Frankenstein And The Psychologic And Moralistic Effects Of...

Frankenstein and the Psychologic and Moralistic Effects of Community Dense, ominous storm cloud fill the night sky over the stone walls of a castle. Within the keep, a mad scientist goes to work with his instruments of horror. In his consuming madness, he hacks together decaying body parts on a grungy steel table. Grabbing rusted chains, the scientists hoists his creation to the sky. A tendril of lighting engulfs the elevated figure, stirring life inside it as its creator watches with psychotic screams of jubilation. Here is the common depiction of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, a popular deviation from the troubled man and creation of Mary Shelley’s novel â€Å"Frankenstein†. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is much more than a lunatic†¦show more content†¦Although Victor often remarks of his impending doom in light of his childhood, the ambition in this time of his life doesn’t seem too unhealthy. Rather, Victor illustrates more of an intense fascination in this instance rather than an all-consuming obsession th at ultimately grips his life. Victor only shifts into this state of mind when he leaves community and the presence of others. In his idyllic childhood, Victor lived with his loving family and friends. Paul Sherwin describes Frankenstein’s family as â€Å"an idyll of domestic bliss: in the protected enclave of his household all are incomparably virtuous and lovable† (Sherwin 893). However, after the death of his mother and the beginning of his studies at Ingolstadt, Victor becomes increasing isolated from his family and friends and more obsessed with his quest for creation. He creases to write home and spends longer hours in the lab working in obsession on his creation. In the absence of others, Victor’s ambitions run wild. Robert Walton is also like Victor in this regard except that Walton returns to society before it’s too late. As George Levine puts it, â€Å"Walton is an incipient Frankenstein, in his lesser way precisely in Frankenstein s position: a mbitious for glory, embarked on a voyage of scientific discovery, putting others to risk for his work, [and] isolated from the rest of mankind by his ambition† (Levine 19). Walton is in a very