Frankenstein Essay

Read the prompt carefully and write a masterpiece.

Prompt

Morally ambiguous characters – characters whose behavior discourages

readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good – are at the
heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play (for this essay,
you must choose Frankenstein) in which a morally ambiguous
character plays a pivotal role. Then write an essay in which you explain
how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous AND why
his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole.
Avoid plot summary.

REMINDERS:
● Look at the AP Lit Open Prompt Rubric
● Use the handout on AP Lit List of Verbs for Literary Analysis
● Use the handout on Thesis Information
● Every time you state an example from the novel to support your
thesis, give in-depth analysis on how it relates/proves your thesis
and WHY the author wrote this. What is he/she conveying? What
is his/her purpose?

Throughout Mary Shelly’s novel, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, a scientist described

as well driven and a naturally clever man, and is also the standing point of view of which the
book, in most part, is told from is a significant character in understanding moral ambiguity. The
letters that the story is told through, those in which are written by Frankenstein, introduce many
influential characters, ones that represent the benefits of one person, such as pure beauty or the
ability to create a strong bond, though with this the portrayal of the faults of one is also shown,
and in this, includes the own faults of Frankenstein. This controversy most consistently is seen
coincidentally in Victor Frankenstein himself, his ability to be portrayed as innocent in one sense,
then completely guilty defines ambiguity itself.
In the beginning of the book, Victor describes the makings of his life, his passions,
relationships, and how these both entangle one another. As Frankenstein becomes more educated
through the years and goes to university, he discovers a high interest in science in which he
pursued a long criticized career, in he would then pursue “the greatest disdain for a would-be
science”. Not only does his career show significance but he also makes known the exceptional
relations he has with his family and friends. Frankenstein’s descriptions describe them in high
matters, most significantly Elizabeth, “the beautiful and adored companion of all [his]
occupations and [his] pleasures”. Victor is portrayed as a man of devotion, he holds the most
proper etiquette for Elizabeth and gives his full attention to the sciences, this including the added
information received from the benefits of his much appreciated professors. In a world built such
as that of the 1800s Victor could be described as a scholarly gentleman and perfect reflection of
the reflection of purity in a human, though this foreshadowing contradicts Victor’s other actions
in the book.
With Frankenstein’s wits, he makes a life-changing invention in hopes to make inanimate
objects alive. Though his intentions placed him in a spot of genius, and his success in making the
monster placed him in a spot of glory, the result of the monster was much different. As the
monster became a more dangerous threat to society, the obvious tie to this damage was Victor
Frankenstein, and in times of pressure Frankenstein broke, he left to Chamounix, and became
almost paralyzed with a deep depression. While being nursed back to health by Henry Clerval, he
receives news that his brother, William, has been killed, which is later told as the cause of the
creature. Though Victor’s ideas had the potential to make him a figure of appreciative fame, his
failure led to his demise, and the deterioration of his mind. In his running away from this
misfortune it had caused the death of his beloved brother, and later on many other characters
close to Victor, this all in fault of Frankenstein’s inability to exert himself to a project with no
high immediate reward. A man once portrayed as focused and driven, easily switched to a man
taken by grief, first by his failures and then by the losses of his friends and family. Though
readers may feel sympathy for Franenstein throughout the book, Shelley shines a brighter light
on the consequences of greed, because though he wanted to be respected in the highest regard, he
received the complete opposite. His wretched descriptions of grieving make an impactful
argument against his selfishness as human empathy may excuse one's mistakes, though it still
does not excuse his failures not only in physical application, in the monster, but through what he
does, or doesn’t do to fix what he has started.
Mary Shelley does not blatantly describe Victor in evil or pure terms, though words she
uses to imply the same effects. Her writing plays the days of a man's life, through genius and
greed, to grief and depression. It’s a story which shines an important light on the two sides of
Frankenstein, one in which success thrives in, and the other of which lacks passion and desire for
anything in life at all.