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

In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the main character Victor tends to show flickers of his own monster in his personality, leading the reader to believe they are one in the same. Victor may not outwardly portray his monster but his emotions and desires line up with that of the monsters actions. The anger Victor and the monster share brought about by society are traits of this deep emotional bond they have. A literary doppelganger best describes the two being, meaning a Victor's monster is another version of himself. The Creature is Victor's inner most emotions, those that are often hidden due to society's expectations; this madness is brought to the surface through the monster. Because the monster has never developed traits like rules, feelings, and restriction he is able to act in the way he does; however, Victor's mind has its

Massey concludes that ‘the monster is something completely internal, may be simply solipsism itself, or an unhappy form of narcissism an aspect with which Frankenstein cannot or will not come to terms”[6]. Frankenstein, although able to identify with the Creature in fleeting moments of self-indulgent despair - ‘my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me’ (p.60) – abandons his creation. His neglected creation, a necessary vehicle of abjection and othering, continues to haunt him, reappearing throughout the novel in a manner that mirrors Freud’s theory of the inevitable return of the repressed. The tragedy of the narrative is not, perhaps, accountable merely to the existence of the Gothic Doppelgänger, but rather Frankenstein’s failure to realize that, as Mahoney aptly describes, ‘freedom comes not in eliminating the shadow but in recognizing him in