Revenge in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Essay by CorrasteHigh School, 11th gradeB+, August 2013

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�PAGE �2� Corra

English 11 Period 2

Revenge in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Revenge, some say, is a "dish best served cold". In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the main character, Victor, creates a monster that terrorizes his life. Victor and the monster go at it the entire novel, with the monster winning almost every time. Throughout the book, the monster kills mostly everyone close to Victor. He kills his brother, wife, best friend, and indirectly, Victor's father. People usually want revenge and enjoy it when they achieve it. However, the monster's revenge is very bittersweet. The book eventually ends with Victor's death. Both Victor and the monster want revenge but ultimately only the monster gets it. Only, the revenge doesn't satisfy the monster, it destroys him.

The entire book is just pretty much how the monster controls Victor's life. The first time the monster strikes is when he kills Victor's brother William.

Victor doesn't retaliate to this one however because he doesn't know much about the monster when this happens. Actually, revenge wasn't really evident until Victor destroys the female monster that the monster asked him to create. It was then where the monster threatens Victor and tells him "[…] I will be with you on your wedding night" (Shelley 172). This is where everything goes downhill for Victor and he starts to want revenge against the monster.

The point where Victor is finally starting to snap is where the monster murders his childhood best friend, Henry Clerval. This was devastating to Victor because he now knew exactly who killed him. Victor says, "He had apparently been strangled; for there was no sign of any violence, except the black mark of fingers on his neck" (Shelley 179). Only the monster has black fingers,