Chien Vu
Brianna Hayes
Lisa Nguyen
Lulu Liu
Khushboo Bhakta
AP English IV 6th
9/19/11
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
Man vs. Wild
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.
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.

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.
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).
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.
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)
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=frankenst
ein>.
"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/profileswriter
s/p/aa_mshelley.htm>.