Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
chaps 13-24
"But revenge kept me alive; I dared not die, and leave my adversary in being" (Shelley, 149).
The main motivation of the violent acts in the novel is revenge. It is an endless cycle as Victor and the creature continually try to punish the other for acts of wrongdoing. The creature kills William because Victor rejected him, framed Justine because mankind was disgusted by him. Victor tries to fight back, but the creature always eludes him. After Victor destroyed the female, the creature took revenge by murdering Henry and Elizabeth.
Occasionally the actions of characters are motivated by other notions that revenge. Victor destroys teh female out of unselfishness- he wishes to spare the world of the havoc that two evil monsters and their possible offspring could wreak on the world.
Victor's father and Elizabeth are primarily motivated by compassion and concern. They continually look out for Victor because she is family and they love him. Even when Elizabeth thinks Victor might love another, she tells him, "if I see but one smile on your lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I shall need no other happiness" (Shelley, 139).
Every character is deeply motivated by some strong emotion or desire- even Walton is strongly motivated by the intense search for knowledge. The motivations may be positive or negative, but they always help to reveal more about the character, and add to the complexity of the work as a whole.
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