Who To Blame In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

It has always been up for debate about who’s at fault for atrocities that are committed in todays society. With modern psychology research at its forefront, it has been discovered that the way a child is raised affects how they are as an adult. Seems simple. But, if a child grows up to become a murder, is it the parents fault? Or is it the individuals fault for committing the crime in the first place? One could also say that society as a whole could also be at fault for the “monsters” we create. Although opinion differs between each person, there is a bit of truth to all of these statements. I believe while partial blame goes to the ‘creator’ of such monsters, the rest of the blame goes to the monsters themselves because they are the ones acting

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.

When a crime is committed, the blame is usually placed on the criminal. This is because a crime cannot take place without a criminal. However, a lawbreaker generally has reasons for his misdeed. For a crime to occur, a criminal must have incentive. Consequently, the causes of a wrongdoer’s motivation are also responsible for the offence. In addition, crimes can be avoided if the proper precautionary measures are taken. Therefore, anyone who could have stopped a crime from happening is partially accountable for it. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature created by Victor Frankenstein kills several of Victor’s loved ones. These murders could be blamed on the creature, but he is not solely responsible for them. The root cause of the

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

Justine was hanged after being found guilty of William’s murder. William had been killed by the creature, as he had been insulting it, and when the creature discovered that William was related to Victor, he strangled William. The creature was drawn to William’s locket, which he takes, and later places in Justine’s dress. Although Justine could have tried to speak up and against her punishment, she is not responsible for her own death. She confessed to the crime, possible hoping that this would result in a less severe punishment. Despite this, she is still killed. Trying to say she was innocent likely would not have helped her avoid her punishment either. [Justine could not be considered responsible for her own death.] The justice system and society were responsible for Justine’s death. However, it is because of Victor

Can an intense appetency for the pursuit of knowledge result in fatal consequences? In most situations when a strong desire is present consequences are seldom taken into consideration. In the novel, Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein pursues knowledge in an obsessive manner that blinds him to the possible effects. Victor Frankenstein is the primary cause of his creature's desolation. Indeed, Victor Frankenstein is at fault for the creature's isolation and malformation, which causes the creature to feel rejected, lonely, and determined to seek revenge.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus, the monster that Frankenstein created committed the crimes due to the actions and negligence from Frankenstein.

Alhough Victor Frankenstein calls his creature a monster, and considers it disgusting and abhorrent, it is in fact Frankenstein who behaves monstrously. He claims to have created the creature for a noble purpose: to defeat death. However, it is clear that his motives

While Creature is full of humanity and has a thirst for knowledge, his longing for acceptance in society is met with constant rejection. Through this rejection, it sparks anger into the Creature for his irresponsible creator, Victor Frankenstein. Creature’s anger leads to greater tragedies for Victor. The greater of the tragedies are the murdering of innocent people including Victor’s family that is seen to be the fault of Creature since he is the one who murdered them. If Victor did not abandon the Creature and had taught him murder was not morally correct, Creature would not have committed the heinous acts.When Creature was first theoretically born, he was introduced into the world in a very harsh way. Metaphorically, Creature starts out into the world as a newborn, needing a parent 's guidance and teachings. Victor abandons him immediately with no sense of direction. Creature, after his “birth”, approaches Victor with a hand of longing for compassion. “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they maybe called, were fixed on me...He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out” (Shelley 35). Victor instead of showing acceptance immediately runs away at the sight of him.

In his interactions with society, the Creature often reacts aggressively, because “[their] purpose [is] to kill [him]” and “do [their] duty towards [him], and [he does his] towards...the rest of mankind” (Shelley 68). As Victor Frankenstein feels a need to end the life of his Creature, the Creature’s reciprocating duty is in turn to defend his life by eliminating the lives of his adversaries. This conflict between Creature and Man generates a state of war which is carried out by the Creature’s following acts of extreme violence: the murders of William Frankenstein, Henry Clerval, Elizabeth Lavenza, and finally, Victor Frankenstein himself. Although the Creature behaves violently in many instances, this cruelty is not the most prominent aspect of his inherent nature. Upon further inspection, Shelley’s stronger support of Rousseau’s theories becomes more apparent. Shelley clearly reaffirms the noble savage idea that “savages are not bad…because…[of] the peacefulness of [man’s] passions, and [his] ignorance of vice” (Rousseau) through her Creature’s

Parents and creators set the main foundation to their creation or offspring. Though Sharon Begley portrayed that the environment in where the creation or offspring were raised also hindered their outcome as an adult and the amount of violence contributed. Mary Shelley’s fascinating science fiction novel, Frankenstein, conveyed how the creation was a living proof of how without a creator or parent to guide him through as a child he would have a higher chance of committing a crime or becoming violent. Shelly further suggests that since the creation grew up isolated and rejected by the people around him it increased his aggression as he grew older and hindered his behavior vastly. The responsibility of a creator is not just to create, but to love and protect their children. They are a product of not just their own inherited nature, but also as important of their creator’s nurturing or lack thereof.

If a child acted violently toward another child, should the parents of that child be held responsible for the inappropriate behavior, or should the child take full responsibility for his/her actions? This question of responsibility comes up often in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. Her horrific and dark tale of the mad, science-obsessed Victor Frankenstein, wanting to create life from what had already been dead, evokes questions of who is at fault for the creature’s murders. Although some may say that the creature is at complete fault because he is own “person”, but ultimately Victor is at fault because he is the one who created a being that destroyed the lives of innocent people due to how he treated the creature.

Ultimately, knowing his mistakes does not change his behaviour; Frankenstein continues in a downward spiral after listening to the creature’s story, and unceremoniously deceives the creature, leading to more problems. One cannot simply blame the creature for the deaths that occur in the story because it is truly Frankenstein who is aware of consequences but succumbs to fear.

The lack of attention Frankenstein contributed towards the monster, and his life teaching, is directly correlated with the actions the creature made throughout his existence. Although the creature physically caused the murders, Victor Frankenstein instigated the action of the creature to perform these killings through negligence. Victor articulates:

It is vital that you know who the real monster in the Frankenstein book, Victor Frankenstein is the number one contender for this position. He creates a monster, but who knows if the actual monster he created is the true monster in this story. In later chapters the true monster is revealed, Victor Frankenstein takes fault for the deaths of Justine, William, and Henry even though he wasn’t the actual cause of their death. Although the monster was created by Victor, he is still horrid and disgusted by how his monsters look and abandons his creation because of his unpleasant demeanor. Victor didn’t accept the monster and decided to avoid coming into contact with the monster, woefully the monster later commits an evil act and kills Justine