Is Victor Frankenstein Innocent

In the novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, scientist Victor Frankenstein gives life to an innocent being who later goes on to commit atrocities once he becomes exposed to the injustice of civilization.
Ironically, the monster is first exposed to injustice by his own creator. The moment Victor gives him life, he is horrified by the way he has made him look. He cannot bear the sight of him, so he abandons him. Instead of taking responsibility for him like he should have, he refuses to admit his existence to anyone out of shame. With nowhere to go, the monster is forced into a small hovel, where he is able to observe a family. He quickly learns about family, love, and the difference between right and wrong. Out of the pure goodness

of his heart, he does everything he can to help this family out. When having a talk with the family’s blind father, the man realizes he is of good intentions and has a true heart, since he cannot judge him based on appearance. It is only when his son enters the house and sees him that he drives him away, horrified. After this incident, the monster realizes his loneliness and returns to Victor to ask him to create a mate for him. Initially, he complies, but he later changes his mind, causing the monster to become outraged. He knows that this is unjust, because every man and every beast has a mate except him.
He realizes that being kind has gotten him nowhere, since humans only see his ugly appearance that Victor has given him and not his kind intentions.

He spitefully decides to try a new approach and vows to get his revenge, beginning with seeking out Victor’s younger brother William and murdering him, since he knows this person means a great deal to him. Because of his shame and failure to admit the creature’s existence, Victor’s cousin Justine is accused of the murder and is executed because no one knows who his true killer was. The monster is now responsible for two deaths in Victor’s family. Later, Victor makes the mistake of going back on his promise to create a partner for the monster. Now more enraged than before, the monster kills his best friend, Henry Clerval, in the hopes that maybe now Victor would understand his need for companionship. Victor never returns to his work on another monster, however, so the monster follows through with his promise that he would be with Victor on his wedding night and murders his bride, Elizabeth. Finally, the monster’s revenge is complete when Victor’s father dies a few days later out of grief. One might argue that the monster’s homicidal rampage made him successful in getting his revenge on Victor. However, the monster is still unhappy. Killing all those people did not make him get his bride that he so desired. It certainly destroyed Victor’s life, but it didn’t make the monster’s life any

better.
The monster was never successful in his quest for revenge. If he had truly been successful, he would have been overjoyed and felt a sense of accomplishment, but instead it can be inferred that he killed himself. This is not consistent with someone who is successful. This journey of the monster’s search for justice can be tied into the theme that people are innately good and that it is civilization that turns us evil. In the beginning, the monster had no intentions of killing anyone and it was only when he was exposed to injustice that he felt the need to do something about it. Even in the end, after Victor has died, he says he has no desire to kill anymore. He feels so much remorse that he ends his own life because of what he did. He did not find his justice. So in this novel, the monster comes to realize how unjust life is, and he is not successful in his journey to overcome it.