The True Crime In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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This is a novel that contains several criminal acts committed by the key character, Victor Frankenstein. Throughout the story, as these acts are committed, it is difficult to determine who exactly the true criminal is and what exactly is the criminal nature of these acts. We eventually discover that there is only one criminal. In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley asserts that Frankenstein is the real criminal through his acts of selfishness, dislike of human kind, and his misuse of science. In the beginning, good intentions in the mind of Frankenstein are revealed, but eventually lead to his destruction. It is shown through Frankenstein that no one can be God, and bad things will occur

Science is his way of escaping the despair of being unloved, and “from this day, natural philosophy and particular chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation” (29). He is so in need of a companion and someone who respects and looks up to him that he targets just about everything else in the world but science. For a second he feels a sense of companionship when he sees the “dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (35). Frankenstein’s misuse of science is driven by his curious brain as “one of the phenomena which had particularly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and indeed any animal endued with life” (30) that only God should know about. He does not realize that he is not all-powerful, and is leading his family on a path of destruction, as he knows that “nothing in human shape could have destroyed that child” (50). Not only does he have to live with dead family members, but he also now must live knowing that “whether the monster, now tall, agile, and strong however, could have perpetrated so much mischief undiscovered”

Science is a topic to help people learn about the world and its characteristics. Frankenstein is selfish because he uses science to re-create humankind for the purpose of being looked upon as a God-like figure. Science, to some extent, contradicts church teaching when it is studied in depth, as is shown by Frankenstein’s actions. Frankenstein shows no respect for those who have peacefully passed or those who have been murdered by his creation, as he thinks humankind is lesser than him. Also, he believes that science is more important than taking care of himself and the world around him. Even though his creature has committed the actual murder, Frankenstein is still considered the criminal, as he has brought to life a monster, who has no sense of right versus wrong, and who has performed the horrible acts. . The moral of this novel is that there is no person capable of being God, and when one tries to contradict that, it leads to complete destruction and