I have a few questions after reading Frankenstein and I don’t know where to ask them. So hoping some people can render light to these
1. Why did no one ask Victor Frankenstein who the murderer was, when he told them that he knew who the real murderer was and it was not Justine? I understand why he didn’t want to tell them it was the monster he created but no one even asked him “Well who is it if it’s not Justine?”. They were just happy he knew and continued to feel bad for Justine.
2. Victor advises Walton to stop his ambitious pursuit of knowledge and narrates his entire story as a warning to him. Why the does he encourage the sailors to go north when they say they don’t want to? He talks about honour and valour to them but continues to take lessons on how taking care of your loved ones is the best thing you can do. Is this to show that victor is self-serving or an oversight from the author?
3. Why did Victor think the monster was coming to kill him on his wedding night? The monster told him that he’ll make him feel the same loneliness he feels. So it was obvious he was going to target his wife Elizabeth. Was this another way of telling Victor’s lack of empathy to the monster’s life or was it just a plot device for a 19th century plot twist?
Would be so glad if someone could answer these questions.
by Fred_sarah
1 Comment
1. It’s been a while, but I believe there’s a good possibility he said this more to himself than the room. He’s a little delirious by this point anyway. Maybe he did say it to others and they did not believe him? Just accepted his crazy
2. The expedition to the north pole? I think Victor knew the monster was after him alone, and would not do others harm. So, beyond that end, he being selfish. But maybe not if you consider… I forget why he was going to the north pole. Was it not to find and kill the monster?
So kinda selfish kinda selfless.
/3. Victor has always been very concerned about himself and his own image. Of course he was too narrow sighted to realize the monster was going to kill his wife, he’s intelligent but he’s not **that** intelligent. Of course a large part of the theme of the novel is about man’s ability to create without ability to predict the repercussions of his actions. “Man” and “his” are a bit gendered: such is to say that humans do not have the intelligence that they think they have, nor were we ever meant to play god. It’s a theme that’s been more and more supported since after its publication: all kinds of technologies have been produced since the 1850s or whenever the book was published that the inventor could not have possibly fathomed the fall out of such inventions: to be really lazy, AI, the internet, and the automobile.