Great people are not necessarily the ones who donate to charity, volunteer in their spare time, and attend church every week. They are the ones who make mistakes, own up to their faults, and try to fix them. It is hard for Victor and Faustus to do this however, because circumstances have put them on the path of darkness. Even though this could have avoided by confronting the situation right away, they chose to stick to this. In both of the books, Frankenstein and Faust; the authors Mary Shelley and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe use the main characters to show that failure to take responsibility results in a life full of misery and darkness.
In both books, the main characters Victor and Faustus are blinded by their arrogance, as well as their lust…show more content… For Victor it is the moment in which he decides not to create another monster. Finally putting others before his selfish needs explains how he "[shudders] to think that future ages might curse [him] as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race" (20.1). He finally confesses his sins, and in a fit of passion destroys the new monster; attempting his only act of redemption. It is too late for Victor to redeem himself, and he lives out the rest of his life in a state of depression. Similar to this is Faustus's story, except readers know for sure that he is doomed to spend an eternity in misery and darkness. Readers know this because at the end of the book, Faustus attempts to finally repent, "but Faustus' offense can ne'er be pardoned! The serpent that tempted Eve may be saved, but not Faustus" (15-16). Again the main character is too late and his soul is carried off to the underworld for eternal pain and torture. Both Victor and Faust finally, after struggling to own up to their mistakes, make an attempt at taking responsibility. However, their timing is too late, and all they are left with for the rest of their living and eternal lives is misery, sadness, and
