Essay: Frankenstein

There are different ideas regarding nature. John Keats mentions nature in his letter and refers to it as being evil and good. The novel Frankenstein refers to nature as being evil and good. These two sources given to us are very similar. Nature can be defined in many ways. Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and Frankenstein’s monster are surrounded by loneliness.

 

Walton leaves his sister in order fulfill his dream of going to the north to discover new lands. Walton writes to his sister saying, “If I succeed, many, many months, perhaps years, will pass before you and I may meet. If I fail, you will see me again soon, or never”(Shelley, 10). Walton explains that he might not get to see her depending on the journey. As you read Walton second letter he describes his feelings. “I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine, …, but I bitterly feel the want of a friend”(Shelley, 11). He desires to have a friend that will share the same emotions he does when he gets to his destination. Walton feels that the crew members are not as passionate about their journey. Walton believes that is in solitude because of his decisions. Walton tells himself, “It is a still greater evil to me that I am self-educated: for the first fourteen years of my life I ran wild on a common”(Shelley, 11). Walton from a young age has been in solitude. He self-educated himself. Separated himself from human contact. At a young age, Walton preferred solitude. “I greatly need a friend who would have a sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavor to regulate my mind”(Shelley, 12). But in his journey, he feels the need to have someone share his same passion. Walton’s passion for going to the North Pacific Ocean. During his journey encounters a man named Victor Frankenstein, and realize they share similar dreams. Both of these characters are lonely because of their decisions.

Victor Frankenstein’s loneliness made him create a monster to have a friend. Elizabeth writes to Victor telling him that she knows he has changed because of his solitude. Elizabeth writes to Victor saying, “I hope to see peace in your countenance and to find that your heart is not totally devoid of comfort and tranquility”(Shelley, 181). Elizabeth knows that he is having a horrific time and he has changed drastically. Elizabeth is afraid that because of Victor’s journey has made him become another man and will no longer marry her. Elizabeth writes to Victor and tells him, “I confess to you, my friend, that when I saw you last autumn so unhappy, flying to solitude, from society of every creature, I would not help to suppose that you might regret our connection”(Shelley, 182). She writes to him explaining that she wants to keep Victor’s parents promise of the two getting married. Elizabeth believes that his journey has made him want to be in solitude. Victor creates a monster in order to fulfill his solitude.

Frankenstein’s monster feels lonely because his creator does not create him a partner. The monster asked Frankenstein, “Shall each man, cried he, find a wife for his bosom, and each beat have his mate, and I be alone”(Shelley, 162). The monster feels lonely and desires to have a companion. The monster does not like solitude but he has no option. The monster tells Frankenstein, “I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn”(Shelley, 162). The monster sees himself as Adam and as the devil. He’s Adam because he was created, but he sees himself as the devil because of how Victor leaves him after creating him.

When you read Keats letter you can see how the novel Frankenstein is very similar. Regarding the monster, we see a quote that says, “Suppose a rose to have sensation, it blooms on a beautiful morning it enjoys itself — but there comes a cold wind, a hot sun — it cannot escape it, it cannot destroy its annoyances”(Keats, 249). This quote talks about how evil exists in the world and there is nothing we can do to stop coming. It uses a rose as an example, but we can relate it to a person. Frankenstein’s monster is miss judged. Victor Frankenstein destroys the monster’s dream of having a loved one.

The monster is harmless unless he is treated in the wrong way. Victor tells his monster, “Begone, I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness”(Shelley, 162). The monster’s dreams are crushed by his own creator. If we see the monster and the flower we can see that if his environment is evil he will be evil and if the environment is good he will be good. There are different perspectives regarding nature.

Keats argues that everyone has their own perspective towards nature because of the experience they had. Keats talk about this how suffering helps a person build themselves up. Keats letters and the book Frankenstein share a hate for nature. The monster has no need to attack, but he had no choice but to defend himself. If a person is provoked, you as the provoker should know that there will be a reaction to your action. Society tends to be what shapes a person but we have the choice to follow or be our own leaders. Keats talks about how “Man is originally a poor forked creature subject to the same mischances as the beasts of the forest, destined to hardship and disquietude of some kind or other”(Keats, 248). This quote relates by showing us that people are the same as animals from the forest. Beast and humans are the same but we treat them differently. This relates to Frankenstein’s monster being mistreated by his own creator. Keats letters and Frankenstein are related because they talk about nature and nurture. Victor was raised in a loving family and did not show the same love to his creation. The monster did not receive love from his creator and become a destructor because of it. Keats talks about, “[Imagining] such happiness carried to an extreme – but what must it end in? -Death- and who could in such a case bear with death”(Keats, 249). We can relate this to when Frankenstein’s monster is willing to kill or destroy Victor if he’s unheard. Frankenstein’s monster is willing to kill his creator if it does not get what he wants. The monster just wants to feel love since Victor has only shown hate from the instant he was created. Keats talks about, “ Soul[s] distinguished from an Intelligence — there may be intelligences or sparks of the divinity in millions — but they are not Souls … till they acquire identities”(Keats, 249). We can relate this idea of souls to the monster. The monster has no identity because his creator leaves him. We cannot say that the monster has a soul because he has not been given an identity.