Frankenstein Did Not Like Himself

Frankenstein Did Not Like Himself

Victor Frankenstein effectively and ethically abandons the major responsibility of the creature he created. The ethical interpretation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is so complicated that it requires a careful study of the novel. Many different ethical views are proposed throughout the novel Frankenstein. Victor's actions toward the monster clearly show that his morals are questionable.

One primary example of Victor's unethical behavior is his constant refusal of responsibility for creating the monster. This affects both his life and the lives of those around him after he abandons his creature. He turns his creation into a monster both physically and mentally. By leaving the monster to survive on his own,

he continues to wreak havoc and destruction to Victor's loved ones. Victor's actions go against the way he was reared, which was with loving and nurturing. He states "No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence." Even though Victor's parents were ethical, his actions toward the creature were not, they were in a sense inhumane. Victor states "horror and disgust" (43) which filled his heart to control his actions. Though he created the monster he takes no responsibility for his actions. It is this unethical act that sets forth the dire actions of the monster.

This cruel abandonment serves as a duality oflessons. It instructs us to assume responsibility for our actions and to follow through with commitments. Secondly, it shows us the danger of seeking knowledge that we are unprepared to manage. Victor's drive to learn the secret to creating life utterly blinds him to the consequences of achieving such a monumental feat.
When he succeeds, he is paralyzed with his own inability to assume the responsibility and care that he should have anticipated his creation would require.
Shelley characterizes the Monster in a way that has many dimensions.

He carries positive and negative qualities. His negative qualities only appear after he is repeatedly abandoned and neglected. Victor's animation of the patchwork body that is abused and then abandonment ultimately cause the creature to become evil, but rather it is Victor's neglectful and cruel behavior toward his creation that causes the damage. Shelley diverts focus away from the common arguments of morality and the issue of "not playing God" and chooses to divert the focus on the ethical problems of the individual. Victor becomes "the wretch -the miserable monster whom [he] created" (44); he is referring to the monster, however he could be speaking of himself as well.

Shelley shows the reader that this form of wallowing escapism does not render a person any less accountable for their actions. Victor relates to Walton that he "remained motionless. The thunder ceased; but the rain still continued, and the scene was enveloped in an impenetrable darkness" (63). This is symbolic of Victor's life after his refusal to take charge of his own actions, but it is not only himself whom he thrusts into this impenetrable and perpetual darkness, it is a fate he prescribes to all of those closest to him. This teaches us that our ethical or

unethical

actions affect not only ourselves but others as well. There is a heavy price attached to individual actions and it is crucial to be aware of this interconnectedness.
Not only does Victor shirk from his own responsibilities, he allows others to assume the responsibilities for his dangerous choices. This lack of ethics results in the deaths of his loved ones, deaths he could have presumably prevented if he had followed through with his own accountability. One unethical example is during the accusation, trial, and then execution of Justine Moritz, the housekeeper falsely accused of Victors brother Williams death. It is Victor's refusal to own up to his unethical behavior that allows the innocent Justine to go to her death.
This is a horrendous crime, a crime which Victor and his creation should have been held accountable.
Shelley puts more emphasis on ethics of the individual rather than society because group ethics are so flawed.

Elizabeth laments "when I reflect ... on the miserable death of Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before appeared to me. Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and injustice, that I read in books or heard from others, as tales of ancient days, or imaginary evils; at least they were remote, and more familiar to reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood" (79). A person cannot and must not rely on society to dictate an ethical way oflife. It is up to the individual to construct his or her own ethical compass. Elizabeth goes on to say "when falsehood can look so like the truth, who can look so like the truth, who can assure themselves of certain happiness? I feel as though I were walking on the edge of a precipice, towards which thousands are crowding, and endeavoring to plunge me into the abyss" (80).

The

abyss is what a person falls into when he or she abandons his or her own set of ethics in favor of those dictated by society.
In the Frankenstein project, http://frankenstein.lmc.gatech. edu/EthicsOfCreation.html it is duly noted that the responsibility for Victors unethical behavior may be placed on his poor upbringing and lack of parental guidance.
One of Shelley's dominant themes is the obligation to one's own creation. Wheri Victor's lack ofjudgment leads him to create a misshapen being, his self-loathing for the results of his act quickly become hatred for the monster. After the creature's birth, "I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as ifl sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the
street would present to my view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited" (497). He procrastinates in dealing with the monster for as long as possible, but to no avail. When he finally returns to his apartment, he notes that "I thought I saw the dreaded spectre glide into the room ... I imagined that the monster seized me; I struggled furiously and fell down in a fit" (499). Victor's ensuing illness allows him to put off dealing with his actions for a few months, but ultimately, the more Victor procrastinates, the more he is mentally haunted by the monster. As the plot escalates, the monster begins to quite literally haunt him with the murder of his loved ones. Thus Shelley uses Victor to show that avoiding the responsibilities of a creator is a serious sin that will destroy himself and others.
By illustrating the major responsibility with the creation of his creature and abandonment at birth Shelly paints a portrait of Victor Frankenstein as an unethical, insensitive and cruel human being capable only of peace with his own extinction. Shelley may be also speaking for

Keaton 5 herself as she gives readers these instances of unfair ethical versus fair ethical examples as a benefit to society for their understanding and interpretation. Ifonly Victor Frankenstein liked himself, this may have been a different story.