Frankenstein

A detailed Summary of Frankenstein

The doppelganger motif, a ghostly double which haunts its fleshy counterpart, plays a strikingly important role in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In the novel, both Frankenstein and the creature have tragic flaws leading them into a downward spiral to their ultimate demise. It is in this downward spiral that the reader sees how the creature's flaws mirror those of Frankenstein and how they both succumb to evil, revenge and ultimately death. Furthermore, the reader sees the doppelganger motif when analyzing Walton. Walton's pursuits seem to mimic those of Frankenstein by believing that the quest for knowledge against great odds will lead to self-immortality. It seems that Frankenstein and Walton share this same tragic flaw, however, Walton is able to see Frankenstein as a warning and avert the disaster that has become Frankenstein's life. In the novel, the doppelganger motif between Frankenstein and the creature and Frankenstein and Walton both represent different facets of Frankenstein where, in essence, Walton is the cause and the creature is the effect. Thus, it is the pride and overwheening ambition of both Walton and Frankenstein that leads to the misery and revenge between the creature and Frankenstein.

By the end of the novel, Frankenstein's and the creature's lives so closely mimic each other when each character's reason for living is the other's ultimate destruction. Frankenstein states, "Revenge kept me alive; I dared not die, and leave my adversary in being"(195). Both characters are living a life of misery and they both wish for their death but not until the other has died first. This reality can be plainly seen when the creature proclaims his eventual suicide when he witnesses the dead body of his creator, Frankenstein. The creature's reason for living is gone so he ends his life. It is this instance which signifies the greatest example of the doppelganger motif and the solidarity between the two characters.

For each character this misery and anger must eventually be directed towards something and naturally it becomes directed towards each other. The creature describes this habitually when he proclaims, "My daily vows rose for revenge-a deep and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had endured"(137). Frankenstein describes the only reason for his living when he says, "But revenge kept me alive; I dared not die, and leave my adversary in being"(195). With both characters' quest for revenge their alikeness becomes even more striking when there only reason for living is to kill each other. However, in this instance instead of Frankenstein instilling these emotions within the creature it is the creature who has created the emotion of revenge within Frankenstein. It is this example which starts to bring the doppelganger motif into full circle.

When Walton first meets Frankenstein he is excited by, "So noble a creature detroyed by misery"(26). Walton sees so much of himself within the stranger yet is transfixed by the suffering which consumes Frankestein. Walton describes him as, "Having conquered the violence of his feelings, he appeared to despise himself for being the slave of passion; and quelling the dark tyranny of despair, he led me again to converse concerning myself personally"(27). Walton is starting to see Frankenstein as a warning to the path that he is choosing. Their ideals are shared so Walton starts to ponder whether their fates may be shared as well.

The doppelganger motif in the relationship between Frankenstein and Walton is i

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Approximate Word count = 1559
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels