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Oliver Sharpe

Professor Kimberley Freeman

College Writing R1A

22 November, 2017

Isolated

I became assured that my enemy had fled(Frankenstein 42)

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein (1818) follows a conflicted inventor Victor Frankenstein

who in his creation of another living being, battles with significant emotional repercus-

sions. Both his emotional and anontomical creations equally cause havoc for both himself

and others around him, resulting in the deaths of both his brother and wife which ultimately

leaves him emotionally and mentally isolated. The above quotation conveys Victors physi-

ologically conflicting relationship with the pejorative enemy(Frankenstein 42), a term

which can be used to resemble the physical monster(Frankenstein 117) he creates in his

laboratory, as well as the one he has formed within his psyche. Both of these monsters are

the root of much of isolation in the novel, with the physical one being trapped by loneli-

ness, seeking suicide, and with the psychological one leaving Victor emotionally and men-

tally isolated. This essay will convey how physiological and emotional Isolation is portrayed

by Shelley through her characters, which allows the reader to take away a more significant

understanding of not just the plot, but their own psyche as well. This will be done by first

questioning what it means to be isolated, and then addressing how this concept is dis-

played as a catalyst for action in the novel, and thus how much of ones personality pivots

on their state of mind, in turn also making the novel a window of personal insight for the

reader.

What does it mean to be isolated? One may argue that isolation is simply when an

individual is without companionship, but this essay will show how it is equally a mindset.
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Throughout the novel the theme of isolation is portrayed mainly by Walton, Victor and the

monster(Frankenstein 117), characters who through great endurance and emotional tur-

moil, experience the latter. The theme of Isolation is introduced by Walton a character who

partially acts as the novels narrator. Walton has left his sister behind in London to venture

to the North Pole, seeking enterprise(Frankenstein 9), an egotistical value, thus display-

ing his yearning for self-fulfilment through discovery and glory, which leaves him not only

physically Isolated in his ship by the freezing ice around him, but also emotionally isolated

as he is transparently alone in thought. Walton most obviously makes this clear though his

expressive desire for a companion through the emphatic and biblical diction he uses in the

letters he sends to his sister; I now feel as a most severe evil. I have no

friend(Frankenstein 8), a quotation which immediately introduces the theme to the novel

as a most harrowing one. One can infer that this theme has only reached a resolution at

the end of the novel when Walton turns his ship around and heads for civilisation, deciding

not to endure a despairing and isolated fate, seeking a fresh start within the company of

humanity. Shelley can thus be viewed here as presenting a didactic message within the

novel; how one must wisely choose which ambition to follow, as if the wrong one is chased

after, it is likely that emotional and mental isolation will be the result.

Moreover, Victor and his creation share a relationship which sees them both be-

come Isolated, a mindset which leads them to commit equally despicable acts which drive

the course of the novel. Much like Walton, Victor isolates himself purposefully in order to

achieve his ambitions; to create life, leaving his family for 6 years to study abroad in Ingol-

stadt to do so. Also like Walton, Victor expresses companionship to be the source of his

survival, and how an escape from his isolated reality could only come through friendship.

He illustrates this through his comment how although he became very (mentally)

ill(Frankenstein 43) after the creation of the monster, only my friend could have re-

stored me to life(Frankenstein 43). This in turn contrasts Isolation as a kind of mental

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disease, with friendship which revives him from it, a concept which Walton also convinces

himself, holding that the only thing that could make his journey North bearable is compan-

ionship. Thus one can view Shelley here as channelling the view that partnership is more

desirable than any personal feat or glory, denouncing egotistical ambition over human re-

lationship.

Equally one can also see ambition become the cause of the malevolent downfall

of the monster, who after being rejected by his father figure Victor, seeks vengeance for

his abandonment and the Isolation which has followed, beginning with the murder of Vic-

tors youngest brother. The monster elucidates Isolation to be his motivation for such dark

acts through his plea to Victor for a companion as hideous as myself(Frankenstein 120),

conveying his tormented frame of mind to be only capable of repair through union, which

he believes is possible with another monster like himself. This is emphasised by his com-

ment that We shall be monsters cutoff from the world(Frankenstein 120), as through the

personal pronoun we, he displays the one solution to his isolation, partnership. This con-

cept is finally made clear when the monster declares his suicide in the closing chapter af-

ter Victors death, as through this act he nihilistically displays that a life of Isolation is not a

life worth living, and how even being in the company of an enemy is better than being left

in a state of solace. This again shows the wrong ambitions and isolation sharing a darkly

cohesive relationship, with the monsters ambition to seek revenge resulting with his inabil-

ity to prevent loneliness.

Upon taking a brief look at Shelleys own life, with one of her four children dying be-

fore she wrote Frankenstein, It would be unreasonable to say that Shelley did not experi-

enced much of her own mental and emotional isolation, as it is typical that through suffer-

ing comes mental and emotional solace. Thus it is more than likely that Shelley is

channelling her own sufferings through these characters, and reflecting her own real life

isolation in her writing, connecting with the real life Isolation experienced by many
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of her readers. Therefore the perhaps most significant effect the theme of

Isolation has is that on the reader, as well as how it can be used in context with modern

day issues. Feeling isolated is certainly a part of ones experience of life, and thus Victors

comment after creating the monster, breathless horror and disgust filled my heart(Frank-

enstein 39), could be used to display a didactic message; how we as the reader find our-

selves disgusted with the creatures we create within ourselves, leaving us emotionally

crippled and isolated. This is perhaps why the novel can appeal to the reader in such a

personal way, in turn allowing one to sympathise with Walton, Victor and the monster, as

like them, the majority of people have been mentally isolated by failing at their ambitions,

or chasing them too far.

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Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones 1818