrive. Nurturing and loving was a tremendous element in Victor's upbringing so it was somewhat surprising that he would deny another being such things.
The Wretch was left to completely fend for himself in a strange world which he knew absolutely nothing of. Despite his size, his mind and naivety were that of a baby with no guidance as to what he should do next:
"A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time: and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses." (105)
The wretch awakens and, for the first time, feels all of the sensations which we humans use every day. The minute the Wretch opened his eyes, it was like his birth. Everything around him was a brand new experience.
At first, the Wretch has a natural tendency towards love and caring:
"What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers..." (113)
The Wretch just wants to be a part of this gentle world, to have friends and family and people who care about him.
However, Victor's lack of guidance for this child-like being ultimately results in the gruesome deaths. After Victor runs away, the Wretch attempts to befriend many a human, but fails every time due to their shock and terror at his appearance. The creature is left friendless and lonely. Even the man who brought him into the world does not want him. The Wretch knows nothing but hate and loneliness and blames the human race for his misery. After the cottage-dwellers beat him out of the house, the Wretch says:
"...my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants, and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery." (139)
In the end, the Wretch was Victor's responsibility. If he had taken any kind of care to help the Wretch or teach him anything, all of this may have been avoided.
I spent thirty minutes trying to get the “new post” button to appear on the top of this page and my attempts were futile. Tampering with the website was actually quite infuriating and I almost went “wretch” on my computer, but then I had an epiphany and realized that I can just comment on this post.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to who is to blame for all the misery that was caused in the novel, I whole-heartedly believe that Victor is the creator of his own misfortune. I respect the opinions of those who believe the wretch is to blame, but after hearing their points of view, my devotion towards the wretch only strengthened. I personally, am very analytical, and I believe in cause and effect. Victor created the wretch (for reasons I will never comprehend), he then abandoned the wretch, the wretch felt “solitary and abhorred” (133), and then the wretch sought revenge. Therefore, Victor was the indirect source of calamity in the novel. I do not believe that the wretch was justified in his actions, however; mankind’s rejection of the wretch was the sole cause of the wretch’s atrocious undertakings. Moreover, Victor acknowledged that the wretch was an appalling creature before the completion of the wretch. However, that did not prevent Victor from carrying out the task of creating this superfluous creature.
The creation of the wretch was completely inessential. On page 54, Victor states, “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it. Although I possessed the capacity bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, with all its intricacies of fibers, muscles, and veins…”. Victor states that he approached the creation of the wretch with caution, but he never once states a reason for creating the wretch. His desire to create the wretch was most definitely ill-conceived. It was not until the wretch was in full animation that Victor realized the repercussions of his imprudent actions. Immediately after the wretch is brought to life, Victor states, “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (59). Victor knew that the wretch was an appalling creature, however; that did not deter him from continuing his pursuit of creating an unnecessary being. Most practical individuals discontinue their pursuits when they appear to be ineffectual, but Victor was too engulfed by his desires to accomplish his “great enterprise” to perceive that his experiments were ill-advised.
(the website put a limit on how many characters I could post so this is the continuation)
ReplyDeleteAlthough many people would argue that the wretch was the one who directly murdered a majority of the characters within the book, mankind’s(specifically Victor’s) reaction to the wretch was the catalyst for the wretch’s inhuman actions. When the wretch was first created, he was inherently good. However, immediately after his creation, Victor causes the wretch to feel unwelcome by fleeing from the wretch’s presence. Even with this experience in mind, the wretch still desires to be one with mankind. The wretch is empathetic towards mankind and even sacrifices his own comfort to satisfy mankind’s need. The wretch illustrates his compassion towards mankind on page 113. The wretch goes out of his way to assist the De Lacys by gathering wood, removing snow from their pathway, and abstaining from eating their food. However, after being rejected by both his creator and the remainder of society, the wretch becomes enraged and seeks revenge on his creator. Had the wretch received the proper love and care from his creator and the rest of society, the wretch would have remained inherently good. Victor’s abandonment of the wretch, causes the wretch to feel “solitary and abhorred”(133).
Furthermore, the wretch offered to leave Victor’s loved ones alone if Victor created a female companion for him. The wretch states that he and his female companion will remove themselves from society and live peacefully with one another. The wretch was willing to resolve his issues with Victor, but Victor rejected the wretch’s offer. This in turn, exasperated the wretch and caused him to seek revenge on Victor’s loved ones.
In keeping with the theme of cause and effect, it is evident that Victor is the indirect cause of the calamity within the novel. By creating an ill-conceived creature and then abandoning it, Victor enrages the creature that wreaks havoc on society. Had Victor welcomed and nurtured the wretch, the wretch would have remained inherently good.
Well, it appears the vast majority of the AP English students took the side of the wretch and blamed Victor for the death of the...well, everyone in Victor's life. Based on the fact that I enjoy being the devil's advocate and that this blog post is sinfully late, I'll have to say I disagree, I believe the wretch is fully responsible for what he did.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to look at examples in modern society, (Manson, Bundy, Gotti, Kaczynski, etc.) we see many people who come from broken homes and turn out to be killers. When these criminals were captured, we did not arrest the parents for "neglecting" them, nor did we punish them for creating these people. The wretch was the same case, he was not born a killer, however, violence did appeal to him as he experienced more hardship in his life. The wretch could have fled to the mountains where he would not harm anyone. The wretch had educated himself through Milton's work and other various texts, why couldn't he have chosed a life of enlightenment in order to escape from his wretchedness?
In the Wretch's case, he was born inherently good, as I believe most people are. Evil is simply a learned behavior from society and the few people who are born inhenrently bad. The wretch reached out for his master's hand upon its creation, yet it was disregarded and feared. How many times in life are we faced with trials that no one else can hold your hand through? How many hardships have we been forced to face alone? Does this mean we run away from the challenges we face and turn to violence as an outlet? No. We should all be able to face these challenges because if you are born inherently good, you are only going to positively affect your fate, no one else's.
Throughout my condemnation of the wretch, I have failed to counter the arguments posed by my classmates who have condemned Victor. Well, even though Victor was a poor, selfish sap, one cannot deny that he was simply living out his dream. Victor's life's work was in science and his desire to know more and explore the depths of human knowledge were actually admireable in a sense. How many of us have dreams...how many of us actually persue these dreams until we create our own wretch? Not everyone can create be a Victor and create a wretch, and not everyone can be a Mark Zuckerberg and invent Facebook. We all see the advent of Facebook as a glorious revolution in social networking, and we all love an excuse to put Justin Timberlake on the big screen. However, even as I'm typing this blog, I am simultaneously writing on Ebere Anokute's wall, tagging friends in the recent PMC album, and spitting game at biddies who don't like game being spat at them...nor do they like being called biddies for that matter hahaha. The point is that Facebook has become a distraction for many people, even though it is a great invention; it has its negative residual effects. This is how Victor's role should have been viewed: as Mark Zuckerberg of the 19th century.
Victor created life from death, however he did not have the resources to know this would turn out to be a horrible invention and a terrible strain on society. The wretch is fully to blame because in the end, we control our own fate.