Victor Frankenstein Conflict Essay

Often times one may aspire to do something driven by emotion, but is halted by his knowledge of his moral duties. This creates the conflict of making a decision based on passion or based on responsibility. This conflict of passion versus responsibility is explored in Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein. Shelley uses the character of Victor Frankenstein to convey her message and to highlight this conflict in multiple cases throughout the novel. Victor’s internal struggle between what he desires to do and what he should do causes him suffering, pain, guilt and death.

The first time this conflict appears to Victor is early in the novel when Victor is studying in Ingolstadt. Victor obtains enough knowledge while studying that he believes

he can create a living being from inanimate body parts. Victor desires to create life for his own personal glory without considering whether or not he actually should. Victor focuses on what he can do to for his own personal gain. Victor begins his creation with hopes that “A new species would bless [him] as its creator” (Shelley 40). This shows the reader that Victor is inspired by his dreams of fame and glory. This introduces the reader to the passion driven aspect of Victor’s conflict. These aspirations that Victor has cause him to ignore his moral responsibility. Victor becomes so enamoured with the idea of fame that he does not even consider the effect his creation would have on the rest of the world and on the creature itself. When telling Walton of the time in which he was preparing to construct the creature, Victor recalls, “my imagination was too much exalted by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life” (Shelley 39). This proves that Victor’s longing for fame causes this exaltation of his imagination which, in turn, causes him to ignore any thoughts of doubt regarding his creation. In an article addressing the impact that the creation process has on Victor, David Seed states that Victor “sees his own guiding impulse as somehow autonomous, as independent as a natural process” (Seed). Through this Seed highlights Victor’s lack of awareness of his moral duties as a creator and his ignorance in believing his actions will not beckon any negative consequences. This ignorance that Victor displays while facing the conflict of passion versus responsibility results in Victor suffering the loss of his little brother. Victor’s unpreparedness to care for his creation indirectly leads to the creature seeking revenge, finding young William Frankenstein and murdering him. When Victor receives the letter detailing his brother’s demise, he “threw the letter on the table, and covered [his] face with [his] hands” (Shelley 60). The irony of this situation is that Victor’s obvious grief and frustration for his brother was cause by Victor himself. Although he was unaware of the identity of his brother’s true murder at this time, Victor is responsible for the death of his brother. This realization would later cause him much guilt. M. A. Goldberg describes the situation that Victor has put himself in by saying, “Though his inner-being longs for the compassion and sympathy that society affords, his guilt has already driven him out of love's garden” (Goldberg). Victor’s irresponsible abandonment of his creature proves that he is “a considerably flawed creator whose irresponsibility and short sightedness produce a creature who can't help but become evil.” (Soyka). This is the first of several situations in which Victor unitentionally causes himself pain because of the reckless decisions he makes when faced with the conflict of doing what he desires and doing what is right.
The second instance of Victor’s inability to make wise decisions while facing this conflict is during Justine Moritz’s trial for the murder of William.

The conflict arises because Victor knows his responsibility is to tell the truth, but his passion persuades him not to. In the novel, before Victor reaches Geneva, he acknowledges the fact that he knows the truth about his brother’s murder. When Victor finally sees his creature again, he knows that “He was the murderer! [Victor] could not doubt it.” (Shelley 63). This proves that Victor knew, without a doubt, that his creature was responsible for William’s death. However, Victor fails to provide this information during Justine’s trial because he is afraid of the consequences he would have to face. This emotion of fear convinces Victor to make another ill-advised decision that results in his own misfortune. Victor justifies his decision by saying that “such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman” (Shelley 68). This demonstrates that Victor did not want to tarnish his appearance. This decision causes Victor to suffer yet again. Victor later feels guilty about not telling the truth because he is now responsible for Justine’s death as well as William’s. Victor expresses his guilt by saying, “I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom” (Shelley 74). This guilt that Victor has brought upon himself nearly drives him to the point of suicide. In an article arguing that all of

Victor’s misguided decisions result in death, M. A. Goldberg states, “His labors have already denied him the sympathies of society in general; now, the monster succeeds in depriving him, one by one, of those whom he loves most dearly: first, his brother William, then innocent Justine” (Goldberg). This supports the claim that the cost of Victor’s choices often is death. By not telling the truth at Justine’s trial, Victor has created another scenario in which his decisions cause himself anguish.
Another case in which Victor makes a poor decision based on his emotions is when he destroys the mate that his original creature requested for. Victor knows that he should create a female creature because it would make his first creature happy, but he decides to destroy her because he fears being responsible for a race of monsters. Victor fails to realize that creating a mate for his creature would be the responsible thing to do. When requesting for his creator to make him a companion, the creature begs, “Oh! my creator, make me happy” (Shelley 134). This shows the creature’s single request that would make him happy and end his violent behavior. However, Victor refuses the creature’s request in fear of creating “a race of devils” that “would be propagated upon the earth” (Shelley 153). This description that Victor gives of his potential created species accurately portrays the utter fear that Victor faces when considering the creation of the mate. While contemplating whether or not he should create the female Victor declares, “I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent” (Shelley 134). This proves that Victor’s decision to destroy the female without finishing is a decision driven by passion and emotion. This decision again displays Victor’s ignorance to his moral responsibility. While comparing Victor’s awareness to that of his supposedly inferior creature, David Seed writes, “Ironically the creature proves to have more awareness than its maker” (Seed). This lack of awareness that Seed makes note of proves to cause even more death that Victor must suffer through Victor’s destruction of the female creature causes the creature to become angry with his creator for not keeping his word. This, in turn, results in the deaths of Victor’s best friend, Henry Clerval, Victor’s father, and most impactful to Victor, his wife, Elizabeth. After learning that Clerval was murdered, Victor describes his emotions by claiming, “The human frame could no longer support the agonies I endured” (Shelley 164). This proves how extensive Victor’s consequences are and how large of an impact they had on Victor emotionally and, in this case, physically.While discussing Victor’s destruction of the female creature, David Soyka asserts that “it is Frankenstein's refusal to create again that compounds the original evil of creation” (Soyka). Through this, Soyka is maintaining the idea that Victor worsens the situation that he drags himself into by destroying the female. This destruction of the female creature that indirectly causes the death of so many of Victor’s loved ones is yet another example of Victor suffering as a result of the decisions he makes, all of which are driven by passion instead of responsibility.
The last situation in which Victor is influenced to make a decision founded upon his emotions is near the end of the novel when Victor decides to dedicate his life to the pursuit and destruction of the creature.

Victor’s passion is to kill the creature which is contradictory to his responsibility of caring for it. Victor’s irresponsible lust for revenge motivates him to pursue the creature across the world. Victor “desired and ardently prayed that [he] might have him within [his] grasp to wreak a great and signal revenge on his cursed head” (Shelley 186). This shows the reader how dedicated Victor is to killing the creature. Victor fails to recognize that the destruction of his creature will not bring a solution to his conflict. In fact, Victor’s failure to take responsibility for his actions only worsens his conflict. In this situation, it seems that Victor does not even realize what his moral responsibility is. When plotting his revenge, Victor says, “to destroy him I must drag out my weary existence” (Shelley 189). This proves that Victor believes his moral responsibility is to actually kill his creation rather than care for him. As in every other case that Victor makes a poor decision based on passion, Victor must suffer through death. However, this time the life he must mourn is his own. When Victor realizes that he is running out of time to live he tells Walton, “The task of his destruction was mine, but I have failed” (Shelley 204). The failure that Victor is

referring to is his own death coming prior to the death of his creature. Victor’s pursuit of the creature ultimately results in his death. This is the last instance for Victor in which his choice to make a decision that is influenced by emotion instead of responsibility.
The struggle between making decisions based on what one wants to do and what one should do is a major thematic idea that Mary Shelley explores through the character of Victor in her novel, Frankenstein. Every time that Victor is unaware of or disregards his moral responsibility, he suffers through the death of someone he cares for. Victor irresponsibly creates the creature, hides the truth at Justine’s trial, destroys the female creature, and attempts to kill his creation. All of these actions result in the suffering, guilt and eventual death of Victor. The way Shelley uses the conflict of passion versus responsibility proves that when decisions are made solely based on emotion and passion, without taking moral duty into consideration, there will be consequences to pay.