Frankenstein Presentation: Conflict

1. Chien Vu Brianna Hayes Lisa Nguyen Lulu Liu Khushboo Bhakta AP English IV 6th 9/19/11 Frankenstein Presentation:Conflict

2. Conflict • Conflict is the main struggle between two or more opposing forces in the story. Two main types of Conflict include: External conflict and Internal conflict. • In the novel Frankenstein, most of the novel’s conflicts happen between Victor Frankenstein and his creature. By doing this, Mary Shelley hopes the reader is able to sympathize with the creature’s problems and Victor’s misfortunes.

3. Man vs. Man • The main man vs. man conflict in the book is the one between Victor Frankenstein and his monster. The conflict mostly begins when Victor refuses to make a female partner for his monster and the monster vows to kill everyone that is meaningful to Victor. “Your hours will pass in dread and misery, and soon the bolt will which must ravish you your happiness forever… Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict” (Shelley, 123).From there, the conflict between the two transforms into a type of battle, with the monster trying to take revenge on Victor while Victor tries to take revenge on the monster for hurting his family and friends. This is the main conflict in the book towards the end and is also the climax of the plot.

4. Man vs. Man cont. • The monster’s conflicts with other people also account for a part of the man vs. man conflicts in the book. They mostly come from the main conflict of Victor vs. the monster so they can be considered the more minor man vs. man conflicts. Because of Victor’s refusal to make a female monster, the monster causes the deaths of William Frankenstein, Justine, Elizabeth, Henry Clerval and Alphonse Frankenstein. Even though some of these murders aren’t direct, they all help contribute to the major plot conflict of the monster’s revenge and lead up to final scene of Victor’s death.

5. Man Vs. Wild “Abandoned, frightened, and completely unaware of his own identity,” Frankenstein’s creation escapes into the wild. With the mind of a new born child, He has no experience, knowledge, or guided help for him to survive in the wilderness. His creation struggles to find himself and understand the world around him.

6. Man vs. Wild The Creature starts to “learn every part [of] life” when he “eavesdrops” on human’s conversations. He develops speech this way when the French family teaches an Arabian daughter-in-law. Once, he caught the courage to talk to the family, they quickly become frightened and runs him off the property. The more he was shooed away, the more he realizes how alone he truly was. He took refuge into the mountains to find peace.

7. Man vs. Society • This is a conflict where the character has a conflict against society, against a social tradition, against the government, and against “the way things have always been done.” • In Frankenstein, man vs. society is shown through isolation and being ostracized from society . • The creature’s conflict with society is being rejected and isolated from society.

8. Man vs. Society • “One of the best of these [the creature] entered, but [the creature] had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked and one of the women fainted. The whole village was aroused some fled, some attacked…” (Shelley 94). • From that moment on he realized that people did not like his appearance and hated him because of it. If villagers didn't run away at the sight of him, then they might have enjoyed his personality. • The creature tried again to interact with people when he discovered the De Lacey family. He tried to talk to the blind old man, but was interrupted when his children returned from their journey and saw the creature at the feet of their father and as a result -- • “Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore [the creature] from his father, to whose knees [he] clung...“ (Shelley 123). • “There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity me or assist me…” (Shelley 125). • The creature finally accepts his rejection from society after being thrown out by the De Lacey family.

9. Man Vs. Himself (Internal Conflict • Victor is appalled with the his creation of the monster, which is thought to be apart of Victor, himself. Victor believes "the beauty of [his] dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled [his] heart“(Shelley 35). With the creature’s destructive nature, Victor seems to feel like it is his fault that the monster behaves in this horrible manner and with the numerous murders the creature has committed, sends Victor into deeper hatred for himself. Victor contemplates suicide many times throughout the novel, “I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe” (Shelley 61). His struggle seems to indicate the evils upon which science brings, and his regretful attitude towards his creation allows the reader to acknowledge that Man cannot perform godlike things, such as creating new life.

10. Man Vs. Himself • With William’s murder, Victor feels responsible for the murder he did not commit. The monster’s feelings of abandonment led him to kill William, and Victor feels guilty because he did not take responsibility for what he had created, and that led to William’s death. “I prophesied truly, and failed only in one single circumstance, that in all the misery I imagined and dreaded, I did not conceive the hundredth part of the anguish I was destined to endure”(Shelley 49) This event marks the beginning of Victor’s depression and many more murders, with each progressive murder Victor feels more and more tempted towards suicide, to flee his problems “This state of mind preyed upon my health, which had perhaps never entirely recovered from the first shock it had sustained. I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation--deep, dark, deathlike solitude”(Shelley 61).

11. Man VS God • Man Vs. God is a type of External conflict between a mortal and an immortal or in some special case of the creation and the creator. • In Frankenstein, two main conflicts between Man vs. God include: • Victor’s special ability of Reanimation versus God’s original work of creation • The creature willing to go against his creator’s demand.

12. Man Vs. God cont. • Reanimation, a main theme in Frankenstein, is also the main source of conflict between Victor and god. Since Creation of mankind can only be achieved through the god of hand, Victor has decided to obtain the secret of life through the means of chemistry. And the result of victor’s struggle with god’s power has brought upon the world a new evil species. • “ Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.”(Shelley 32) • “ A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”(Shelley, 32) • The creature was created as an innocent and lost creature. Yet, rejected from society and feeling as if he was an outcast, the creature became evil. He cursed the world and decided to take vengeance upon his creator. Also, Victor would not have been involved in such a conflict if he had not broke the promise he made to the monster. • "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed… my feelings were those of rage and revenge." (Shelley, 97) • Remember that I have power…. You are my creator, but I am your master; Obey!” (Shelley, 122)

13. References • Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Ed. Candace Ward and Stanley Appelbaum. Mineola: Dover Thrift, 1994. Print. • "Frankenstein - Google Search." Google Images. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. <http://images.google.com/images?q=frankenstein>. • "Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Project Gutenberg." Project Gutenberg - Free Ebooks. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84>. • "Mary Shelley." Books & Literature Classics. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. <http://classiclit.about.com/cs/profileswriters/p/aa_mshelley.htm>.