Frankenstein Critical Thinking

Teaching the Monster: Frankenstein and Critical Thinking

Tall. Dark. Ugly. Abnormal. That is what we typically call a monster, yet is it not mere Physiognomy. You see, we only proclaim ‘it’ monster because it apparents to be so, yet does true evil stem from it or was it breed. The reality is that a monster he is not, instead a monster is the one who created him. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, I agree with the faction that a monster clearly exists, however this monster was not created but instead he was simply revealed to be Victor Frankenstein through various actions that occurred.

The creation “Frankenstein” manifests himself as the monster through numerous murders and an abundance of rage. However, none of those actions would

have occurred if it were not for the true villain in the story- Victor Frankenstein. Victor is the only monster in this novel, for a multitude of reasons like the fact that he was driven by an abundance of greed to retaliate a name for himself and become “a famous scientist”. This then drove him to create something that had never been created before. If it had not been for the greed of fame, then Victor could have asked for help on the project, and gotten guidance as to how he should have handled the knowledge of creating life. Similarly, his yearning for recognition ongoing against god's will, “Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.” and doing the impossible lead him to throw away everything that he knew, and take only his beliefs and desires into considerations.
However, Victor's malignancy does not stop there, instead it becomes increasingly worse as he indirectly proceeds to commit similar atrocities as his creation became a victim of.

Since, not only does Victor monsterize himself by living in gluttony, but he also becomes increasingly inhumane as the story proceeds. For instance, he runs away from his creation and upon finding Frankenstein Victor shames him. This action is fairly similar to that of a mother abandoning a newborn child. For as ttmf by retaliates, “That paradox is perhaps best illustrated in Walton's consternation, after Victor's death, at finding himself torn between his initial horror at the "vision ... of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness" and a "compassion" which responds to the monster's voice and passionate misery” therefore, in essence, what Frankenstein had to bear through was all due to Victor’s mistreatment of Frankenstein's emotions. As well as needs, and acting as if he were more of a wild animal than a human with a functioning brain. On the other hand, while we may gasp at the death of his younger brother, William, and be utterly shocked at Justine's execution, we must not forget that Justine's termination could have been easily evaded had it not been for Victor’s inhumanity and

shame.
However, the murders that Victor indirectly aided did not stop there, for he even allowed his best friend and wife to be killed, which consequently caused the death of his father as well.
If Victor had instead emitted sentiments towards his creation that he formatted as a superior image of man, thus allowed Frankenstein to feel like a man does “‘I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge.” (141), then Victor would have acknowledged and proceeded with Frankenstein's request to rid the solitude that tormented him.

This then would have lead Frankenstein to be content and leave the Frankenstein family alone.

Another vital aspect that concurred Victor to become the real monster of the story, is Victor’s inability to take control of his thoughts and emotions. Instead, Victor overall allows his ID to take over and control every aspect of his life. This was foreseen early in his life, but evolved quite dangerously to follow his ideals, without taking much into consideration others and the physical effects they would inquire.

Therefore, Frankenstein is merely an image of what Victor in all his glory truly is- a monster driven by his own desires. That only needed various activities to occur before revealing another self. Thus, providing the essence that true evil resides not in what we manifest, but instead in what we essentially are:

humans.