Felix: Final Move Journal

A third move for my character, Felix, meant resolving and completing the character arc that begun in its very description. Felix, although greatly unexplored in the Frankenstein text, is a young adult who suffers from large regrets that originate from his family’s demise. Since the second move built upon his regrets with the return of Safie, I needed to conclude the affects of his heartache with a strong scenario from the novel. I chose the scene in which the creature is attacked by Felix to showcase the result of his unresolved negative feelings.

In Mary Shelley’s depiction of Frankenstein, the creature describes being violently beaten from Felix after approaching his father (136). Since the story is a frame narrative and the creature would want to argue justification for his later malicious actions, the idea that this scene could be an exaggeration of the actual truth is less than unbelievable. With great motivation for the creature to hyperbolize, the only thing left to justify that Felix committed drastically different actions would be to analyze his need to rationalize.

Given the great state of depression that Felix endured both prior and after Safie’s arrival, it is clear that he longed for redemption. At first glance, it may appear that he would act swiftly, and even violently to protect his family from sudden danger. However, Felix is an educated man who reads stories with moral focus, such as Paradise Lost, and has a lot of time to contemplate (132). Safie’s return also “diffused happiness among its inhabitants,” which would provide him hope for a new beginning (133). With enough time to analyze the reasoning for his prior failures, it is not doubtful that he may sum up his failures as an act of uncalculated passion. In an effort to surmount the impulse of his first intuition, the kind of intuition that had him deceived by a Turkish prisoner, he would decide not to lash out against the monster, and instead attempt to reason. Ultimately, this act would symbolize a cleansing of his previous vices and showcase humanity’s ability to overcome previous faults.