Two of the most important and prolific Gothic novels published during the Romantic era explored the concept of hybrid identity, doing so via memorable characters and storylines that linger in a reader’s mind long after finishing the works. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Matthew Lewis’s The Monk look at the darker side of humanity and present main characters who adopt different identities and act as instruments of both good and evil, leading to conflicted identities. Victor Frankenstein the scientist and Ambrosio the monk are similar characters that struggle through identity crises and the chaos that plagues them as a result, and an exploration into each man’s background shows an identity crisis rooted in abandonment, arrogance, and those around
…show more content…
Victor has the ability to save all of his friends and family who die by the monster’s hand, but he doesn’t. Instead he fears killing his creation that is a representation of his glory he wants so badly. Frankenstein’s arrogance and desire for glory support an idea that the novel seems to bring up: what are the implications of one human holding the secrets of scientific advancements in the quest to understand life and death? Early in his studies of alchemy, he explains, “…wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (Shelley 23) and he also proclaims that “[he] alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelley 32), leading to an arrogant isolation that results in the monster’s creation. In Frankenstein, knowledge equates to destruction and fuels the titular character’s transformed identity into an instrument of evil.
While Victor Frankenstein grew up in a fairly stable familial environment, the orphan Ambrosio, on the other hand, never knew his parents and finds a home in the abbey who took him in, but his distorted background proves to be disruptive to his identity. His lack of a true family corrupts him and inspires his evil behavior—Ambrosio’s actions and eventual destruction are a product of his unacceptable social class background. Daniel P. Watkins reiterates this point in “Social Hierarchy In Matthew Lewis's The Monk” when he
Victor has the ability to save all of his friends and family who die by the monster’s hand, but he doesn’t. Instead he fears killing his creation that is a representation of his glory he wants so badly. Frankenstein’s arrogance and desire for glory support an idea that the novel seems to bring up: what are the implications of one human holding the secrets of scientific advancements in the quest to understand life and death? Early in his studies of alchemy, he explains, “…wealth was an inferior object; but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (Shelley 23) and he also proclaims that “[he] alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (Shelley 32), leading to an arrogant isolation that results in the monster’s creation. In Frankenstein, knowledge equates to destruction and fuels the titular character’s transformed identity into an instrument of evil.
While Victor Frankenstein grew up in a fairly stable familial environment, the orphan Ambrosio, on the other hand, never knew his parents and finds a home in the abbey who took him in, but his distorted background proves to be disruptive to his identity. His lack of a true family corrupts him and inspires his evil behavior—Ambrosio’s actions and eventual destruction are a product of his unacceptable social class background. Daniel P. Watkins reiterates this point in “Social Hierarchy In Matthew Lewis's The Monk” when he