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Jacob Levi

11/09/17

English 102

Only Seemingly Monstrous?

We all have an image of what a monster is in our minds. You probably are imagining

something huge and grotesque, but monsters in stories, like the real world, are a lot more subtle

than that. There are people, human beings that can be and are far worse than any fictional idea

for a monster. Doctor Victor Frankenstein is a great example of this. For those who dont know

Frankenstein is the name of the doctor not the monster, who doesnt have a name other than

Frankensteins monster. People may read the story and not give it much thought as to who the

true monster is, but those who pay attention should have no trouble figuring that out.

Frankenstein is a story about a mad scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a

monster from the body parts of dead people. The story is told as a memory by a man named

Walton who is on his own adventure.

Victor had an obsession with life when he was young, including the idea of how it all

worked. After a lot of preparation he was ready to bring life to his newest creation. After

successfully bringing the creature to life, he runs away to his family and gets engaged to

Elizabeth. The monster, left to fend for himself, learns how to read and speak. Afterwards he gets

angry at Victor for creating him as well as leaving him alone in the world and thus he starts to

kill off Frankenstein's family. He confronts Victor directly and gives him an option, Frankenstein

makes the monster a wife and all the killing stops. Victor agrees, but goes back on his agreement

and the monster vows to get his revenge on Victors wedding night. The monster gets his
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revenge, not by killing Frankenstein, but by killing Elizabeth. Victor devotes the rest of his life

to killing the monster that he created. He searches for months, following what seems like endless

clues to find the monster. After heading north, eventually he comes across Walton and his ship.

Victor explains all that had happened, about the creation of the monster and everyone that

had died. Victor entrusts Walton that if he becomes unable to continue his search for the

monster, Walton would take over. Just before they left for England, Victor dies.

Days later, Walton hears sounds coming from Victors room, where his body still

remained. Inside was the monster crying over Frankensteins body. The monster tells Walton of

his suffrage. He states how sad he had become and says that now since his creator is gone it is

time for him to die. The monster leaves the ship and heads into the unknown.

Frankenstein is an obsessed man. His id and his want is power. He wants to be known

around the world as the man that cures diseases, makes man invulnerable, and as the one who

brought life to the dead. His goals are clear, but his method and views are flawed.

Victor's actions are sometimes quite egotistical and appear to be a part of his motivation.

His real and somewhat unconscious reason for creating the monster seems to be a desire

to obtain awe and fame, and to make sure that his name makes a mark in history.

(Marklund 4)

In my opinion, Marklund nailed Frankensteins intent perfectly. The whole point of creating the

monster is not just for Victors obsession with life but also for, if not primarily, for fame. While

some may say that he did it for science only, you have to think about it from a logical
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perspective. Why would someone, on there own, try to create life that has the risk of becoming a

monster? Some people say that a monster is without self control or reason.

The monster isnt a creature without feelings, both for him and toward others. It turns out

that the monster is quite an empathetic creature. After he is abandoned by Frankenstein, he

ventures out on his own. He experiences the outside world, everything from the start and end of

days to the wonder that is fire. One day he finds a house, and then a town where people run from

the sight of him. He finds a place to hide out near the house he saw and begins to start taking

from the familys property. After a while though, he realizes that the family is poor and from his

guilt he starts to leave wood for a fire by their door every night. This is a display of empathy

while Frankenstein doesnt feel empathy for anyone throughout the story.

Frankenstein, to whom life and death appeared... ideal bounds to be broken through,

succeeds in his intellectual pursuit but at great cost. He loses friend, brother, and wife. He

loses all contact and sympathy with the human community. At both the beginning and

end of the novel, he is the most alienated figure, alone, in mad pursuit in a desolate spot

on the earth. (Griffith)

This shows that the monster has at least one humane trait that Frankenstein lacks. A monster is

often considered to have a lack of emotion towards others.

So what was Frankenstein's long term plan with his monster? As a scientist, he should

have had some foresight as well as knowing the risk involved, right? I dont think so. One reason

could be that his id was too overbearing for his superego and thus his desire for fame caused him

to go through with it, but then why does he pretend that his creation doesnt exist? Frankenstein
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simply created a monster without thinking about the consequences of his actions. Instead he just

acted like it wasnt real and that theres nothing to worry about, meanwhile the super powerful

creatures whereabouts are unknown to him. Without these text, It is even possible, that the

train of my ideas would never have received the fatal impulse that led to my ruin(23)...he

refuses to blame himself for his actions in creating the creature (Higgins 32). This is an absurd

thing for a scientist to do. A monster doesnt like to take responsibility for their negative action.

If it wasnt fully clear yet, most people can agree that the true monster in Frankenstein is

Victor Frankenstein himself. Though he may not look like a monster, looks arent everything.

His actions cement this fact. He doesnt care about others, he lacks self control, he has zero

empathy, and he doesn't care about how his actions affect others and the world around him. In

fact he cares so little that he just leaves the monster alone until it affects him directly multiple

times, only after killing Elizabeth. If he cared about how his actions could affect others then he

should have either killed the monster from the start or helped it learn to be nice. Yes I am aware

that this is a horror story and that either one of my solutions would make for a terrible story, but

it doesnt change the fact that the storys horror could have been avoided. All of this combined

makes for a mostly undeniable argument about Frankenstein being the real monster in the story,

but some will still disagree.

A counterargument to be made is that the Frankensteins monster is still the true monster

of the story. Its easy to see why, I mean he is even called Frankensteins monster but there is

more than that. For starters theres the fact that the monster kills people but Victor does not.

Another reason is his appearance, which is green and that of dead body parts. Of course there's

also the fact that the monster wasnt born but rather created. I mean, Frankenstein is kind of an

ass but hey at least he was born right? The truth is that while these are all valid points, they are
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far from the full picture. The monster was never given the option as to whether or not he was

okay with being created. He also wasnt ever given any real instruction on whats right and

wrong, which is something that everyone learns and no one is born with. Remember that the

monster has a brain like humans. He was never given the opportunity to learn these things as

Frankenstein had abandoned him.

It was impossible that he should not have received among men that treatment which led

to the consequences of his being a social nature. He was an abortion and an anomaly; and

though his mind was such as its first impressions framed it, affectionate and full of moral

sensibility, yet the circumstances of his existence are so monstrous and uncommon, that,

when the consequences of them became developed in action, his original goodness was

gradually turned into inextinguishable misanthropy and revenge. (Shelley)

There is no way around the fact that the monster is the way he is due to Frankensteins actions,

or lack thereof.

Frankenstein is a story about Doctor Victor Frankenstein who creates life that he then

abandons. He wants to be famous to the point that he doesnt care about how his actions affect

others and yet, he doesnt take responsibility for his actions when things dont go his way.

Frankenstein is a story about a monster who is unjustly labeled as such. His actions were all his

own and he takes the full responsibility for them. This is despite the fact that he has little to no

guidance through the world that he was unwillingly placed in. This is the story of a created

creature that wants revenge on the monster that created him.

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Sources:

Marklund, Sara. Good and Evil in Man: The Double Nature of Victor in Frankenstein. June
2010, p. 4.
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Griffith, George V. "An overview of Frankenstein." Literature Resource Center, Gale, 2017.
Literature Resource Center.

Higgins, David Minden. Frankenstein: Character Studies.Continuum,2008. Continuum

Character Studies.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "On Frankenstein." Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, edited

by Jay Parini, vol. 14, Gale, 1987. Literature Resource Center, Originally published in The
Athenaeum, no. 263, 10 Nov. 1832, p. 730.