Victor's Responsibility In Frankenstein

While Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein revolves around the quest for revealing new forms of knowledge and discovering innovative technology, another significant part of the book is the character's journey in trying to fulfill their innate desire for companionship. The novel features a crazed scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a living being from various dead human corpses in an attempt to become a god-like figure. Frankenstein’s creation presented a moral commitment of responsibility that a creator has over its creation. Frankenstein’s ignorance towards his responsibility as a creator left the disfigured creature alone to be ravaged by the evilness of humanity. The life of suffering that the creature faced due to his lack of emotional

The monster acknowledges the power Victor has over him and the responsibility he has failed to tend to in the line: “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drives from joy for no misdeed.” (Shelley, 103). In this line, we see the responsibility Victor has failed to establish between him and his creature; instead displaying fear and disgust. This line is a reference to Paradise Lost by John Milton, a book about Adam and Eve and how they came to be created along with how they came to lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. When Frankenstein’s creature says “I ought to be thy Adam” he is referring to Victor as his God, and to himself as a ‘would-be Adam’ who ought to be cared for as God cared for Adam. However, being a disfigured creature, composed of human corpses bonded with life, almost satanic, he is more similar to the “ the fallen angel”. This reference to Paradise Lost shows the creature’s attempt to make Victor have empathy for his miserable state by distinguishing the sense of power Victor has over him as his creator. Although the monster acknowledges his inferiority to Victor he also displays the power he obtains as a living being and