Frankenstein (Blog 1)
By: Mary Shelley

Victor Frankenstein is a very interesting character in this novel.  I personally found his obsession with science to be intriguing because I was interested to learn how it led to him creating a monster.  A literary term that can be applied to the beginning of this book is motivation.  Victor provides some clues so that readers are able to determine his motivation.  I think the main driving force in Victor's task was the memory of his mother Caroline.  While nursing her adopted daughter Elizabeth back to health from the scarlet fever, Caroline caught the illness herself.  She was unable to fight off the disease and died before Victor went off to college.  Victor had a very close relationship with his mother.  I think that Victor wanted to somehow overcome death after this loss.  He used parts of dead bodies to create a new animate creature.  He felt that the success of one of these creatures could lead to him becoming the creator of a whole new species.  "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of life into our dark world.  A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (Shelley, 32).  This quote proves that Victor wanted to somehow create life after death.  He thought that a successful creation of a new species could guarantee him happiness and respect.  Another motivation for him was his professor M. Krempe.  Krempe told Victor that all of the studies he had done prior to college were worthless.  I think that this caused Victor to have a strong desire to prove him wrong.  Overall, Victor tried to let the sadness and discouragement of his life drive him to create a happier life.  Unfortunately, it seems like his work did the opposite of this.