The Great Egos Pain And Destruction In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Victor’s enormous ego causes pain and destruction in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Victor creates a being that he thinks will make him a genius forever, however ends up causing more pain to him and others. The creature starts to endure more pain than the others as Victor abandons him, leaving him feeling unwanted. Because Victor did not care for his creation, the Monster sets out to destroy him, and ends up destroying Victor and everything or anyone that was considered close to Victor. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor’s ego leads to the destruction to the ones around him and himself.
Throughout the book Shelley displays the ego that Victor has developed in multiple ways, however not necessarily directly. During one of Victor’s science examinations, he steps back in astonishment,
Examining and analyzing all the minutia of causation, as exemplified in the change form life to death, and death to life, until from the midst of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me- a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquires towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret (37).
Victor soon realizes that he is the only one that holds this type of power. No one else has discovered such science and the fact that he has, makes him better than everyone else. He is starting to realize the power that he is capable and what he will be able to do with such great power. "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless ...

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... his ego has brought him, and he is aware that everything that had happened was ultimately his fault. Shelley then claims that due to his mistakes, Victor has been “Chained in an eternal hell” (194). Shelley shows the reality of Victor’s destruction by placing him in an everlasting nightmare, hell. Victor’s ambitions caused everyone around him to be miserable.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor’s ego leads to the destruction of himself and the ones around him. Shelley had hinted the destruction of Victor since his childhood. But as Victor explored further into his interests he comes across a creation that would come of no good, however Victor had been blind to that. The monster kills Victor and everything and everyone that was close to him. Mary Shelley is trying to infer that without staying well-grounded and your ego in check, nothing good will come of it.

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