Victor's Secret Ambition In Frankenstein

As demonstrated in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, guilt continues to grow when a dark secret is held in.
Victor Frankenstein is the main character that experiences the repercussions of retaining his secret of creating a monster from dead bodies. Victor spent hours of time working on his goal to reach fame by creating a monster that nobody else had created. Victor’s secret ambition to his ultimate goal caused him to be taken out of society just like the Monster would be in the future. Victor talked about his deprived and gloomy state explaining, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had vanished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 59). However,

after he finished his creature that turned out to be ugly, he stated to himself, “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime” (Shelley 57). Victor thought that by shunning his family members and dedicating his time to this creation, he would experience great joy and satisfaction. On the contrary, it brought him regret for his actions and he decided to reject the monster because he was ugly.
The monster that Victor created is the next example of this secrecy in an evil plan leading to downfall and guilt.

The monster wanted to be included into society, but Victor had made him ugly in the eyes of the culture. The monster made multiple attempts to fit in, but his creator and society continuously shunned him from their lives. The monster then decided to turn evil expressing to himself, “I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge” (Shelley 162). The monster’s new goal was to cause pain for others and especially to those closest to his creator, Victor. However, the monster never told anybody about his secret plan because he was a loner due to his grotesque character. The monster goes on to kill many family members of Victor, including Elizabeth on Victor’s wedding night. This causes Victor to eventually die, but ironically the monster becomes very regretful of his secretive plan of revenge. The monster explains his inner feelings of remorse, “No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine” (Shelley 274). The monster wanted to be with his creator his whole life, but due to his rejection, he turned to evil ways that eventually led him to regret his secret actions because of the guilt that they led

to.