In literature, the exact definition of an antagonist is "a character or force that opposes the protagonist", the protagonist being the character around whom the story revolves. Considering that definition of the word antagonist, we can say that the Creature is the antagonist because he opposes Victor even though he means, for the most part, no harm. It is because Victor sees him as a threat and because the creation of the creature is what caused all of his creator's desperation and misery even though Creature is born innocent. The creature is the antagonist at least at the beginning of the book when, as readers, we only know Victor's point of view, thus making him the protagonist. Later on, as Creature's character and reasoning evolves after having spent time observing and learning from the Delacey's, we are presented to a different point of view: Creature's point of view. He becomes the protagonist with Victor who is more of an antihero. Victor can then be seen as an antagonist as he hurts Creature without acknowledging what the latter might possibly be feeling when he, for example, refuses to create a partner for his lonely creation. After Creature aquires knowledge, he loses his innocence and knows of the existence of evil and his ego is born as he uses a threat to his own advantage when he threatens Victor to make him create another Creature; he has become an antihero as well.
In literature, the exact definition of an antagonist is "a character or force that opposes the protagonist", the protagonist being the character around whom the story revolves. Considering that definition of the word antagonist, we can say that the Creature is the antagonist because he opposes Victor even though he means, for the most part, no harm. It is because Victor sees him as a threat and because the creation of the creature is what caused all of his creator's desperation and misery even though Creature is born innocent. The creature is the antagonist at least at the beginning of the book when, as readers, we only know Victor's point of view, thus making him the protagonist. Later on, as Creature's character and reasoning evolves after having spent time observing and learning from the Delacey's, we are presented to a different point of view: Creature's point of view. He becomes the protagonist with Victor who is more of an antihero. Victor can then be seen as an antagonist as he hurts Creature without acknowledging what the latter might possibly be feeling when he, for example, refuses to create a partner for his lonely creation. After Creature aquires knowledge, he loses his innocence and knows of the existence of evil and his ego is born as he uses a threat to his own advantage when he threatens Victor to make him create another Creature; he has become an antihero as well.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Mary Shelley has us changing perspectives all the way through the novel.
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