Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
“Monster” can be used to describe a person who behaves badly and who is aggressive. The word insinuates a negative feeling about people who do evil things. In Frankenstein, a being is created by a determined scientist Victor Frankenstein.
However, even though his creature eventually behaves badly and become aggressive, he is not the true monster of the story. In fact, the true monster is Victor Frankenstein himself. Basically, if Victor did not abandon his own creation, or break his promise, then there would have been no tragedies or deaths. Therefore, Victor causes the entire tragedy himself; he indirectly murders innocent people. To begin, the creature is not aggressive at first, but he turns into a bad being because Victor abandons him and breaks an important promise.
If Victor, as the creature’s father, had not abandoned him due to the creature’s scary appearance, maybe no one would have died. It was actually Victor’s fault that his creature had such a horrible look. He was made of different organs and organisms. Then, because Victor created him this way, the creature was shunned. For instance, people ran from him to escape once they saw him. Therefore, to find someone to love and after the accidental death of William, the creature desperately goes to find his father who abandoned him to ask him for a female companion.
The creature even promises to leave the country afterwards and Victor approves. The creature requests, “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my be- ing. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede.” (174) However, Victor changes his mind and does not do it. He breaks his promise for a second time. The first time is the unspoken promise to take care of what he has created and the second time is to try to correct it.
Revengefully, the creature kills people. Ultimately, Victor is the true monster who knowingly abandons and betrays which causes the creature to act out and kill. If Victor knows the creature killed before due to his social outcast status, Victor should have known the creature might do it again. In addition, if Victor had never been determined to create his being in the first place, all the deaths could have been avoided. The main purpose Victor initially creates the being is that he wants to use his knowledge of biology to change the world and gain glory. He said, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.
” (59) His desire to accomplish this project took over his common sense of the consequences. Because he did not consider the power of his creation, good people died by the hands of the once “dream” he had. This makes Victor the monster who was run by his own desires. So, it is Victor who is the monster. Victor abandons and betrays the creature. If he would not have done these things, including if he had not let his desires for glory take over, no one would have died.
Basically, he’s responsible for the tragedies. Maybe every person who creates a living being should not abandon it and never betray it. They should take care of it and love it or not create it at all.
