examinationsoffrankenstein-blog

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In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, it is no secret that Victor Frankenstein is going through many traumatic events over the span of his existence. From seeing his own mother sacrifice her life so Elizabeth could live, to ultimately lose his whole family in the end, Victor never quite deals with the conflict that occurred over time, but instead runs from it. Victor is seen time and time again utilizing his obsessive nature to distract himself from the turmoil in his life while attempting to be fixated on something else. As the story progresses, more conflict arises, which makes Victor’s obsessive manor get stronger, ultimately leading to Victor’s downfall and death. Shelley illustrates the idea that people often find distractions in their lives to avoid facing their problems, shown through Victor choosing to run from his own personal demons.

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A Backstory of Victor Frankenstein’s Obsessive Nature

In order to understand why Victor runs from his inner conflict brought upon by himself and others, it is important to examine the events that established his obsessive nature early in his adolescence. Victor speaks of his childhood very highly, he says that his parents were present in his life and loving, so what could be the problem? Enter Elizabeth. When Alphonse and Caroline adopt Elizabeth as their own, Victor feels as if he is pushed to the side because he isn't receiving every single ounce of his parents attention anymore. Laura Claridge claims that “Victor insists upon remembering "the best of all possible worlds" is the psychological defense of an only child (as he was for a long time) who maintains a love/hate relationship with his parents because he senses that they share an affection that in some way excludes him.” Considering this information, we can see how these events in Victor’s childhood could have caused the start of Victor running from conflict. Because Victor felt neglect from his parents, he feels the need to find an escape, something that gives him joy, leading him to become obsessed with natural philosophy, and feeling the need to learn everything about it.

Another aspect that causes Victor to develop his obsessive nature is the way he is introduced to Elizabeth. Victor’s mother presents Elizabeth as a “gift”, representing that Elizabeth is his. When Victor’s mother takes in Elizabeth, “His mother tells him, "I have a pretty present for my Victor -- tomorrow he shall have it" (p. 35, emphasis mine). The child subsequently accepts Elizabeth as his "promised gift" and makes her his own possession (Claridge).” In order to cope with the lack of attention Victor receives from his parents now that Elizabeth is in the picture, he diverts himself by becoming completely and utterly obsessed with her, going as far to say, “All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own. (Shelley, 21)”

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The Disapproving Father

During his early teen years, Victor’s newfound interest in natural philosophy grows. Besides his family and especially Elizabeth, it is one thing in his life that he loves. Any parent would be overjoyed to know that their child has found something they love to learn, right? I guess not. Victor’s father, Alphonse attempts to crush Victor’s dreams of becoming a scientist of natural philosophy while he is ahead. "My dear Victor, do not waste your time upon this; it is sad trash (Shelley, 24)." Victor’s father is quite fast to shoot him down, while only getting as far as reading the title of the book that Victor showed him. Unsurprisingly, Victor did not stop studying natural philosophy and failed to face the new tension and conflict that is built between him and Alphonse. The act of Alphonse disapproving Victor’s studies made his passion even stronger. Laura Claridge proposes that Victor “...is thirteen, on the threshold of adolescence, when the struggle to break free of his parents and to become his own man begins in earnest. Not all fathers welcome their child's ascendant power, with its accompanying suggestion that their own is on the wane.” When we consider this, we can see that because of the lack of support that Victor gets from his father, Victor didn't have any guidance for what he should be studying, so he just went with what he knew and loved.

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This is a relationship between the conflict in Frankenstein and Victor’s obsessive behavior. As more conflict develops, Victor’s obsessive behavior heightens. 

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A Concerned Family

Fast forward to Victor’s college years, he studies at the University of Ingolstadt, more eager than ever to continue his education in natural philosophy. Even though at this point Victor is happy and content at university, it must be known that Victor left leaving conflict behind him. Victor fled from home shortly after the sudden death of his mother, leaving him no time to grieve his loss. In order to distract himself from his loss, he continues to submerge himself in his studies.

As Victor continues to focus on his studies, he learns more and more about natural philosophy to the point where he wants to take his learning to the next level. Victor decides to create human life, and starts to anticipate the joy his experiment will give him. Christina Todosow feels that “Frankenstein is excited about power and his control over human nature. However, the results of his experimentation turn loose into the world a “depraved wretch whose delight was in carnage and misery.’” Pondering Todosow’s examinations of Victor’s feelings before creating the Creature, it could be inferred that Victor may have had other motivations for wanting to start this rather large project, besides wanting to investigate more into natural philosophy. Frankenstein may have decided to start this experiment in order to fill a void within himself, yet another thing he does in order to distract himself from the conflict that is happening in his life. This is evident when he knowingly shuts out his whole family, which is the root of some occurrences of conflict. Victor reflects on this “And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me also to forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time. I knew my silence disquieted them, and I well remembered the words of my father: "I know that while you are pleased with yourself you will think of us with affection, and we shall hear regularly from you. You must pardon me if I regard any interruption in your correspondence as a proof that your other duties are equally neglected (Shelley, 41)." When Victor fails to reach out to his family, more conflict arises. The Frankenstein family is left worrying about Victor’s wellbeing and wondering why he has not contacted them.

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Here, a drawing of a young Victor Frankenstein is depicted. It was during his adolescence that he developed a passion for natural science. Little did he know at the time, learning natural science would just about be the worst mistake of Victor’s life. 

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Fleeing From His Creation

Here we see avoidance-avoidance conflict. Rohmat Anang Fakhruddin describes it as something that “involves two negative goals. This conflict makes an individual to choose between two unwanted goals. Both of the goals can be in the form of two repelling threats, fears or situations. If an individual may not choose either of them and try to escape, the consequence of the escape also can be harmful. In Frankenstein novel, this study finds there are some evidence that is categorized as avoidance-avoidance conflict.” After considering this information, we can see that Victor has to pick between two choices, both of which are negative, either confronting the Creature, even though he is fearful of his new creation or avoiding the Creature, and living with the fear that he could interrupt Victor’s life at any time. Yet again, Victor uses his obsessive nature to avoid the Creature, but this time obsessing over getting away from the Creature, instead of the creation of the Creature itself.

Now, Victor has gotten to the point of creating new life. He had some great expectations for his creation, but the results of it very much surprised him. Victor feels the opposite of how he thought he would. He expects to get joy out of the creation of the Creature, but instead, he is scared for his life. “The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep (Shelley, 43).” Here we see that Victor has to make a hard decision, to either confront the Creature, or flee from it. Ultimately, he decides to avoid the Creature. We see another point of conflict that develops, and Victor runs from it, as he puts his main focus on avoiding the Creature rather than to introduce him to the world that Victor brought him into.

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A Lost Brother

We then see another case of avoidance-avoidance conflict a bit later in the story. This one occurs when Victor comes to the conclusion that the Creature most likely ended the life of William, Victor’s brother. Nobody knows the truth of what happened except for Victor. “This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder. I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her. My tale was not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the world? (Shelley, 82)” Here we see that Victor is faced with two very difficult ways in which he could go with this situation. He could either explain himself and take responsibility for his creation, or let Justine take the consequences that Victor deserves. Spoiler alert: Victor takes the low and cowardly road and lets Justine falsely confess. In order to distract himself from the guilt and inner conflict he faces after the execution, Victor flees to the mountains in nature, which is his only safe place. “A tingling long-lost sense of pleasure often came across me during this journey. Some turn in the road, some new object suddenly perceived and recognized, reminded me of days gone by, and were associated with the lighthearted gaiety of boyhood. The very winds whispered in soothing accents, and maternal Nature bade me weep no more (Shelley, 90).” Victor utilizes nature as a way to avoid and cleanse him of the struggles he has been faced with.

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Mont Blanc: One location that Victor went to in order to distract himself from the conflict in his life. 

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Destroying His Creation

This leads us to our last piece of the puzzle. Victor is now setting out to finally get the revenge he wants on the Creature. The Creature kills Victor’s best friend, Henry Clerval, and now wife, Elizabeth. Not to mention, but Alphonse also dies of grief over Elizabeth. Victor is left alone, with his mind swarmed with thoughts of guilt, regret, and sadness...what shall he do about that? Well of course, Victor cannot just accept accept his wrongs, he has to hunt down the Creature to distract Victor from his hurting. “Scoffing devil! Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I give up my search until he or I perish; and then with what ecstasy shall I join my Elizabeth and my departed friends, who even now prepare for me the reward of my tedious toil and horrible pilgrimage! (Shelley, 204)” Victor’s words illustrate how determined and willing to avoid his real problems, so fixated on ending the life of the Creature until it ultimately kills Victor. Victor continuously used the Creature as a vehicle to obsess over in order to distract himself from the ongoing conflict that has taken place in his life.

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This is exactly what happens to Victor. He obsesses to the point where he is an insane and exhausted state. 

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Victor: More Human Than We Think

Throughout the events that take place in Frankenstein, Shelley continuously utilizes Victor’s obsessive behavior in order to act as an aid in distracting him from the conflict that arises between he and himself, the Creature, and his family. Through this motif, Shelley reveals that real people, are in ways very similar to Victor. Individuals of society often try to find vices to use to distract themselves from hurt or despair going on in their lives. For instance, this can be seen in substance abuse. Dr Tian Dayton explains it as, “Not only can they not quite face an evening without any “help,” but their own healthy coping strategies begin to atrophy through lack of use. And as they increasingly depend more and more on a substance to change their mood, their relationship with that substance comes to have a life of its own.” In ways, substance abuse relates to Victor. Victor relies on this substance, which is  his obsessive  distracted mind, in order to help him to avoid the things he should faced and conquered. Harmful or not, almost anyone you meet has probably acted in a way or done something in order to avoid conflict in their own lives. Surprisingly, Victor Frankenstein may not actually be a too far-fetched representation of the average human.

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Victor Frankenstein played a game with his obsession for practically his whole life. 

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Link to Annotated Bibliography

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15SiMMkEYgAdWT9UL1Ur11I-X-dzVjPRlGfkydswAWvY/edit

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Images Cited

“Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog.” Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog, Blogspot, frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2009/03/mer-de-glace.html.

“Obsession Is a Young Man's Game.” Picture Quotes, Picture Quotes, www.picturequotes.com/obsession-is-a-young-mans-game-quote-71051.

Woodhouse, Matthew P. “Matthewwoodhouse.” Matthewwoodhouse, Wordpress, 9 Aug. 2014, matthewwoodhouse.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/visiting-the-dark-hedges-please-read/.  

SubversiveGirlArt. “Penny Dreadful: Victor Frankenstein.” Deviantart.com, Deviant Art, 2014, subversivegirlart.deviantart.com/art/Penny-Dreadful-Victor-Frankenstein-492388345.