Viktor Frankenstein: The True Monster

Nick Smith

English 4

Mr. Farrington

January 5, 2017

Viktor Frankenstein’s chosen isolation and his ignorance for those who care for him as well as his own creation make him the true monster. In contrast, the creature’s wish to attain to achieve friends and social interactions almost make him more of a human than Viktor Frankenstein.

Looking beyond the outer appearance of the monster, it seems evident that what he began as was not a monster. Instead it was the extreme misconceptions of humans, resulting in extreme isolation of the creature, that caused him to become a monster. The creature had no “relation or friend upon earth,” hence he, in a way, is linked to humans (Shelley 147). The health and survival of a human baby is dependent on

social interactions. Likewise, the creature that Viktor has created lives a torturous and depressing life without companionship. He strives for friends, yet his disturbing appearance causes him to fail and be shunned by humans.

Viktor has set out to create life, to make something live that had not before. His mother’s passing may have pushed him over the edge into this, and he works tirelessly to create another person. “I began the creation of a human being” (Shelley 54). Viktor refers to the body at his feet as, “the lifeless thing” and it may very well be the beginning of his disassociation of the creature with humanity.

Viktor seems to be quite content in isolation. His passion for his work causes him to revert to isolation. He mentions that “no youth could have passed more happily than mine” (Shelley 67). Furthermore, his parents emphasize to him that it will cause them great distress if he doesn’t stay in touch with them. Despite their pleading and past kindness to him, Viktor still

selfishly chooses to remain isolated, despite the warning his parents give him and the pleading of Elizabeth. It is his choice to remain isolated that contributes to his monster-like attributes. In addition, Viktor even sees himself similar to a monster. He thinks to himself, “can you wonder, that sometimes a kind of insanity possessed me, or that I saw continually about me a multitude of filthy animals inflicting on me incessant torture, that often extorted screams and bitter groans” (Shelley 160). It seems that in this instance, Viktor is seeing himself from the perspective of an isolated monster. For one, he refers to humans as a “multitude of filthy animals.” He also mentions “screams and bitter groans,” which could also relate to human’s perception of him as a monster. Viktor’s extreme ignorance towards fixing the problem he has created also contributes to his monster side. As shown by his actions and his thoughts, Viktor is often a hypocrite. For instance, Viktor asks himself, “Why does the man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute” (Shelley 116). Through this statement, Viktor seems to be asserting that humans are in fact equal to beasts, for there is a sense of equality that exists between the two. Yet despite this statement, in his interactions with the creature, he seems to show little respect for the creature’s very logical request.
Viktor is unable to endure the aspect of the being he had created.

He genuinely cannot stand the sight of the creature. If there was a person who should be able to overcome the creature’s physical presence, it is Viktor. Not only is Viktor the creator, but he also put so much of his own time and effort into the creature. But the creature’s body is too hideous. Furthermore, Viktor attributes his change in feeling to “human nature”. This contrasts with the horrifying description that the reader is just given of the creature. Here, Viktor is explaining the creature’s disgusting body, and explaining his reaction to it as human nature. Humans deny the creature because of the way he looks, yet the creature is made from human bodies and desires to belong to the community of humans. By sheer definition, the creature cannot have “human nature.” Human nature is a way of behaving that all humans are born with. It is a phrase that describes the way humans are inclined to react to situations based on the fact that they are humans. It is something that humans have naturally, but since the creature is not a naturally occurring being he does not have human nature. The creature will also be unable to understand human nature. He is not equipped with the knowledge of how humans behave, and does not understand it. The creature is not a human that was born, he is a being that was made. Therefore by definition he is lacking human nature, and it is this human nature that causes people to exclude

the creature.
When Victor's lack of judgment 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 if I 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" (Shelley 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" (Shelley 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.
Viktor resembles a monster through his actions far more than the creature does. His chosen isolation and his ignorance for those who care for him as well as his own creation make him the true monster. In contrast, the creature’s wish to attain to achieve friends and social interactions almost make him more of a human than Viktor.