The Isolation of Victor Frankenstein

The use of letters is a standard feature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. They provide the reader with additional information concerning the issues at hand, guiding them to present circumstances. A series of letters from an explorer, Robert Walton, mark the beginning of the story. He is wealthy Englishman who intends to undertake a dangerous voyage to the North Pole and is excited by this prospect. By the second and third letter, however, it becomes apparent that he is a troubled man and bemoans his lack of acquaintances. Isolation is the bane of his existence for him and Victor Frankenstein, finding it increasingly difficult to interact with other individuals. In this essay, I will describe the various elements in Victor Frankenstein’s life that led to his choice to live in isolation based on the letters from the first twelve chapters.

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Victor is a sophisticated man of science. It is this very complexity that leads him to shun human interaction and lead the life that he chooses.  In particular, the second letter features his lament ion his lack of friends which, in reality, is also a creation of his. Although he feels lonely and isolated, it is he who avoids interacting with other fellow human beings as he believes that he is way better than them. To Victor, those around him are uneducated without sensitive souls that would be ready to hear his dreams and aspirations. He is on a perilous pathway with loneliness his only companion.

Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious man who seeks to accomplish great scientific feats. He decides to isolate himself from friends, family and the woman t that was meant to be his wife. The same ambition also separates him from his creature as he felt that it was conveying its suffering into his life: breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart” (Shelley and Dixon 43).  In the end, it is isolated by all around it, including its creator as he had no choice. Towards the story’s climax, the situation begins to change with the creature now isolating Victor as a form of revenge.

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Victor is a man with immense potential who life began reasonably well with his main issue being the fact that he came from a family lacking in love. He directs all his energy in creating a future for himself, and his academic status is soon convalescing. All starts to change when he seeks to numb his emotions and follow his passion after leaving Ingolstadt. His curiosity and search for the secrets of nature drive him to the brink of madness as he isolates himself from everyone. He spends months assembling his creation as he of the opinion that has found the secret that he was looking for all his life. The isolation continues when individuals point his creature out as murder but refuse to confess as it was his creation: “such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman” (Shelley and Dixon 68). He ends up undertaking evil practices that are evil, unethical and morally wrong due to his greed to succeed.

In conclusion, Victor Frankenstein soon comes to realize that isolation has become part of his life. His ambition, greed and condescending demeanor are to blame for this sudden turn of events. Through the letters, we learn of the misery that isolation brings upon Victor and the horrible consequences that he now has to grapple with after bringing forth his creation.

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