Frankenstein

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 10th grade April 2001

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Frankenstein Some critics have pointed out that one of the central themes of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is the theme of double character, as exemplified by Frankenstein's relationship with his creature. Mary Shelley binds her two main characters through the novel with a purpose to show the similarities and differences between them. Another doubling theme is the comparison of Victor Frankenstein and his friend Clerval. I believe that Mary Shelley used the doubling process to express three different sides of her main character Victor Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley draws Victor and his creature as one throughout the story. Even before the creation, Adam Frankenstein exists as Victor's pursuit of creating another life. After the creation of the Monster, Victor the creator abandons him. At this point Victor and his creation are physically apart. At the same time, Mary Shelley shows the similarities and the differences between them, by describing the childhood of the creature.

Adam spends his childhood with Dalacey family. As he watches this family he learns many different human characteristics such as love and care. It is very strange that Adam lives in total misery, nobody ever loved him, cared about him, but he is able learn and apply such feeling towards Delacey family. On the other hand, Victor's childhood was totally opposite of Adams. He received all the love and care he could possibly get. The similarities of their childhoods are expressed in respect to attitude towards learning new things and achieving their goals. Victor worked very hard on his education to achieve his goal of creating another life. Similarly, Adam worked as hard to educate himself to be able to find love and care. Mary Shelley even makes their educational background similar. Victor and Adam read the same books and make similar conclusions.

The main effect of the doubling process is that after seeing Victor and his creature together throughout the novel I have realized who is the real monster. Adam, who grew up in misery, who never experienced a single act of care, is able to achive these feelings. At the same time, Victor, who has been loved and cared for, is incapable of loving his creation - his son. Nevertheless, every misery that Adam experiences comes from his creator.

Another doubling process is the comparison of Victor and his dear friend Clerval. Shelley informs her readers that they were good friends since childhood, who are in perfect Harmony with each other. They share the same interests, the same believes, which shows that Mary Shelley is comparing Victor to Clerval to demonstrate what is missing from Victor's life. After the creation of the creature, Victor does not enjoy his life in any way. He has absolutely no goals and his life becomes very ordinary. At the same time, Clerval is full of life. He has many feelings such as love, care, excitement that he expresses in his life. This is the part that Victor totally misses, which makes life of Adam miserable.

To conclude, Mary Shelley has expressed a very interesting concept of doubling her characters in Frankenstein. This doubling process made me realize that Victor is the real monster, and the main reason for all Adam's suffering.