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How Much Sympathy Do We Feel for Victor Frankenstein Up to Chapter Ten Essay Example

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How Much Sympathy Do We Feel for Victor Frankenstein Up to Chapter Ten Essay Example
How much sympathy do we have for Victor Frankenstein up to Chapter 10?
Victor Frankenstein plays a role of the creator of life and destruction in Mary Shelley’s ‘modern Prometheus’ of Frankenstein. He tampers with science and religion and is not only the victim of tragedy but the instigator as well.
Victor is obsessed with discovering the elixir of life, arguably more so from the death of his Mother; ‘She died calmly, and her countenance expressed affection even in death. I need not describe the feelings of those dearest ties to the soul’. As a reader I am inclined to believe Frankenstein’s intentions are good and I sympathise with him because of his traumatic loss of his Mother. I also believe there is no evidence in the book to suggest the creature has been made for the purpose of evil. However sometimes it would seem as though Frankenstein puts himself higher above God through simply tampering with the creation of life in this religion v science atmosphere and setting. I would go to the point of saying he is completely blasphemous and deluded. ‘I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation’. I think that it could be argued that perhaps it is the way in which Frankenstein has handled the creation of the monster which has made that makes the situation so much worse and therefore my sympathy decreases a little.
In chapter five Victor Frankenstein creates his monster, instead of taking care of it his initial reaction is to neglect and hide from ‘the disgusting creature’ he has made. All sense of my sympathy disappears here, he has placed himself in a supreme authority so to speak, he has created life and he has chosen to neglect what he has done and turned this life form into destruction; ‘breathless horror and disgust filled my heart’, he seems to repel the monster; he cannot even look at it. My sympathy here lies with the monster; very similar to if a Mother neglected their new born child.
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