Frankenstein Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Analysis

Readers often attribute Victor Frankenstein’s many bouts of illness and fever to his attempts at escaping from the world in which he lives; however, a mental disorder may be more to blame for his continuous decline in health. Although Victor’s illnesses may offer an escape from the harsh realities of the world which he helped create, it appears that his symptoms align more with a psychosomatic disorder, a disease which involves both mind and body. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by a horrific or terrifying event. Not all traumatic events lead to PTSD; many people recover with proper care after a short time to lead normal lives. Without the right kind of care, however, a traumatic event can lead

to PTSD. Such is the case with Victor Frankenstein. With the construction of the monster and the deaths of family and friends by his creation, Victor falls physically ill for long periods of time after each terrible event. The overbearing weight of creating a murderous monster has left Victor both physically and mentally ill with oppressive fevers and extreme anxiety.
The first sign of major illness occurs at the very beginning of the novel when Elizabeth, Victor’s adopted sister, falls ill with a sever case of the scarlet fever. Even though everyone advised against it for her own health, Victor’s mother tended to Elizabeth and nursed her back to health. People did warn her for a good reason as she eventually caught the sickness. This tough fever sentenced Victor’s mother to her death bed. She left the world in a positive manner, understanding that she succeeded with raising her children and that she would see them again in the future. Little did she know just how soon they would be joining her. As Victor narrates, he even sees this misfortune as an “omen to his future misery” as illness, death, terror and murder will plague him for the rest of his life (39).
Victor shows signs and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder throughout the book. Flashbacks and haunting memories occur many times for Victor. It brings him back to the moment the monster was created and puts the fear back in his heart and mind. After the creation of the monster, it soon brings back the feelings of fear. “I remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I had dated my creation.” (85) Flashbacks and memories like this mercilessly haunt him and makes the PTSD worse. Another common symptom Victor experiences is feeling emotionally numb to the outside world. The reader can see many times where Victor suffers from this numbness, but its onset directly follows the creation and abandonment of the monster. An encounter with Henry Clerval shows that even his friend could see something was not mentally right with him, that he could possibly be mentally ill. During Victor's narration of this scene he even said “I was lifeless and did not recover my senses for a long, long time.” (64) Even the symptom of being easily scared was found in this troubled scientist’s brain, as the simple fall of a leaf could startle him.
Victor may have avoided PTSD if it were not for the contribution of many risk factors after the creation of the monster.

Having little or no support after a traumatic event can lead to a major defect in one's mental recovery. Victor did not tell anyone about the monster, so no one could understand what he went through or could help him feel better. Although Victor does receive care with his many falls to fever, he had no family or friends to talk to about his mental stability or his emotions. He could not go to any sort of support group for this kind of situation. Victor was on his own with his mental recovery and could never find a way to overcome it. In addition to his lack of support, PTSD can overcome a person when they witness the deaths of others. Although Victor never witnessed a death personally, he did see all of the dead victims of his creation including his brother, best friend, and wife. Not only did strangers die from his own creation, but also the people closest to him. Another risk factor of PTSD involves the feelings of horror, helplessness, and extreme fear. Victor experiences all of these feelings. He feels horror from what happened to the people in his life by the monster, helplessness because he fails to destroy the creature, and fear due to his own life and the other people around

him.
Dr. Frankenstein’s illness had many physical tolls on him along with major mental ones. The issues that Victor has throughout the novel directly relate to many of the symptoms and risk factors of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He did not get the mental care a person having witnessed that many traumatic experiences should have. This lead his risk factors, including his lack of support and seeing his family and friend’s corpses due to his creation, to severe symptoms of a mental illness. Victor suffered from flashbacks, emotional numbness, and easy startling. The major symptom that most frequently occurred was fever and physical illness, which, especially in the time era of the book, could have easily lead to death. This eventually overtook Victor as he followed his mother and many of his other loved ones into death. PTSD and other mental illnesses seem like the obvious explanation for Victor Frankenstein's behavior throughout the book, especially after the creation of the destructive monster.