Throughout the book Frankenstein, a very casual reader can discover simple things about Victor as a person. One can say, with many examples, that Victor is a bad person. Whether it has to do with him causing so many deaths, creating life when life was not intended to be created, or just the way in which Victor goes about himself in his life, you can find ways to bring him down as a character. There is a certain passage in the book that helps elude to many of Victor’s negative qualities which helps sum him up as a character nicely. It is towards the end of the book, but it still shows how Victor behaved throughout almost all of the story. “This letter revived in my memory what I had before forgotten, the threat of a fiend- ‘I will be with …show more content…
Technically speaking, the monster does want to see him suffer, and tear away and possibility he has left for happiness, but Victor’s ego is too large to see the truth. Granted, killing him would cause him to suffer, if the monster wanted that to happen he would’ve murdered Victor a while ago. “On that night he had determined to consummate his crimes by my death (Shelley 192, 193).” This quotation is an interesting one, because it has two important parts to it. One part that has been covered before is Victor thinking the monster is just out to murder himself, when in actuality a clear-minded individual could tell he has other plans. The other part that’s interesting to note out of that portion is when he says “his crimes”, eluding to what the monster has done. Now this is more a controversial topic, but it creates the question; is Victor responsible for what his creation has done? The consensus is that he is responsible. So this is another point in which Victor is not yet taking responsibility for what his creation has done and for the murders of his family and friends. That is another minor piece that can fit into the umbrella of describing Victor as a bad person, and how one could
It is in his desire to be beheld as godlike only logical: “did [he] not, as his maker, owe him all the portion of happiness that is in [his] power to bestow?” (157). He saw this opportunity not only as a way to finally rid himself of the monster, but also extricate himself from his family: “I was delighted at the idea of spending a year or two in a change of scene…” (163). However, he cannot abide by the promise because it is not something he can easily ignore or run away from. Thus, Victor breaks his promise in a most dramatic fashion: “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and, trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged” (175). This act temporarily rids him of the unwanted responsibility, but catapults him into a dependency upon the monster. This dependency is strengthened after Elizabeth’s death, demonstrated by the seemingly endless and nonsensical journey the monster leads Victor on. The monster captivates Victor, and keeps him engaged in the chase; even assuring his health by providing him with sustenance and guiding his path by leaving “marks in writing on the barks of the trees, or cut in stone” as to not let him be led astray or lost
...ot use his newly found motivation responsibly and by the middle of our novel the death of his mother is seemingly microscopic compared to the problem that he has to deal with in regards to his creation. Following his mother's death, Victor began to change and with those changes he also felt the need to be worshipped and as a result he creates a monster that he runs from and sees as a burden, however, the monster recognizes Victor as his creator, but Victor remains disgusted and somewhat afraid of what he created. This causes the monster to seek out his revenge. In the end Victor is in fact a coward, he is also selfish and irresponsible due to the fact that every emotion and transformation he experiences can be trace back to the moment where he went to the extreme and sought our Godly powers andd not only created his monster, but transformed into a monster himself.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as the name implies, centers on the character of Victor Frankenstein. Over the course of the novel, the point of view switches across a cast of several characters, all of which have interacted with Victor, some more than others. Victor’s pursuit to find the source of life, and the events thereafter, show him making countless questionable decisions, hurting the people close to him, and getting away wit hit all because of the society he lives in. These points unequivocally prove that Victor Frankenstein is a sociopath.
He possibly could have located the monster, with the help of others, in a timely fashion, thus averting the many calamities that followed. However, Victor chose to abandon his monster and not inform anyone of its creation, and ignore it for months (Shelly 56). When Victor finally sees the monster again, it is after the monster has killed his youngest brother, william. When an innocent woman is blamed for this crime, and Victor could testify and save her life, he takes no action, saying that he would be thought crazy for his tale (Shelly 66).This in and of itself is an insanely selfish thing to do, with minimal effort Victor could have saved another person's life but because it could jeopardize his own reputation, he chooses not to. Even after two people have perished due to his thoughtlessness, Victor still does not inform anyone of the monster which he has created and still allows it to run loose. Later in the novel, after Victor destroys the companion the monster asked him to build, the monster strangles Victor's innocent friend Henry (Shelley 166). Victor’s actions caused a number of deaths and endangered many people. Henry, Elizabeth, William, and Justine all had nothing to do with the creation and subsequent abandonment of the monster, and yet due to Victors irresponsibility, they paid the ultimate price. Williams death is a turning point in the novel, as it shows victor for the first time that his actions actually do have consequences “Nothing in the human shape could have destroyed that fair child. He was the murderer! I could not doubt it”, and yet he chooses to continue to make irresponsible choices that continue to endanger more people (Shelley
A true relationship between the monster and Victor never existed. Victor is similar to a man who fathers a child only for the pleasure of "doing it," ignoring the circumstances it may bring. Victor was so thrilled to see the components of his creation coming together - indeed it was truly a thing of beauty to him. But like the biological father, he is only excited over the thrill of "doing it." After the sensation and pleasure of creation ends responsibility begins and Victor, like our modern day deadbeat dads, refuses to face the consequences of his actions. Any relationship that existed between these two was simply that of usury - except the currency was not gold or silver, but fame and pride. Victor hoped to use his creation in a selfish manner, only to gain recognition for himself.
“Revenge alone endowed [him] with strength and composure; it modeled [his] feelings, and allowed [him] to be calculating and calm” (145). Victor gained new purpose and even on his deathbed holds to the principle that he is justified in desiring the death of his enemy. Moment before his death he turns to Captain Robert Walton and says, “I feel myself justified in desiring the death of my adversary. During these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blamable” (156). He even begins to lose the small amount of compassion he had for the creature’s struggle. When visiting his family’s graves he cries that, “they were dead, and I lived; their murder also lived” (145). Previously in the novel he blamed himself for the deaths of Mathew, Justine, and Henry, claiming to be their murderer and lamenting on the evil he had set forth into the world. Victor now places the weight of these deaths solely on the monster’s shoulders and believes it is his god given burden to cleanse the world of this evil. He had been “assured that the shades of [his] murdered friends heard and approved [his] devotion… rage choked [him]”(146). The death of the monster would not even weigh on his conscience since it is god’s
Victor throughout the story is portrayed as the protagonist and the creature is portrayed as the antagonist. This is an important idea to think on because specific evidence throughout the story proves this theory. When he refuses to make the creature a companion, he is trying to save the world. After Elizabeth is killed, Victor follows the creature to end him. The creature taunts Victor after murdering Elizabeth.
As a romantic, archetype and gothic novel, Victor is responsible for the monsters actions because Victor abandons his creation meaning the creature is dejected and ends up hideous and fiendish. It is unfair to create someone into this world and then just abandon it and not teach it how to survive. The quote from the creature “Why did you make such a hideous creature like me just to leave me in disgust” demonstrates how much agony the creature is in. He is neglected because of his creator. The monster says “The hateful day when I received life! I accurse my creator. Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” Victor is wholly at fault for his actions, image and evil.
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.
Victor is on a path that leads to making decisions and more often he makes these rash decisions that he doesn’t take responsibility for right off the bat. He goes and creates this monstrosity without thinking “hey, what could be the repercussions of bring life to the dead?” or the fact that he basically robs graves to make his life's work come together as one almost literally. “Is this not a free country? asked Frankenstein… Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. replied an ill-looking man” (127). This man walks up to Victor asking for him to go and meet with a Mr. Kirwin about a dead man, Victor could be thinking of what he did to create the monster, or more accurately what the monster did. If Victor had shown some
Although some critics say that the monster Victor has created is to blame for the destruction and violence that follow the experiment, it is Victor who is the responsible party. First, Victor, being the scientist, should have known how to do research on the subject a lot more than he had done. He obviously has not thought of the consequences that may result from it such as the monster going crazy, how the monster reacts to people and things, and especially the time it will take him to turn the monster into the perfect normal human being. This is obviously something that would take a really long time and a lot of patience which Victor lacks. All Victor really wants is to be the first to bring life to a dead person and therefore be famous. The greed got to his head and that is all he could think about, while isolating himself from his friends and family. In the play of Frankenstein, when Victor comes home and sets up his lab in the house, he is very paranoid about people coming in there and finding out what he is doing. At the end of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor says:
His part of the of the story is in from his view point too. The monster did seek others help unlike Victor, but he was not completely honest with them. He allowed his desire for acceptance to consume him and make him bitter. Upon saving a human, then being shot for doing so he said, “This was the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness, which I had entertained but a few moments before, gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind. But the agony of my wound overcame me; my pulses paused, and I fainted.” (Shelley, 101) In the novel the reader also reads, “If, therefore, I could seize him and educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be so desolate in this peopled earth.” (Shelley, 102) The monster wanted to train William to be his friend. He thought that since William’s mind was young, he wouldn’t know about deformity, and ugliness. The monster even said himself, “I do not intend to hurt you; listen to me.” (Shelley, 102) He had no intentions of hurting William. Yet when William told him he was from the Frankenstein family and started insulting him, he ended up murdering William. Also, in the novel the monster promised Victor that
Shelley also connects various points about the monster by saying that in most cases committing such cruel acts can only mean that it’s a cry for attention because the monster is desperate for attention that Victor can’t give. However, it’s easy to point the finger at the monster for all of the crimes that he’s committed towards Victor and his family. However, it can be reversed because the monster does suffer injustice in his own
...or was trying to make himself happy over how the monster could have felt. All the monster wanted was compassion and he would never see anyone else again but Victor did not want to make things an equal game from himself and the monster. Victor was trying to make the monster how HE wanted him to be, not how the monster wanted himself to be.
Victor Frankenstein was not a very good person. From his childhood to the end of his life, he