The True Monster In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply. The creature was known as a monster and was doomed due to his appearance.

Victor has lost all touch with the world due to his work and twisted experiments. Society refuses to accept those who are different from everyone else, he is secluded, and he seems to have “lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit” (Shelley 38). Victor is isolated from others through his ungodly pursuit of creating artificial life. His work is frowned upon when he exhibits his experiments.

The Monster believes and mentioned several times that the reason that he is so angry is because of Victor. Shelley writes,

Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, shows how a character who is portrayed as a tragic hero, in the beginning, can become the monster in the end. Victor and the Monster in Mary Shelley’s captivating novel showed how rival enemies share striking similarities. The similarities between the two tragic characters are driven by their dreary isolation from the secluded world. A large difference is that they were both raised in two completely different environments but understood the meaning of isolation. Physical differences are more noticeable rather than their personalities.

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS The role of victor is subverting the mythical norms in Frankenstein. Usually the creator is considered superior and perfect in his qualities however, in this novelette, the creator himself is flawed he fails to own his own creation. On the complete contrast, Mary Shelley portrays the Creature to be an isolated figure that spends his life desiring a companion and friendship. The Creature is so rejected by society, so abandoned by Victor and the people he come across, that he becomes filled with hatred towards everyone, particularly for the one who placed him into this terrible state in the first place – Victor.

The Creature causes the death of Victor’s closest friends and family members. While this may portray the monster as the villain, the monster is alone and miserable. If Victor had stayed with the monster, there may have been a different outcome. So who is really the villain, Victor or the monster? Victor Frankenstein creates the monster but neglects the consequences, leaving him as the villain of Frankenstein.

“Too much self-centered attitude, you see, brings, you see, isolation. Result: loneliness, fear, anger. The extreme self-centered attitude is the source of suffering.” (Dalai Lama). This quote relates beautifully to the book Frankenstein where a mans isolation turns him into a monster.

For instance, after Frankenstein abandons the creature, the creature locates Frankenstein and decides to confront him, “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me” (Shelley 46). Shelley emphasizes the inhumane appearance of the creature and the creature’s eyes’ which contrast to the clear and thoughtfulness of human eyes. The defined fear Frankenstein has towards his creation results not from his incomprehension of the gentleness of the creature’s nature but the ferocity accompanying his aura. Also, Frankenstein attempts to understand his creation and decides to consider the creature as a scholar: “…knowledge might enable me to overlook the deformity of my figure; for with this also the contrast perpetually presented to my eyes had made me acquainted” (Shelley 88).

Have you uncovered Victor’s true character yet? Throughout Frankenstein, surprisingly the reader can distinguish a number of differences, rather than similarities, between him and the creature regarding aspects of regret and murders that took place. These points also reveal that Victor is way more malicious, compared to the monster, because his sins outweigh those of the monster’s. Long ago in the late seventeen hundreds, lived a well of family that included a young fellow named Victor. With an interest in the science field, he had created a malicious creature.

The monster found himself lost and on his own in nature without anyone to help him, “I knew, and could distinguish, nothing;” (Shelley, 71) When someone is left with no information about themselves or how to do something they can feel helpless. This is exactly like how Frankenstein gave the monster no help on how to survive in the real world. Once you try to do something multiple times and still are not able to get it right, you begin to feel helpless and inferior to others. This can cause frustration because you feel like everyone understands what is going on around you, but you are clueless of your surroundings. Altogether the monster in Frankenstein feels betrayed by his creator, lonely while he was alone in the woods with no one around him and helpless when he was not able to understand what was going on in the world he was living in.

Another great similarity between today 's and Frankenstein 's community is the judgement on how someone looks. Victor, passed his view on the monster based on how the monster, he created, looked. This hideous creature was stereotyped to be a mean , ignorant monster. "I beheld the wretch- the miserable monster whom I created. " This quote said by Frankenstein, gave proof that he believed that the monster he created, was pointless.

Though their stories are different, intertwined in their own ways, their stories, when stripped to their underlying strands of text, are quite similar. Two separate beings, forged by the hands of a creator long gone, find themselves in a cold, cruel, world where their differences cast them out. They are neglected by their creators and rejected at every turn by all they come across. Without guidance and without discipline, these beings are made to grow in a world they do not know, to fend for themselves. The beings, Grendel and the Monster of Frankenstein, charge their way through a world that despises them, searching for companionship, for acceptance, and for their self-worth.