Similarities Between Victor And The Creature In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

While reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I often found myself wondering who would be seen as more of a monster, Victor or Frankenstein. In my mind I saw Victor as the monstrous of all. Although the Creature’s physical traits were more beastly, Victor equalled the Creature’s looks mentally. They both knew what it meant to be alone, but Victor chose that life and the Creature’s fate was decided for him. In terms of life and death, both characters found a way to play “God.” Victor and the Creature seem to rival each other for the title of “the monster.” Everyone saw the Creature, including his creator, as a hideous monster. His physical traits left him isolated from the world. He could never socialize with anyone or know what it meant

Victor ran only because he thought the Creature was hideous. “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as Dante could not have conceived (36).” At this point, the Creature was just a baby who had the physical capabilities of a superhero. The health and survival of any baby is dependent on social interactions. Without the proper knowledge of anything, especially companionship, the Creature was forced to live a lonely and depressing life. Perhaps, in this novel, Shelley was hinting that the monster like qualities shown by both Victor and Frankenstein are ones that often plague the human race. Humans tend to have unrealistic dreams for the future. Victor, wanted to believe that he could create something that would help benefit the human race, but the outcome was disastrous. If Victor chose to be there for his child, the Creature wouldn’t have the constant thirst for vengeance. Victor’s creation of an abandoned creature and the search to become “God” may have been more responsible for his own demise rather than the Creature