Duality In 'Frankenstein'

A detailed Summary of Duality In 'Frankenstein'

"A man of two minds will end up with neither satisfied."

Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, tells the gothic tale of a curious scientist, Victor Frankenstein, yearning to mimic the life-giving act of Mother Nature. His creature does not turn out to be all that he expected, and the story deals with the conflict between Victor and his creature, and between the creature and society. But nowhere in the story does Victor (or Shelley) ever give his creature a name. This is an important aspect of the novel, to show the hatred Victor has for his own creation. In a sense, this lack of a name reinforces the notion that the creature is an abstract function of the novel, which draws the focus away from the creature itself, and to the interaction between it and Victor. Their perceptions of each other greatly effect the interpretation of the story, namely from the viewpoint that the creature is an alter-ego of Victor. This view brings the story from the superficial, physical level, and to one more philosophic. The creature represents all that Victor sees bad in himself and in that around him, and their coexistence is the dramatic aspect of their mutual destruction.

Victor Frankenstein, the central character

The actual, physical progression of the process of creation is left abstract, and much is left for the reader to fill in. We know that Victor had an obsession with the creation of life, and toils very hard to get to the point where we see him create a new life out of reassembled, dead parts. On a superficial level of the story, this and the events following it simply function as the dramatic aspect of a good horror story. We can see from the text itself that Victor is quite obsessed with his creation, almost to the point of instability. He narrates his fervent labors of the past: "I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; ..." (34). And after his creature comes to life, Victor is afraid of his creation, both for what it could do to himself and to society: "... but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room..." (34). It is not so hard, then, to view the creature as Victor's alter-ego, brought out by his intensity in his work, and fear of what the results may be. On this level of the story, 'the creature' is not another physical character in the story, therefore the story should not be taken as an actual, physical progression of events. The central conflict is an internal one, between what evil Victor sees in the world (represented by the creature), and Victor's reasonable, caring self. This separation of persona can be more easily understood by looking at Victor's character before, and then after the entrance of the creature into the world. Beforehand, Victor is almost mild-mannered, wrapped up in his work and the intelligent faction in town. He loves a family, and is happy, or at least satisfied with life. After, however, when the c

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Approximate Word count = 1322
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English