Victor's Responsibility In Frankenstein

However, the results of the creation of the Creature are egregious, as the creature begins to murder people, specifically Victor’s loved ones, including his brother William upon realizing that William is related to Victor. Victor here is partially at fault in his brother’s death, as he abandoned the Creature, leaving it to terrorize the people. Though he is overwhelmingly contrite for their deaths, he neglects to admit who the true culprit is in William’s murder and allows Justine Moritz to take the blame, an example of his morally ambiguous actions. His inconsiderate actions cost Justine her life, though he feels horrible for it. Even then, he argues that the action he regrets the most—the creation of the monster—was the work of destiny, which was “too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” (Shelley 23) Again, Victor places blame on fate to justify his obsession with ambition that led him to create the thing he regrets the most. His failure to recognize his role in William’s, Justine’s, etc. deaths while concurrently feeling remorseful for them solidifies his status as a morally

Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .

Victor’s questionable actions are apparent, however his benevolent qualities are greater. Victor truly does possess a lot of good qualities, but sadly, the creation of another human tainted him. One of his most predominant moral characteristics is his love and cherish for Elizabeth Lavenza. For example, Victor states “I would die to make her happy” (Shelley 167). This is evidence that he cares about others and he is not entirely immoral. On the other hand, Victor’s only major evil quality was his desire to become God. “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley 48). This is proof that he wanted to become godly and control life and death which ultimately caused his downfall.

Victor is foolish, as he dedicated half of his life working to create the being, and the second half trying to destroy it. The creature causes Victor’s death, although it was not by the creature’s own hands. The creature drives him to desperation, and it is the creature’s fault that he has nothing and no one to live for in the world. Near the end of his life, Victor gives Walton some final words of advice saying, “Seek happiness in tranquility and avoid ambition, even if it be only the apparently innocent one of distinguishing yourself in science and discoveries" (162). Victor realizes his life has been ruined because of his scientific ambition, and he also acknowledges that the sins of his past will continue to haunt him. In the end, the creature causes Victor’s death just as the creature killed his family and friends; therefore, Victor neglects his health and travels to harsh environments to catch the monster ending in his own demise.

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.

As the novel goes on everyone Victor once cared for are decimated in the path of his creation. "I was possessed by a maddening rage when I thought of him and desired and ardently prayed that I might have him within my grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head" (Shelley 103). Now, due to his unwavering lust for knowledge, all that was once good and innocent has been stripped from him. This has left him as a former shell of himself, to be compared with his own creation, solely driven by vengeance.

He always puts the blame on his passions or his wishes, never himself. He even blames his own father. According to Victor, his actions are the the fault of the “spirit of good” or chance or knowledge. When he does finally acknowledge that the creation of the creature and the way the creature grew up is his fault, he claims he’s only “not altogether free from blame”. He does not fully take the blame, and then he goes on to basically say that everybody makes mistakes, so it’s okay that he reanimated and abandoned a human who had already been dead. He calls his creation a catastrophe, a wretch, a miserable monster, a filthy demon, a devil, a depraved wretch. What Victor does not acknowledge is that he was the one who made the creature this way. When it comes to describing Victor, he is seen as “noble and godlike in ruin”. He is not seen as a monster who did irreparable damage to another human being, but as a fallen god. What’s more is that Victor does not hesitate to blame himself for the deaths of William, Henry, Elizabeth, and even Justine. Though he is, in a way, responsible for their deaths, it’s by extension. He won’t take the blame for what he’s truly responsible for-creating and abandoning this creature with nothing but fear, confusion, and

As Victors brother was killed by the creature he created, the remourse victor and his father have towards his death show weakness. Men in society are conditioned to be brought up as brave and protective. While Victors father is letting the death of

Victor’s conscience holds the painful achievement of giving life to a beast capable of murder due to selfishness. The first victim that dies at the hands of the creature is William. Victor’s selfishness is reflected when his creation frames Justine for the murder. Victor states, “Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims of my unhallowed art” (Shelley 60). Victor does take responsibility and admits that he is to blame, but he does not express this to others, only to himself. Nor does Victor fess up to the real cause of his monster’s bloodlust and turn himself in like a selfless individual would. Although his selfishness affects the lives of others, the ones near and dear to him receive much affliction too.

Throughout the book, Shelley wanted to point out that even though Victor’s Id drove him to the brink of insanity he reveals the guilt he felt when realizing what he had done. In that case, when the monster expresses his feelings and frustration towards Victor, Victor is overcome with “justice in his argument” (126) and states, “His tale, and the feelings he now expressed, proved to him to be a creature of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness” (126). This quote is an indication that Victor realizes that the creature did deserve happiness, and when realizing that, guilt overcame him making him to consider to ‘pay’ the monster back. Not only did Victor feel guilty for his creation, but also felt the regret of creating the creature. Victor says, “I felt as if I had committed some great crime, the consciousness of which haunted me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn down a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that crime” (138). In this quote, it is obvious that because of his desires and drive to do something that he in the end regretted entirely, he felt as if he was the one that was guilty and responsible for creating the monster that he once wanted. In reality of Victors situation, he knew that because of his creation, he was guilty and often stated that “those were the last moment of my life during which I enjoyed

At this point Victor is responsible for two deaths and must keep this all to himself. By suffering through the guilt and the illness it is clear that his decisions that were made in order to deepen his knowledge of the scientific world are becoming dangerous to himself and the people close to him.

Another reason as to why the readers feel sympathy for the monster is because when asked for a partner, he is told that such a thing will not be presented to him because of the wretchedness of his kind. After realizing that the monster is the only of his kind and that he may never be accepted by society, he knew that he may be alone for the rest of his life. When he recognizes this, he sets out to find and ask Victor to make a female partner for himself to live alongside. When asked, Victor replies “I do refuse, .... and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world.” (Shelley, Pg.174) Victor explains that even at his worst, he may never create another horrible creature just as he had before. Readers

From the young age of five, he had a goal to protect Elizabeth from harm and the horrors of the world. Until this point, he had been successful with this goal. Now, however, he is the creator of the reason for her anguish, and he can’t explain to her that he unknowingly created their brother’s murderer. He has no one that he can completely trust with this secret, so he has to keep it inside, where the guilt is already tearing him apart. With so many emotions consuming him, it is plausible to predict that Victor may make a rash decision to go after his creation, or try to bring his brother back to life again for example, even though these things could prove to be immensely dangerous. His motivation for choosing to do these actions would be to try and make up for the death of his brother, which he feels responsible

Victor endured and witnessed the murder of his loved ones: “The death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval, and lastly of my wife” (pg. 187). Victor’s irresponsible actions led to his beloved friends and family to be murdered by his creation. His impulsive act of gifting life to a dangerous beast clearly displayed the cynical aftermath of playing God. Likewise to society and Victor, the Creature is alienated and disrespected by society and his creator; the Creature’s entire life was devoted to great agony and