How Is Victor Frankenstein Selfish

Victor Frankenstein is selfish. Frankenstein succeeds in creating life, but at what cost? As evidenced when he said, “Scoffing devil! Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death. Never will I omit my search for those who even now prepare for me the reward or my tedious toil and pilgrimage.”(162) He is only concerned about his own well-being and wanting to recreate life so that he can get Elizabeth back. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life and used it as a way to turn his back on the creature he had created. After he manages to bring Elizabeth’s corpse back to life he blatantly begged and pleaded with her to remember his name. He said, “Say my name. Please, say my name. Remember. You

How little character he had to mutter, “By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep and eternal grief that I feel, I swear, and by thee, O Night, and by the spirits that preside over thee, I swear to pursue the daemon, who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal conflict. For this purpose, I will preserve my life: to execute this dear revenge, will I again behold the sun, and tread the green herbage of earth, which otherwise should vanish from eyes forever.”(159) He sought not what he wanted for someone else but for his own revenge and gain. He irresponsibly called on the spirits of the dead to help him with his work. Still enraged, Victor says “Let the cursed and hellish monster drink of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me.”(159) He himself was the monster having no regard for what he did in creating the monster, he deserved his fate for trying to play God. Frankenstein created the creature so he could manipulate the power of life, not to learn from the

At the beginning, Victor is introduced to be a young, driven scientist with a desire to discover new things. He broken heartedly pleaded to Henry and Professor Waldman, “listen. You love someone, they have a sick heart-wouldn’t you give them a healthy one?”(scene 6) He genuinely saw it that way, to help others not feel the pain and sorrow he felt. Frankenstein’s innocent ambition quickly goes downhill as his craving for knowledge and the ability to create a being that will not grow old or sick takes over. It all came to a heartbreaking head after he lost his mother and promised to stop it from happening again. when he states that “it was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn”. He was intended to help others not feel the heartache and despair that had surrounded