Theme Of Creation And Destruction In Frankenstein

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, presents the duality between creation and destruction. The theme of how creation leads to destruction is critical in this book because these two subjects shape the monster in the novel as well as the creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein. Victor, the main character, creates a wretch in the hope to cure death, which is one of Victor’s biggest fears due to the death of his mother and his strong attachment to her as a child. However, when Victor creates the monster, the monster proceeds to strangle Victor’s youngest brother, best friend, and wife, which also leads to the execution of his family’s servant when the abortion, Victor’s creation, frames her for the homicide of his brother. In this piece,

The abomination then enacts his revenge by strangling the people who mean the most to Victor: his brother William, his best friend Henry Clerval, and his wife Elizabeth. Also, the wretch plots evidence for William’s murder on Justine, the family servant. Furthermore, the monster claims that, “from that moment I declared everlasting war against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery” (Shelley 121). The monster acts in such a way due to Victor’s refusal to create him a female monster with whom he could live and grow with. Normal society neglects the monster, so he feels as though that if a female wretch was created for him, he would become jovial and sociable, regardless of his grotesque appearance that both Victor and humanity scorn him

Victor’s loneliness leaves him devoid of purpose and determination, a shell of a human whose essence has been entirely obliterated. Even so, if Victor had not created this unnecessary monster, his family and friends would not have been strangled by his creation. By creating this wretched being, Victor fabricates his own downfall and forces his own seclusion in Frankenstein.

To conclude, in Frankenstein, the theme of creation and destruction is portrayed and shapes both Victor and the monster. Due to Victor’s and humanity’s hatred and abandonment of the being, the creation strangles Victor’s brother, best friend, and wife. Overall, Shelley’s message is that inhuman creation generates destruction in the novel where the creation of the monster leads to the destruction of Victor internally, the murder of his best friend, and the assassination of his beloved family