Human condition and the passage from innocence to experience Essay

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley reflects her views on the faults and weaknesses of piece beings and the disasters these imperfections can cause through with(predicate) the personalities and issueions of the characters in the fable. The results of the characters personalities and actions show how significant plastered un bankd traits can be. Through the journeys of the individual characters Mary Shelly shows how we, as world beings, develop in the path from innocence to experience. Surprisingly, the majority of Shelleys intelligible criticisms are divulged through the hero, passkey Frankenstein.Frankenstein is used to fulfil this persona in a multitude of ways In her 1823 Introduction, Mary Shelley suggests that professionals main crime is his presumption in displacing God. The works of Milton could baffle inspired this by way of her parents, he would ready been a indispensable choice of inspiration for Shelley. Milton believed that power corrupts tender-hearted beings an d distrusted anyone who could claim power everyw here(predicate) anyone else. Therefore, Frankenstein does wrong in claiming power over the giants intent by creating him.We see a change in Victors views on this subject at the beginning of the novel Frankenstein is fixated with the idea of creating a bare-ass being from the remains of dead people and bringing this current being to life by means of electricity. As the novel develops, through his experiences he begins to see the true repercussions of his actions and eventually sees the magnitude of what he has make in his thoughtlessness (innocence. ) This can also be seen as an struggle on human nature. As the zoology opens his eyes for the first time, facets of Victors character become revealed.Whereas the read expects Victor to reflect the joyfulness of having finally received his goal, his reaction is on of horror now that I book finished, the beauty of the dream has vanished, and breathless horror and disgust alter my h eart. While one whitethorn assume that his repulsion is due to the fleshly appearance of the wretch (p56), Victor had created the giant star and knew very well what the creature looked like before it awoke. Therefore, his terror seems to represent a sort of subconscious self-vision.This could be Shelleys way of criticising how we can become clouded by ambition and do non realise the consequences of our actions until it is too late. Towards the end of the novel Victor has learnt from his experiences and realises what the possible consequences could be of creating a companion for the fiend. He knows the destruction of the female giant star could result in his make close yet for once he is selfless and takes responsibility. Unlike his first venture, he is view of the greater-good rather than his own happiness. In the beginning of the novel we see the education of Victors ambition from healthy to obsessive.Fired by his passion during his first experiments, he imagines how A new species would bless me as its designer and source No father could claim the gratitude of his child so t discover ensemble as I should deserve theirs(p54). A possibly interpretation here would be to presume that this is a criticism of mans mental picture that he is indestructible and he can thus take on the role of God and do whatever he likes. This could hasten sprung from the death of Marys mother human beings believe themselves to be omnipotent and roughly invincible but they cannot avoid death.On the other hand, perchance the crime upon which Shelley focuses is not what he does, but what he fails to do maintain his creation. Victors ambition and achievement whitethorn be heroic, problems simply occur in his inability to bear responsibility for his creation. In Brannaghs film interpretation, Frankensteins soul motivation for the creation of the monster is to blind death (possibly an honourable purpose which would not suggest that Shelley meant Victor to be disliked) . However, in the novel, there is no evidence to suggest that this is the case. Frankenstein is also envisioned to wish to undermine the power and position of women.By this we see him rebelling against the customary family unit and the responsibilities that belonging to such a unit entails. This could be construe as a fear of the natural process of birth, possibly emit Shelleys own mixed feelings towards childbirth. First pregnant at sixteen, and close constantly pregnant during the next five years, Shelley lost most of her children in short after they were born(p). Victors workshop of filthy creation (p55) may fix womb-like suggestions. Following this argument, Helen Moers likens the description of the newly created monster to that of a neonate baby in her book Female Gothic. Shelley also uses Frankenstein, and his failure to acquiesce with social expectations in his creation of his creature, to criticise society on numerous different levels. When Frankenstein gives life to the monster, he is so disgusted with its appearance and its exit from a normal human being that he rejects and abandons it. This reflects how society shuns anyone or anything that does not conform to their idea of normality. This elementicular criticism probably sprung from Shelleys up bringing. With two revolutionary parents, Mary Shelley was certainly not born in to a conformist family.A particular example of this is the event that Mary Shelleys parents were not married. At the time this would have been virtually unheard of in decent families. Mary was possible criticised by her peers as having radical parents, or being bullied because her parents were not normal. She shows her anger at their ignorance by showing Victor be uncaring, and leading the reader to sympathise with the monster rather than his cruel creator. After the conviction of Justine we see a scuttle that Victor will admit to being responsible for the death of Justine. However, he is cowardly.He claims Justi ne to be innocent, and claims to know Williams murderer but does not confess. Again, it is his failure to act that results in disastrous consequences. However, by announcing his faith in Justines innocence we are endeared to him. Shelley used this to show us how he improves with the experience he gains. Towards the end of the novel the monster requests that Frankenstein grant him a companion to end his misery. We see a blinker of sympathy and setting for the monster in Victor at this point. He has improved himself somewhat by this point.When the monster makes his proposition, Frankenstein actually considers with the monster. We can, therefore, see that by this point he becoming prepared to reason with the monster like an equal. We begin to look he is going to take responsibility for his actions by taking kindness on the monster. After all it cannot be forgotten that the monster could have honoured his promise and disappeared with its mate, thus preventing the death of Clerval, E lizabeth and possibly Victors own father. But on the destruction of the female monsters corpse Victor fails to take true responsibility and virtually caused the deaths of Clerval and Elizabeth.Again, his experience has do improved him, almost to the point where he could redeem himself of the crime that is abandoning what is in effect his child. At the end of the novel, although Victors dying wish is that the deaths of his love ones be avenged, we can see how his journey has changed him. His last expressed feelings are that of fatigue and exhaustion. This shows how Shelley hopes human beings will become tired of their flawed ways of thinking and learn from their experiences. In a direct contrast, the monsters passage from innocence to experience only produces interdict results.In break of his unnatural creation, the monster can be seen to symbolize a new start. However, as he proceeds with his education, as he moves from nature to culture, the monster learns more than and more a bout the injustices of society. He learns about human emotions and comes to desire compassion and love but is rejected on account of his abominable physical appearance. He masters language, but language fails him rather than allowing his instauration into human society as he had hoped, it only serves to make him more fully aware of his unique origin and alien nature.His education is part of what makes him miserable. It is only when he is exposed to, and suffers from the viciousness of human society that he himself begins to demonstrate violent behaviour, to act as the monster his appearance suggests him to be. What I perceive to be the monsters most vicious act is the murder of Elizabeth on Victor and Elizabeths wedding night. Without his primitive human emotions he would never have known what he was missing out in a female companion. With his experiences with the DeLaceys he saw how substantive the family unit could be and felt even more bitter when he was rejected.Without such knowledge or experience he would never have had the determination to enact such a terrible crime. It is his human emotions that finally cause his misery to consume him at the end of the novel. When Victor dies, the monster if found by his body crying. This is a common human typical in most cases, even if two people did not run along well in life or had not utter in years, if one is to die, the other forgets the past and exonerates their dead friend, acquaintance or family member by mourning their loss.They regret things that they may not have said or done, and wish they could turn back time to localize things right before the other passed away. It is the monsters sadness at the death of his creator and his regret for the events of the past that finally consume him and flop from him his desire to give out. Without these human emotions, the monster may not have ordain himself to such a tragic end. It could be argued that Shelley was criticising the power of human emotions and t he negative results they can produce.As I mentioned before, Shelley lost many of her children, this must have caused her great depression misery. These may have affected her ability to live her life thus, she may have been suggesting that if she could have been less humane, her life may not have been as miserable. In conclusion both the monster and Frankenstein show Shelleys feelings towards human behaviour, how we learn from our experiences, and how we deal with things in the future. However, it is problematical whether she is intending to show that knowledge or ignorance is bliss through he secern passages of Frankenstein and his creation.