The ego does not differentiate between right and wrong, but rather seeks a realistic, and the most feasible, avenue for instant gratification. Because Frankenstein eschewed social conventions and moral behavior and thought, it can thus be argued that he is driven by his ego and is devoid of a superego -- or there is an unbalance thereof -- because the superego's function is control the id's impulses and lead to the formation of an idealized self (McLeod)
Frankenstein is driven by his thirst for knowledge, which encouraged him to further study the works of "natural philosophers" like Cornelius Agrippa, Paracelsus, and Albertus Magnus. Guided by these philosophers, Frankenstein "entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained [his] undivided attention" (Shelley)
Indeed, the fact that the tale itself is framed by the epistolary form conveys the sense that it is meant to be a kind of cautionary tale. Caution is the subject of Walton's first letter to his sister, which is itself a response to her fear that her brother might come to some harm in such a place as the North Pole: "You will rejoice to heart that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings" (Shelley 17)
The secrecy in both tales brought destruction in the end to the point of death. 'Victor's secrecy caused him to be alienated from any social society; including people he loved (Shelley, 2003)
Victor realized in the end that no matter where he went, the monster would haunt him because the creature felt abandoned from its creator. Even though Arthur was not told about his father's affair, he inherited all the battles that had stemmed from the affair (White)
The writer actually has her readers learn that it was because of their devotement to gain knowledge that Frankenstein and the monster eventually came to experience distress. It is very probable that Shelley wanted to show education as a pharmakon, as she considered that it produces both pleasure and torment to those who undergo the process (Chao, 224)
While most readers are likely to blame Frankenstein for most unfortunate events in the book, it is actually society that should be held responsible for his behavior. People in the late eighteenth century were apparently more supportive in regard to knowledge than they were concerning reason (Lunsford, 174)
God intends that every parent should delight over his or her child and to accept and rear that child in love. But Victor is completely repulsed by the odious looks of his creature from the start so much that he falls sick (Claridge 2002)
Victor begins to acquiesce to the plea, but only momentarily, because he soon comes upon himself that this creature will duplicate its race and he will have no part in it, so he destroys the second creature before he can finish it. Victor is 17 when he leaves his home in Switzerland to study in Ingolstadt, full of optimism and conceit, and shortly, he discovers the secret to creating life (Thompson 2004)
It even demands Victor to make him a female companion. Victor's lack of natural domestic affection for the creature has very dire consequences for both of them and other people around them (Waxman 2003)
It can be hypothesized that Victor's unconscious self was the monster, and perhaps, the monster only existed in the mind of Victor as a way to control the horror of what he himself really wanted to do but in the civilized world could not. And so, he created a creature. (Brasier, Keri
The constant rejection and feeling of alienation received by the monster cause it to become destructive and evil. (Collings, David
As a result, human emotion is in conflict and the human consciousness is haunted. (Abrams 879) J
. Gothic fiction usually takes place in an ancient castle or abbey whose owner discovers his noble line is doomed, usually because some past misdemeanor has caused the family to be cursed" (Ashley 147)
He is truly countercultural, an alternate force, almost mythical in his embodiment of the burdens and sins of society. (Frederick 235-274) Shelley is different however, in that instead of holding the reader's attention through "suspense or dread" she attacks the reader frontally with events that shock or disturb him
The Gothic novel includes magic and mystery; horrors abound, while ghosts, castles, and charnel houses take part in adding to the mood of terror. The true Gothic novel creates an "atmosphere of brooding and unknown terror" (Holman)
Many typical elements of the Gothic novel appear in Frankenstein, including graveyards, murders, elaborate Continental settings, and young innocent women who become victims. (Levine) and it has also been described as "a romance of a peculiar interest" (London Morning Post)
(Levine) and it has also been described as "a romance of a peculiar interest" (London Morning Post). One theme that appears in nearly all Gothic is that of the "outsider" (Ozolins 104)
The true Gothic novel creates an "atmosphere of brooding and unknown terror" (Holman). In addition, Gothic fiction is usually characterized by "a chronic sense of apprehension" (Tracy 1981)
This can be seen in the relationship between Victor and the creature, as the desolate landscape of the Arctic can be seen. "This breeze, which has traveled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste of those icy climes," remarks Walton, which is later seen in Victor's description of the rise to Montanvert, "the sea, or rather the vast river of ice, wound among its dependent mountains, whose aerial summits hung over its recesses" (Shelley 81)