Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein make many people question things they thought they knew about the world and how society functions. The 1817 novel asks questions from what defines being human and how far is too far for science. One of the many themes in the book is responsibility. Who was responsible for the creature’s actions? Was the creature responsible for them or were Victor and the other people surrounding him the problem?
For many people, the creature was the antagonist of Frankenstein. People don't see him as human, even though he was created with human body parts. Many think simply because he was dead and brought back, the creature must be evil. Many people think he only wants to haunt his creator and make him suffer. However, the creature
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Abandoned children feel haunted by their pasts. Usually when children aren’t showed attention and abandoned, they resort to violent behavior to get the attention they want. Abandonment leaves children with pain they must carry for the rest of their life. If children aren't nurtured at an early age, they could develop problems towards society. In fact, many of the most notorious criminals in history had problems in starting from early childhood. Some were abused, but most were abandoned by their families and found themselves in foster care. Many children feel responsible for the lack of their parent’s involvement and began to feel worthless. The creature constantly questions his existence. He doesn't know why he was created. He only wanted attention and decided the only way to get it wanted to be violent towards the only person who could help him, Victor.
After the death of his brother William and servant Justine, victor begins to think he is guilty of the murders. He begins to think since the creature was his creation, he was responsible for the murders indirectly. However, he refuses to tell anyone of what he has done out of fear. He created the creature's life before thinking of the consequences of "playing God". He didn't even accept his creation and abandoned him for his hideous
He was brought into the world with no one to give him knowledge, support, and guidance. He was completely deserted by his creator. When he tried to make friends, everyone either ran away from him or tried to kill him. Calridge states, “At the time of his first violent act, he is merely seeking fellowship with another human, and he assumes little William, the “beautiful child” so unlike himself, to be too young to have formed prejudices based on appearance. Enraged to the point of murder…” This statement shows how everything the creature feels or does stems back to Victor. If Victor had just accepted and loved his creature for what he was, then he wouldn’t have killed little William or any of Victor’s other loved ones. His rejection and misfortune was not caused by his actions, but rather his appearance, a physical trait that Victor had created and the creature could not change. The creature's problem was that he was “ugly” and “deformed”, but he did not choose to be physically deformed. Victor created him that way. Thus, Victor is ultimately responsible for the creature's rejection.
The enormous difference in the way Victor views the creature before and after its completion shows that he has an altered state of mind while he works on it. As a result of Victor’s secrecy about his creation, he sacrifices his health and happiness to make a creature that disgusts him.
Victor thought “for this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(page). This quote demonstrates that once Victor had concluded his work of creating the monster, he realized that it may have been a huge mistake. He was not satisfied with his creation instead he was filled with terror. In result of his realization, he left the monster to fend for himself and suffer. Victor shows an evil side of himself by abandoning the monster and leaving him to be universally shunned by society. By Victor doing this one evil act, it causes the monster himself to go off and initiate evil acts of his own.
Responsibility means to be accountable for something and it can be possible to be responsible for the actions of others. Throughout Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein, there are multiple deaths due to Doctor Victor Frankenstein’s creation. This creation of his, was a single man made up of many dead men, brought back to life. This creature had a brain of its own but was not taught how to use it properly. The reason why this creature was not taught right from wrong is because Doctor Frankenstein was terrified of him and neglected him.
It is obvious that Victor Frankenstein couldn’t take care of the monster that he created in first place, so that was a lack of responsibility towards the creature and the risk that his family would be involved that he didn’t know about it. The years that he spent creating the monster and then abandoned after all, with all the interest that he had in chemistry and creating life from the death, based on how fascinated he was for life and his early childhood, that was marvelous, but in the end, was everything a waste of time for him and for the people who were with him, his family and friends. If Victor hadn’t chosen to create the monster and didn’t have this lack of responsibility, many lives would’ve been saved in the end. The irresponsibility that he had during his life, was the most important thing that results on all of those events in the future, and with that, a lot of consequences too.
One main thing to consider is the Creature’s perspective and his development as a character. His experience with humans are unhappy and many judge the Creature solely on his appearance. As Victor Frankenstein abandons his creation, readers see the eventual evolution of the Creature and his spiral to a
In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster commits a number of immoral acts out of rage. These actions are directly related to the monsters creation and upbringing. The burden of fault for the monsters actions rests on Victor Frankenstein’s shoulders alone.
With Williams's death, Victor falls into a deep depression and runs into the creature. Although the creature and Victor don't share any words, out of anger Victor goes completely off his gut feeling placing the murder on the creature. Eventually, all of Victor’s bottled-up emotions lead him to take everything out on the creature. Not only does Victor discard the creature and his feelings, but he also rejects the creature's requests. Victor makes a promise to the creature to make him a mate, instead, Victor destroys the mate in front of the creature's eyes after second-guessing himself and thinking, “The wickedness of my promise burst upon me.
However, the results of the creation of the Creature are egregious, as the creature begins to murder people, specifically Victor’s loved ones, including his brother William upon realizing that William is related to Victor. Victor here is partially at fault in his brother’s death, as he abandoned the Creature, leaving it to terrorize the people. Though he is overwhelmingly contrite for their deaths, he neglects to admit who the true culprit is in William’s murder and allows Justine Moritz to take the blame, an example of his morally ambiguous actions. His inconsiderate actions cost Justine her life, though he feels horrible for it. Even then, he argues that the action he regrets the most—the creation of the monster—was the work of destiny, which was “too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.” (Shelley 23) Again, Victor places blame on fate to justify his obsession with ambition that led him to create the thing he regrets the most. His failure to recognize his role in William’s, Justine’s, etc. deaths while concurrently feeling remorseful for them solidifies his status as a morally
He always puts the blame on his passions or his wishes, never himself. He even blames his own father. According to Victor, his actions are the the fault of the “spirit of good” or chance or knowledge. When he does finally acknowledge that the creation of the creature and the way the creature grew up is his fault, he claims he’s only “not altogether free from blame”. He does not fully take the blame, and then he goes on to basically say that everybody makes mistakes, so it’s okay that he reanimated and abandoned a human who had already been dead. He calls his creation a catastrophe, a wretch, a miserable monster, a filthy demon, a devil, a depraved wretch. What Victor does not acknowledge is that he was the one who made the creature this way. When it comes to describing Victor, he is seen as “noble and godlike in ruin”. He is not seen as a monster who did irreparable damage to another human being, but as a fallen god. What’s more is that Victor does not hesitate to blame himself for the deaths of William, Henry, Elizabeth, and even Justine. Though he is, in a way, responsible for their deaths, it’s by extension. He won’t take the blame for what he’s truly responsible for-creating and abandoning this creature with nothing but fear, confusion, and
Victor’s conscience holds the painful achievement of giving life to a beast capable of murder due to selfishness. The first victim that dies at the hands of the creature is William. Victor’s selfishness is reflected when his creation frames Justine for the murder. Victor states, “Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims of my unhallowed art” (Shelley 60). Victor does take responsibility and admits that he is to blame, but he does not express this to others, only to himself. Nor does Victor fess up to the real cause of his monster’s bloodlust and turn himself in like a selfless individual would. Although his selfishness affects the lives of others, the ones near and dear to him receive much affliction too.
He believed that his Creature murdered his brother and framed Justine, the Frankenstein’s maid, in order to achieve vengeance for Victor abandoning him, but according to Levine, Victor is the cause for this evil, “...evil is a consequence of maltreatment or injustice,” (Levine 31). Victor’s internal flaws and shortcomings prevent him from revealing the truth about his Creation and therefore he is unable to disclose details of Williams death to save Justine. Victor cowers and stands by as the town unjustly convicts and “executes” Justine, (Shelley 117). The cowardly act committed by Victor shows that he does not possess a strong enough moral compass to do the justified act.
Topic: Mary Shelley has Victor Frankenstein create a living being, who then becomes a murderer. Who or what is responsible for the wretch’s behavior? Is Shelley casting blame on a society that refuses to accept the wretch? Does she hold Victor responsible for his negligence as a “parent” (both father and mother) or is the wretch himself responsible for the chaos he creates?
Parents and creators set the main foundation to their creation or offspring. Though Sharon Begley portrayed that the environment in where the creation or offspring were raised also hindered their outcome as an adult and the amount of violence contributed. Mary Shelley’s fascinating science fiction novel, Frankenstein, conveyed how the creation was a living proof of how without a creator or parent to guide him through as a child he would have a higher chance of committing a crime or becoming violent. Shelly further suggests that since the creation grew up isolated and rejected by the people around him it increased his aggression as he grew older and hindered his behavior vastly. The responsibility of a creator is not just to create, but to love and protect their children. They are a product of not just their own inherited nature, but also as important of their creator’s nurturing or lack thereof.
The monster believed that Victor would accept him, but after he realized that not only did Victor not want to assume his position in the monster’s life, but society also rejected him, it became a transitory thought, and instead became replaced with his bloodthirst towards Victor and his loved ones, which he knew would hurt way worse than just killing him; making him lonely like himself. Both Victor and the monster partook in horrid acts, in which held horrendous actions; the main one being Victor creating the monster in the first place which in result caused the both of them heartbreak, loneliness, and pain. If Victor wouldn’t have created the monster, then his life would not be filled with so much grief and emptiness; Victor is the true monster, although they are both the primal protagonists as much as they are the antagonists because of the display of the emotions they both portray as lamenting humans/monsters, and the power they give to nature in order to destroy one another. Victor used nature to his advantage, although it was wrong; Victor used nature to create and destroy the monster; he used the