Our typical definition of a monster includes an imaginary creature, ugly, huge, and frightening. This definition is evident in multiple literature pieces where a monster is a person, animal, or beast with no regard for nature and does things that harm society. In most of these literary works, the main character is a perfect individual dedicated to eliminating all evils caused by the monster or villain. Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein provides the audience with a confusing platform in determining the real villain or monster of her story; between the creature, Victor, and the society. Her story evokes strong emotions of hatred and love, as represented through her characterization. However, unlike a typical story, the creature that meets the monster’s physical features: large, ugly, and scary is not the real monster, her main character Victor is the real monster. Although Victor shows strong affection for his family, friend, and, more so, his cousin Elizabeth, his hatred dominates a large portion of the story. He holds intense hatred toward the creature he created, making him the real monster in the book. He demonstrates his monstrous behavior through his poor judgment, hostility, and selfishness.
All through the novel, the reader can notice the main character’s ignorance and poor judgment. Victor started his innovation journey with noble intentions; he was merely seeking to expand his scientific knowledge by disputing natural beliefs. He was a brilliant student who impressed his teacher and fellow students with his ingenuity and commitment to science. “I am happy,” said M. Waldman, “to have gained a disciple, and if your application equals your ability, I, ave no doubt of your success.” (Shelley and Groom 35). However, his greed and desire to possess god-like abilities consumed his humanity. The idea of creating life possessed him, which represents his ignorance of life and poor judgment. He failed to evaluate the consequences of his action, only focusing on results. His greed to accomplish his dreams resulted in his death and his family making him the real monster. He created the creature out of his greed and legacy in science. It is evident that he desired to create life, but he did not value or treasure life and made something that his mental capacity would comprehend or control (Lunsford 175). By nature, Victor is a man of poor judgment, with no consideration of his relative friend or society’s feelings who only focused on his gains.
Similarly, his actions of ignorance and poor judgment are visible in how he handled the creature. After spending two years creating a thing he desired, he disowned and abandoned it. The beast’s sight horrified its creator; this implies that Victor did not attempt to design a creature he would admire and did the worst thing; he runs away and takes a vacation in the mountains. By abandoning the creature, he left it free to develop its path of survival. Instead of guiding and training his creation on the ways of new life, such a human language and societal moral codes, he just left since he did not want to take any responsibility for his actions. In the attempt to find a companion and relationships, the creature ended up harming society. Victor’s actions were monstrous; he created a creature he suspected could be evil but abandoned it, exposing the community to unimaginable atrocities. Notably, Mary’s concern in the novel was not on the creature but on Victor as a representation of society. Victor created an innocent thing, but it became a monster due to how he and society treated it (Smith, 439). Victor made the creature feel lonely and unaccepted, and its efforts to find love and warmth in human being resulted in more atrocities.
While his achievement hypnotized him, making him almost sick for days, he rejected the creature after regaining his sense. However, the most flawed judgment he made was after Williams’s murder via strangulation. Victor knew that his creation had murdered his brother William, but he decided to hide the truth. He withheld facts that could have saved Justine Moritz’s life, their housekeeper. “Justine also was a girl of merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause! A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed…” (Shelley and Groom 68). Although he admits he caused the murder of the young girl, it was to himself. Besides, in the statement, he thought his only crime was creating the creature and not withholding crucial information from the authorities. Victor could have prevented all the evil deeds, but his poor judgment and ignorance stood in his way.
Dr. Frankenstein treats his creation with a lot of hostility and cruelty, making him the story’s villain. As one reads the novel, he/she develops empathy toward the creature, a feeling Mary intended to evoke. The beast was his firstborn, yet the doctor introduced it into the world in a hostile manner. When Victor first saw his creation, his action terrified him and disowned it; he could not live with his design, which was a confusing and frightening way to bring a newborn into the world. “He held up the curtain of the bed, and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs… listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.” (43) Contrary to the doctor’s belief, he did not have to hide from the creature or fear it since it was not born evil. The creature’s actions resulted from its creator’s cruel treatment and unwillingness to accommodate his experiment results. Instead of guiding the creature, the doctor blamed it for denying him peace, and consumed with anger; he decided to kill it.
As a result of Victor’s cold treatment, the creature attempted to find love and warmth from his friend and relatives. Indeed, the creature only wanted acceptance and freedom to enjoy life like the rest of humanity. However, Victor’s hostility drove the beast to its breaking point by taking away its only chance of finding companionship before its eyes. After agreeing to build a mate for the creature, Victor reconsidered his promises. He could not reimage a world with two creatures beyond human control. “I was now about to form another being of whose dispositions I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness.” (153). The creature continues to commit public murder when the doctor failed to honor his promises. However, his action of destroying the creature’s mate before its eyes drove it to its breaking point. The creature swore on revenge and promised the doctor, “It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night.” (155) Despite the creature’s warning, he went ahead to marry Elizabeth, resulting in her death as the creature fulfilled its promise. The creature’s actions are not justifiable, but there are explainable; Victor took away its only chance of having a companion; hence, it stole its creator’s source of joy. Victor provoked the creature, forcing it to reciprocate the same way its master reacted. Besides, Victor escalated the issue when he decided to take revenge on the beast chasing it through Russia and Europe, proving that the Victor is the real monster through his hostility. Even if Victor nearly killed it, the creature could not let Victor suffer even at his deathbed; it wept for losing the only remaining companion.
Dr. Frankenstein’s selfish identity also illustrates his monstrous attitude. The novelist presents him as an individual only interested in his well-being. The doctor is committed to recreating life without caring about how it affects his family. Possessed with experiments, Victor, a loving and caring son, became obsessed with science, and he spent more time away from his family. “My application was at first fluctuating and uncertain; it gained strength as I proceeded and soon became so ardent and eager that the stars often disappeared in the light of morning whilst I was yet engaged in my laboratory.” (37). At first, one would consider him a devoted scholar keen on discoursing nature’s mysteries only to learn that he was collecting parts of corpses in the hope of recreating life. He became disengaged with his surroundings living a lonely and secluded lifestyle. He ignored the happiness of his family’s members. As Lunsford notes, Victor was obsessed with creating a creature that resembled him, not that he values life and gains a place in history as the man who recreated life (175). By neglecting his family, he leads a monstrous lifestyle engaging in actions, which exposed them to unmeasurable risks. Besides, the doctor has no real friends except for Clerval, who the novel portrays as his redeemer, but the creature kills him: after all, Victor failed to warn him.
Victor’s marriage to Elizabeth also indicates his selfish attitude. He views his bride as a trophy and something he must possess no matter the risks involved. “I promised myself from my detested toils…, I might claim Elizabeth and forget the past in my union with her.” (141) He did not strive to establish a mutual relationship with Elizabeth; instead, selfishness drove his intentions. However, perhaps the most selfish act was to wed Elizabeth despite the warning from the creature. Victor valued his happiness more than his partner’s safety, as shown in his actions of hiding the creature’s existence from Elizabeth, resulting in her death. Moreover, he hid the existence of the creature from his family and the authority. The actions illustrate his ignorance and selfish behavior; he willing allowed an innocent girl to die without revealing the truth, fearing investigations would reveal his crime and ruin his reputation.
However, many may argue that Victor’s actions are innocent and only sought to improve scientific knowledge. Scientist devotes their time and resources trying to find solutions to various issues affecting society. Victor was working toward the same goal; he wished to create a solution that would defeat death. Indeed as Lunsford argues, after his mother’s death, he became disengaged from his friend and relatives, devoting himself to search for knowledge that would prevent him from dying (174). Besides, opposers may consider Victor a significant influencer of 21st-century scientific knowledge, justifying his desires and greed. For instance, synthetic biology’s emergence can link with Mary’s novel (Gschmeidler and Seiringer 165). The opposers may further argue that the idea of creating a child without male and female companionship is a dream of every scientist. Moreover, according to Regalado, animal cloning is viable and practiced by various scientists (1). Therefore, practicing it on humans is appropriate.
While the arguments may possess some reality, it is evident that Victor’s action sought to satisfy his self-agenda and not to promote scientific knowledge. He ignored the warning from his educated professors, who were against any attempt to play God. Besides, if anyone were to support the argument, he/she would have to show why he abandoned his creation. Moreover, he never attempted to engage with the creature at first sight. He welcomed it into the world with disgust showing no desire to accept it as a living thing even though he intended to defeat death. He developed a creature, brought it into an unfamiliar world, and failed to take any responsibility, just as uncaring parents would do to their newborns. According to Lunsford, Victor feared people’s judgment on his creation and abandoned it to preserve his image; disregarding any risk, he exposed his family and the public (175). Furthermore, the argument that they are links between modern scientific knowledge is vague and lacks enough backing from modern literature. As Banerjee states, Victor’s work has no role in creating the reproductive system (5). Besides, the novel is an indication that playing God is inappropriate by presenting risks of scientific experiments that endangers human life.
Similarly, opposers may also consider Victor’s actions explainable and justifiable. Indeed, the view of his creation sickened him, denying him any mental capability to think clearly, leaving him with no other option but fleeing to save his only remaining thing; reputation. Besides, he failed to present any information on his brother’s murder since he lacked enough evidence that the creature had committed the crime. “Justine also was a girl of merit…A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine, but I was absent when it was committed.” (Shelley and Groom 68). His actions toward the monster are explainable since he had no evidence that creating a mate for the creature would calm it down from killing innocent people. Besides, just as he lost control of the initial monster, there was no guarantee he would control the second one.
While one may consider the augments, his ego possessed his ability to consider the consequences of his actions to the creature. He fails to honor the bargain not because he feared losing control but because he never valued his creation as a living being that deserved love, warmth, and respect. He hated the creature, as it was the only thing close to an offspring. Indeed, after seeing its horrible look, he walked away and decided to marry Elizabeth to replace his past; he said, “I might claim Elizabeth and forget the past in my union with her.” (Shelley and Groom 141). Furthermore, just like the creature, Victor’s immediate reaction is to seek revenge against it for killing Elizabeth. He never considered himself responsible for exposing everyone he loved to the creature; instead, Victor embarks on a journey to eliminate the creation he once toiled to create. Furthermore, throughout the novel, Victor never attempted to explain to the creature the value of human life and the reasons for abandoning the project. The creature was Victor’s firstborn; hence, it acted as a mirror of his personality, an aspect that terrified and angered him. This action makes Victor the real monster and not his creation.
Everyone is born innocent; likewise, every creation is initially noble; however, the environment they grow in influences their behavior. Most people would focus on the conventional definition of a monster, which comprises of the physical outlook. However, Mary’s novel presents readers with a different perspective on monsters. Victor is a ruthless monster driven by greed to satisfy his desires forcing him to abandon his family and devote his time and energy to create something he could not comprehends or control. His desire for fame and legacy as the father of life recreation consumed his humanity. Through his ignorance and poor judgment, he disowned his creation without guiding it on the social and moral codes. His actions exposed his family and friend to unimaginable atrocities. He failed to own the consequences of his creation by providing evidence to the authorities, which would have prevented more deaths. For Victor, his reputation and image were critical than the lives of the people he claims to care about, such as Elizabeth. Indeed, the real monsters are not necessarily unnatural, huge, or scary; Victor is a perfect example of a monster.
