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Frankenstein's Ego Analysis

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Mary Shelley uses Frankenstein's rationalizations to show how his ego seeks to protect itself. Shelley focuses on how Frankenstein's ego gives Frankenstein a warped sense of reality. This warped sense of reality is first seen when Frankenstein decides to go from having little scientific experience to creating life from nothing. His ego forces him to labor with rot and the dead to achieve a mythical status as first and lone creator of life, further blinding him to the horror of his creation. As the novel progresses, Shelley uses ego to once again rationalize Frankenstein's actions. Shelley uses Frankenstein's injustices towards women to show how Victor's ego works only to further itself. The fact that Frankenstein will allow innocent women to …show more content…

After chasing the Monster to the North Pole, Frankenstein is rescued from near-death by Walton's crew members. Frankenstein begins his story by issuing a warning about the path that Walton is on; "I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am." P 15. Frankenstein seems to indicate that he has controlled his ego and is trying to warn Walton not to follow the same path as himself. Frankenstein appears to genuinely care for someone besides himself without weighing where it is beneficial for himself or not, which is the first time that he has done so in the novel. However, like all good things that Frankenstein tries to do, ego ruins it. Frankenstein, in his last words, tries to convince Walton to continue the dangerous quest to the North Pole; "You [are] hereafter to be hailed as the benefactors of your species" 197. Ego takes control of Frankenstein's mind for a final time. Frankenstein reverts back to the way he thought at the beginning of his story when he thought that creating the Monster would make him the creator and master of a new species. Frankenstein encourages Walton in the hope that if Walton becomes famous for his discovery, he would receive some credit as the wise man who encouraged Walton to fight on. Frankenstein's final attempt to earn glory by sending a man into a frozen tundra in the small chance he would return victorious is a fitting ending to his life that was consumed by ego and constantly resulted in the destruction of

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