Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
As the story progresses back to Robert's ship, the reader is reminded of the shared ambition between Victor and Robert. Although Robert believes that his decision to retreat from the Arctic leaves him a failure in his quest to discover the hidden laws of nature, the reader can understand that Robert's decision demonstrates Victor's success in discouraging the same reckless ambition.
To display his disappointment concerning the decision to turn back, Robert writes his sister, "Thus are my hopes blasted by cowardice and indecision: I come back ignorant and disappointed," (Shelley, 160). It is true that Robert's original ambitions to stand out in history as the first person to reach the North Pole failed. However, Robert's disappointment creates a sort of oxymoron. He may not have solved the most mysterious question, but he has learned one of the most practical lessons.
From the first few pages of the novel, Victor made it clear that he told his story so that Robert might escape Victor's fate. Therefore, by choosing to abandon ambition for life, Robert proved that Victor's misery resulting from his creation persuaded him to avoid Victor's regrets. Moreover, instead of carrying out Victor's desires that Robert destroy the creature, he allowed the creature to express his grief and destroy himself. Robert responded to the story of ubiquitous prejudice by becoming the only being to ask the creature to stay and converse and by allowing the natural forces of the North Pole and the creature's depression to remain hidden.
Shelley uses Robert's oxymoron to force the reader to reflect on the lessons Robert truly learned in an effort to convince the reader to abandon prejudice and the desire to push the limits of existence.
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