Frankenstein Revenge

In her novel ?Frankenstein?, Mary Shelley shows that both Frankenstein and his creature are obsessed with revenge through their strong emotional language and obsessive actions, yet neither of them wins and gets revenge in the end. After Victor Frankenstein is threatened by the creature after destroying his nearly complete bride, Frankenstein states that he “?burned with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me” (Shelley 173).

Shelley uses evocative words such as “burning” to show the reader how emotion filled and strongly Frankenstein feels about wanting revenge on the creature. Furthermore, Frankenstein is pacing around his room contemplating what action to take, as one who is obsessed is wont to do. The creature’s portrays these features as well. After setting the de Lacey’s cottage aflame and beginning his journey toward Frankenstein’s home, the creature says “The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart. Snow fell, and the waters were hardened, but I rested not” (Shelley 142). Again, Shelley uses fiery verbiage to display a need for revenge. The creature also has obsessive tendencies when he is so consumed by his pursuit of revenge that he does not sleep at all. Finally, neither Frankenstein nor his creature win in their revenge.

After Frankenstein has died and Walton finds the creature with his corpse, the creature says “You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself” (Shelley 224). Frankenstein does not get his revenge because he dies before he can kill his creature. The creature seems to get his revenge due to the death of Frankenstein, yet he actually becomes miserable and morose. He hates himself for all the harm that he has done and realizes that his whole pursuit of revenge was meaningless.

In Mary Shelley’s novel ?Frankenstein?, the creature’s moral ambiguity is significant to the plot. After telling his story to Frankenstein, the creature says “If any being felt emotions of benevolence toward me, I should return them an hundred and an hundredfold” (Shelley 148). The creature is kind and caring by nature, and he wishes to bestow his kindness on humanity. However, he is shown nothing but hatred from mankind. After Frankenstein initially refuses the creature’s request, the creature reveals that “I am malicious because I am miserable” (Shelley 147). Although the creature is loving, he cannot show that love because no one will return it. Consequently, he turns to hatred and malcontentedness. Without the creature’s ambiguous and conflicting morals, he never would have sought revenge on Victor Frankenstein and killed so many of his loved ones.

At this point the monster has been driven away from the family he felt he was very close to and was feeling intense anger and resentment. He says that he wants to tear up all the trees and destroy things but he says this quote by saying he doesn’t have enough energy to do so. I would be unable to endure the amount of exertion it would take me to go on the rampage I really want to go on due to my very drained energy so I lay on the grass sulking in my own resentment. The lesson that the monster learned is that he now thinks that all humans are inherently evil and will always discriminate against him, cause anger and resentment to fill his heart, leading to the events that occur later in the book such as murder.   

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