Creature Request Victor example essay topic

Birth is a natural process of creating a new life. Birth symbolizes life, giving future hope to people. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, creates a being with his own hands; he has created something magnificent and terrible at the same time. Upon the moment of birth of this creature, Frankenstein runs away in horror.

In relation, the author herself as she wrote this story, puts her life events into the book. Mary Shelley's mother died soon after her birth; and Mary, herself, had four stillborn children. To Mary, you can t have life without death, and vice versa. In the birth scene of Frankenstein, this creature means failure of creation and death. When Victor is putting his ideas together to create this creature; he describes this creature as beautiful and proportioned. His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful.

(Volume 1, page 935) Like an expecting mother, Victor thought that the process of creating this creature was going to turn out marvelous. But upon looking at the creature moving, Victor thought I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. (Volume 1, page 935) It was like as if Victor failed to create something beautiful as life. The creature does not represent life; it represents death, destruction and hopelessness in Victor's eyes. Through an unnatural process, Victor uses science to give life to this being that he put together through limbs of what it used to be living beings. This is an important part because the creature not only brought death upon Victor, but also to William, Clerval, Justine and Elizabeth.

It is impossible to get life from dead things. From a creation that supposed to be marvelous turns disastrous. What would one get from trying to create life from using the source of death is the result of more death. Victor knew that by creating the Creature, he has brought death upon himself. Cursed! (although I curse myself) be the hands that formed you!

(Volume 2, p 961) Victor curses himself because he only has himself to blame for this creation. In the book, the creature follows Victor wherever he goes; as if, it's a daily reminder that he is getting closer to death day by day. On a similar term, death is an unavoidable event in life. The creature also sets as a reminder of death that he brought on to everyone that he loves. When the creature request Victor to create another being alike, Victor fears that it will eventually being destruction to the human race. And a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth, who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror.

(Volume 3, Page 1001) As this quote indicates the fact that Victor is afraid if he creates another female companion for this creature, he will bring destruction and death not only to himself but also to the human race itself. Since more death result in creation from death, this means that it will bring death to others on this world. If one creature represented death to a few, it will bring destruction to the world if another creature is created. Death is an event that intertwined with death in Mary Shelley's life. Mary Wollstonecraft had many stillborn births; and, Mary Shelley was the only child to survive. Unfortunately, Mary Wollstonecraft died soon after giving birth to Mary Shelley.

Similarly, Mary Shelley herself had one child survive to adulthood. In Frankenstein, Victor runs away after he sees the creature comes to life. What follows is a dream about Elizabeth and Caroline, Victor's mother. I thought I saw Elizabeth, I the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms (volume 1, page 935) The significance of this dream interprets what will become of Elizabeth.

As if it foretells Elizabeth's destiny. Although Elizabeth is Victor's companion, in a way, she replaces in place of Victor's mother. In a very same way, Elizabeth will also risk her own life to take care of Victor. Elizabeth, my love, you must supply my place to your younger cousins. (Volume 1, page 927) Caroline has placed her duty upon Elizabeth as the lady of the household.

Death is an event that happens often in Victor's life. But because this creature represents death, it was like seeing his mother. This is the reason why Victor runs away in horror after the birth; it is because he sees Elizabeth's death in the creature. From what is supposed to be a wonderful creation of life, it turned disastrous. The creature haunts Victor through out the story, remind Victor that death is near by. Victor creates this being from the dead, and resulted in death upon him and others.

The creation of this monster presented the fact that life and death are always related in some ways. The biography of Mary Shelley is relevant to Frankenstein because it interpret birth into different meanings. To both Victor and Shelley, death resulted from creation.