Frankenstein: Relationship Between Victor And The Monster

Volume 3 Seminar Prep

Relationship between Victor and the monster
Creator vs Created
Already established relationship where Victor has power.
Victor as a “slave” to the monster
“But through the whole period during which I was the slave of my creature…” (109-10)
After the monster’s request victor views himself as a slave.
Asks whether Victor is morally justified as he chose to promise the creature a companion.
He considers himself guiltless, should we?
Connects to Prometheus’s punishment after creating man.
Does not connect to the Bible/Adam and Eve.
After refusing the request he still essentially becomes a slave to his quest to kill the monster, views it as a pilgrimage (147).
Intertwined nature of their deaths.
The monster’s sole purpose of being becomes to kill Victor.

The monster is a wretch because of things he cannot control.
Victor is a wretch because of his choices and actions.
Eventually both think that life is nothing but pain, but they endure for other motives.
Both want revenge against the other.
Both use hell allusions and liken themselves to fallen angels.
Self-inflicted
“ ‘Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny…’ ” (127).
Victor self inflicts his misery after abandoning the monster.
Has the opportunity to stop it by fulfilling his promise, but chooses not to, leading to more pain and suffering.
His first act of self inflicted pain was for selfish reasons, while his refusal of the promise was for unselfish reasons.
“Barbarity” of the monster
“... a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated my heart…” (118).
Capacity for evil makes the monster more human, not less human.
All of his “evil” crimes were rooted in a sense of justice and revenge.
Very human emotions and reactions to have, instead of just having an evil nature.