At first glance, the monster in Frankenstein is a symbol of evil, whose only desire is to ruin lives. He has been called "A creature that wreaks havoc by destroying innocent lives often without remorse. He can be viewed as the antagonist, the element Victor must overcome to restore balance and tranquility to the world." But after the novel is looked at on different levels, one becomes aware that the creature wasn't responsible for his actions, and was just a victim of circumstance. The real villain of Frankenstein isn't the creature, but rather his creator, Victor.
As a romantic novel Victor is responsible, because he abandoned his creation. As an archetype novel, Victor is the villain, because he was trying to play god. Finally,
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. ." This is another example of how the creature wanted someone to talk to him and be his friend, and that person should have been Victor.
Victor is also a villain in a Archetype sense. Victor was trying to play god, when he created the creature, and that is something he shouldn't have done, because humans can't become too powerful, even though they always try. Victor became so obsessed with creating life, that it clouded his judgment, and took up all of his time and energy. On page 66, just before Justine's trial, Victor thought to himself, "During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice I suffered living torture. It was to be whether the result of my curiosity and lawless devices would cause the death of two of my fellow beings." This line shows two things, first Victor knew that Justine, and William's death was his fault. Also, he knew that his experiments, shouldn't have been done, and were against the laws of nature and god. On page 39, Victor says, "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." This quote shows how Victor wanted to be like a god. He wanted to be admired, and praised as a species creator. And this want is another reason he was the real villain of Frankenstein.
Finally,
What ever we think of Victor’s pursuits whether noble or ignoble, it is at its fundamentals, humane. He says that “ he sets about the creation of a human being in the hopes of banishing disease from the human frame and rendering man invulnerable to any but a violent death.” While his intentions were noble the actions only had horrible repercussions. Something then happens when Victor’s creation comes to life. Victor no longer sees it as a human being, but as a monster. The Preconceived notion of the monster as Human is only discredited
Throughout the novel, Victor ignores and shows no interest or empathy towards human beings. He is an alchemist himself who is interested in making things come to life from the dead specifically. He was unable to differentiate the “impracticability” of this creation he had in mind (Shelley 54). Victor has this big idea of taking body parts of the dead people and creating this creature that also becomes known as the Monster. He does not think about the future of the
When Victor creates the creature that later comes to haunt him, the creature doesn’t seem to be originally evil despite its unnatural and abnormal creation. If nature was a personal figure, enacting on negative events on those who toil with the unspoken bounds of human nature such as artificially creating life, the creature would have been malicious and negative from the moment of its animation. This was not the case in Frankenstein, as the creature is first brought into life innocent, only to be tainted with negativity by Victor’s harsh neglect and lack of any sort of parenting. The creature seems to yield positive ideas and good intentions to be happy and help others, yet his killings seem to testify against that. This morally ambiguous character of the creature only strengthens the idea that nature is impersonal because the creature’s negative reactions never came naturally. Through the learning of human life and the observation of other cottagers, the creature becomes intelligent. It is the treatment from Victor that wills the creature to hurt or cause suffering on to Victor back, the creature was never evil by nature. The killings from the creature were carried out on its own motives, influenced by Victor’s actions. In Frankenstein, the creature’s morally ambiguous character supports the idea that nature is impersonal.
At the beginning of the book, Victor is focused on his work more than his family and friends. According to the text it said,"He began his lecture by a recapitulation of the history of chemistry." He joined because their they taught about bringing organs and human's. In the text it said,“The ancient teachers of this science promised impossibilities, and performed nothing."So he can get learn more about bringing a human back to life. At the end of the book he is focused on revenge because when he made the creature he was terrified so he ran and the creature got mad so, killed lots of his family and friends. That made Victor mad and it left Victor with no family or friends. According to the passage it said,"Know that, one by one, my friends
For what we could say that both of them had many things in common as in to enjoy life and wanting more to enjoy with close companions, but soon seeing how horrible reality could fall on them. Though both were different, Victor had shamed himself for making an abomination, while the monster was trying to present himself more to others. To better explain what Victor is than I could, then we can hear from James Whales, a man who directed “Frankenstein” making it show on screen, he says this for Frankenstein “as an intensely sane person, at times rather fanatical ... [yet] Frankenstein's nerves are all to pieces. He is a very strong, extremely dominant personality, sometimes quite strange and queer, sometimes very soft sympathetic and decidedly romantic”. Though this is low for the monster’s story about what kind of person or thing for what makes himself, it could be that he’s just an experiment gone wrong, or something that shouldn’t be made ever ?, though this is a debate about something different, but I could just personally that the monster is a rather more of a person than any other human he ever
When the monster was made, his intentions were not evil, he just wanted to learn, fit in and be loved, but because of Victor neglecting the creature he turned into a monster. The monster was not able to be loved and receive the companion he wanted because of how ugly he was made. “ I grasped his throat to silence him and in a moment he lay dead at my feat’ this was when the monster first murdered a human, by accident because all he wanted was for William to understand him and talk to him, but because that did not happen, the monster held on too tight and murdered William. Victor was so overwhelmed by the monsters actions that he wanted to commit suicide.’ I was tempted to plunge into the silent lake that the waters might close over me and my calamities forever” even though he felt this would be the best choice for him, he chose not to because of how selfish it would become after Williams death. He still had other family members he could be there for, who loved and cared for him. But all of this ended when the monster killed all of his family members one by one. Of course none of this would have occurred if his “thirst for knowledge” had not overcame him. Or at least if Frankenstein had taken responsibility over his creation the creature would have not bothered by being filled with evil, “but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often like him, when I was viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me”. All the loneliness and helplessness the monster felt caused him to be lead towards evils rather than good. He was
The creature is rejected by Victor throughout the book, which removes any positive role model that the creature might have had. The two encounters that Victor has with the creature when it is first created are evidence of his rejection. During the process of creation, Victor dedicates himself so greatly that he "pursued his undertaking with unremitting ardour" (32). He puts aside everything else in his life, and concentrates completely on his purpose, which is to bring a being to life that would serve him. In order to do so, he spent an entire summer "engaged, heart and soul, in one pursuit" (32). Because of the hard work that Victor puts into his work of creation, he never really examines the fruits of his labour. He is too caught up in his work, and has "lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit" (32) of finishing his work on making the creature. In this process, Victor is never really aware of what he is creating because he is too focused on the actual act of creation. When Victor finally finishes making the creature and takes time to look at what he has done, he is horrified by his accomplishment.
Griffith further supports the idea of Victor being the problem and his ignorance becoming increasingly detrimental to his family’s health. Victor’s actions inevitabely brings death and pain to his family although the monster is responsible. Victor is the real monster for creating the monster and negleting his very own creation. Also, after creating the being, he neglects its needs and wants and runs away from his responsibility as the creator. This quote from Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, shows that Victor, being too binded in his ambitions, did not think through the process of creating a human and rushed it creating a bitter and crushed soul:
In some novels, the main character often possesses a negative trait which ultimately becomes his/her biggest flaw. The manner of how the protagonist responds to his/her troubles impacts the development of the flaw. One character in particular encompasses a trait that even with his self-awareness, is unaware of the selfishness in his veins. In the novel Frankenstein, the protagonist Victor Frankenstein is this particular individual whose conscience consists of much responsibility but no discipline to show for it. Although he feels responsible for deaths of many others, Victor never confesses when he knows the fault is his. His vengeance almost keeps him away from the
“Who is the true antagonist” is a question that a reader may mull upon during the reading of certain novels. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, although thought to be a victim, is in fact the villain of the novel Frankenstein. The plot of the novel consists of Victor Frankenstein causing tragedies and deaths as a result of his irresponsibility and yearning for fame. Victor also creates an antagonizing creature that has absolutely no knowledge of the basic ways of life and leaves him companionless. This, ultimately, catalyzes the monster’s hard, corrupt life.
This leads to Justine being accused for the murder and is forced to death by the government. I believe Mary Shelley intends the reader to dislike Victor because of the wrongful actions he takes. Firstly, when Victor creates the monster, he becomes scared and terrified due to the monster’s physical appearance as result he abandoned it. I noticed that Victor essentially judged the monster by it’s looks rather than the monster’s personality. Alongside the other unfair and uneducated thoughts, the author convinced me that Victor Frankenstein is a hated character.
The monster should not be blamed because victor crossed the line of trying to better human kind and playing God. He created this hideous and ugly monster that no one can possibly love and abandoned it and left it to die. The actions of victor can also justify the actions of the monster. If victor actually took the time in thinking of what he was doing, he would’ve realized the mistake he was making. He made another mistake right after making the first one. He gave this monster life and limitless power and intelligent, obviously this monster can survive and cause great harm to him and his love ones. If he actually stayed with the monster and taught him how to live and act towards other beings, things would’ve of turned out totally different.
Victor’s selfishness is one of the several characteristics that makes him a monster in this novel. Many casualties in the book were due to Victor even if he was not the actual killer. When the creature murdered William, Victor still kept his creation a secret. Justine was blamed for the murder and even when she falsely confessed to being guilty he still did not speak a word about his invention. The reason that was holding him back from revealing what he had made was he did not want to look like a fool. This is shown when he says “A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been as the ravings of a madman…”(Shelley 83). Another example of Victor’s narcissistic personality is how he used Elizabeth and their wedding just to lure in the creature. Victor's plan was to give the creature what he wanted which was a wedding, and when he was close enough, he would shoot him. We
Even though he is responsible for the murders of William, the younger brother, Henry Clerval, Victor’s friend, and Elizabeth Lavenza, as well as being responsible for the hanging of Justine, the maid of the Frankenstein’s, he cannot be regarded as pure evil. Although the creature took revenge because of his anger and bitterness, it can be said that he was not born with those character traits. Due to Victor’s rejection he became such a being. He experiences hate from the very beginning as Victor is horrified by his
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the lead character Victor Frankenstein created life. Towards the beginning of this novel the creature would be considered a victim. Victor resented him for what he was even when Victor was his creator. This led the creature to run out into the world on his own, and this led to his downfall of being a villain. The creature was very compassionate to others in the beginning of his life, but like all stories the villain isn’t born evil they develop over time. The creature murders people in cold blood, knowingly leads a woman to her death, and threatens Victor of making his life horrible.