The Blame Game Throughout the gothic novel, Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, blame is often thrown in two directions. Victor, who created the monster for his own superficial reasons in order to become famous and have the gratification for “conquering death”, is blamed by many. On the other hand, the monster could also be the one to blame, as it is his own destructive actions that bring grief and sorrow to many. From my point of view, there is a simple question and answer. Why did the monster feel like he needed to wreak havoc in order to get empathy and understanding for his own isolated feelings? This is all because Victor neglected the once gentle giant, making him feel like a repulsive creature meant for terror. Victor began his work very vigorously and passionately, wanting to reach ultimate fame for his monumental discovery. He went to great lengths to succeed in his experiments, but once he laid eyes on the living, breathing unsightly beast, he could not bare to keep up his work. He neglected him, acting as if the last years working in his lab never happened. He tried to abandon his work completely, …show more content…
He completely abandoned him, leaving the monster in predicaments that, in numerous times, threatened his own life. Everyone in the outside world shunned, beat, and ran away from the poorly constructed monster, automatically assuming he was a malicious demon, ravaging for destruction and death. Not one person who had seen or spoken with him had been nice and accepting, except for one man- who was blind. His unfortunate disposition drew away any type of human compassion for him, eventually filling him with surges of hatred for all of mankind; more so for his creator, Victor. He set his vengeful ways on the scientist's family and loved ones, making sure to fill Victor with the absence of no close comfort or compassion from anyone. If the monster he created couldn't get that, then why should
Victor Frankenstein caused his own misery and destruction, which is why he is to blame for what
Victor and the Creature are both social outcasts. Since Victor is so intelligent and interested in science he often does not relate to other people and he does not have many friends. Since the monster cannot be around people without scaring them to death he tends to also act as an outcast around
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 is stirred by his work, but not in a positive manner. He goes on to explain his feelings towards the creature by saying, “… my heart sickened and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred” (136). Victor is so bewildered and repulsed by the creature that he misses key signs of violence, from the creature, that may have saved Victor’s family had he not been so
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story of passionate scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose devotion to science leads him to become obsessed with creating life, but his good intentions lead to a lifelong conflict with his problematic creation. This creature causes pain and suffering for Victor by killing his friends and family, which causes him to feel responsible for their deaths. Ambition’s dark and addictive side got the best of Victor, who became blinded by dreams of glory. Similarly, Don Quixote fails to identify the risks of ambition while exploring Spain. He wants to be a famous knight so badly that he begins to hallucinate obstacles that he must conquer.
In Frankenstein, Victor wants revenge on the monster so greatly that it becomes an obsession. Victor states, “Again do I vow vengeance; again do I devote thee, miserable fiend, to torture and death” (Shelley 152). Victor Frankenstein wants revenge against the monster because the monster was the cause of the deaths of Victor’s family and friends (152). He is threatening death on the monster and swearing revenge on him. This is the beginning when he wants vengeance on the monster, which then immediately turns into an obsession.
Victor is held responsible for not teaching the monster Frankenstein right from wrong. As Victor Frankenstein created the monster he neglected it based on its appearance of imperfection and mentality. The monster was forced to teach itself the necessitates of life and common sense. For example, on page 79 Frankenstein says, “By degrees I made discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experiences and feelings to one another by articulating sounds.
This shows the humanity in the monster and his tendency to be amiable. He was also able to learn from his mistakes. For example, the creature realized that he needed to stop stealing the family’s supplies after he noticed how much they needed them. Victor, however, didn’t learn from his mistake of creating the monster, and created another. The monster also refers to the family in the cabin as “[his] friends” when they didn’t know of his existence (103).
Victor had two loving parents that gave him everything he ever needed or wanted to fulfill his physiological and emotional needs. Since Victor did not do this for his monster, the monster would kill all of Victor’s family and friends that he loved which would bring destruction to Victor’s life. For the rest of his days, Victor would go on a search for his monster to destroy it or die trying. Unlike Victor, the monster was never loved because of the way he looked. He was left alone, even by his creator, and lived a miserable life always escaping people that would “attacked [him], until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (Shelley).
The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley says a person is responsible for their actions if they do not weigh the possible consequences of their actions before making their final decision. Throughout the novel, Mary Shelley shows the consequences of actions that are done without proper thought beforehand. Victor Frankenstein wants to create life, he wants to be god, and his lust for this goal overtakes his common sense. Victor rushes into making his creature and then makes rash decisions which also contributes to his demise and the death of several of his close friends and family. The monster should be held responsible for his actions to a certain extent, however, his actions are influenced by Victor’s initial impetuous decisions.
Victor believed that he was doing a greater good for humankind when created the monster. In the original book Victor
The monster tells Victor of his feelings when he states, “You can blast my other passions, but revenge remains…I may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery.” (153) After months and months of the monster trying to connect with the world, he eventually realizes that the efforts are worthless and vows to do to his creator what his creator did to him. To make Victor isolated would give him the same curse the monster has suffered through for its entire new life. Later, the creature asks himself, “Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” The creature easily could kill Victor if that was his desire but its real desire was to make Victor suffer as the monster did.
From the moment Victor decided to create the Creature, he begins his assertion of dominance over the Creature. By creating a “monster” solely for his own
This left the monster with nothing and no one. Victor created this creature with no consideration if the monster might have feelings or not. “Victor does not think about the feelings of the creature he produces. He is concerned only with the scientific tools which give him control and power.”
Being abandoned by his creator, the monster has no one to guide him, no one to teach him right from wrong and good from evil. When the creature is first abandoned by Victor, he’s confused and doesn’t understand that he has been abandoned. The creature explains how he felt when he woke up, “A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt at the same time; and it was indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses” (Shelley 99). The creature won’t fully realize the impact of being abandoned until later in the story. Victor also suffers from isolation from his