(Volume 1, Chapter 5, p59)
As the monster has to grow up on his own and live his dependent years by himself, he often endures vicious reactions from the people he encounters due to his appearance. Victor should have given further thought before making the monster about how he was going to be accepted into society, and what assistance he would give the monster. The monster suffers a lot of hardship as a result of Victor’s lack of forward planning and responsibility.
Once Victor finds out that the monster has killed William in the story, he seeks revenge instead of realising why the monster had taken such actions. This really is the starting point to which Victor starts to really hate the monster and risk his life chasing it. This presents Victor as cowardly, as if getting revenge is going to endanger his life, is it really worth it?
When Victor meets the monster on the peak of Montanvert, he is at first very rude to his creation calling it a “devil” and a “vile insect”. This is also where the monster demands Victor to make him a female:
You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.
(Volume 2, Chapter 9, p147)
At first Victor refuses, however when the monster says that “neither (he) nor any other human being shall see (me or my companion) again”, Victor agrees and we can see selfishness in what he does. All that Victor wants is for the monster to leave his family alone, and he will do anything, even if it means possibly endangering others, to get the tranquillity that he desires.
When Victor has nearly created the monster a female companion, he realises the danger of him doing so. If the monsters did reproduce, then “a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth”. He again thinks about what would happen to him, and whether he will be glorious or detested:
I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest,
whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.
(Volume 3, Chapter 3, p171)
Again we can see selfishness in Victor’s thoughts as he thinks about the way he will be thought of, and not of the danger it would present to the world. As a result he tears “to pieces the thing on which (he) was engaged”, while the monster was watching him and breaks his promise. This is especially hurtful to the monster, as Victor effectively kills his only love right in front of his eyes.
We know that Victor does not learn anything from his pursuit for glory, as towards the closing stages of his life when he is talking to Walton, he advises him and his crew to go on with their expedition even though they might be at risk of their lives:
Nor because the way smooth and placid as a southern sea, but because it was full of dangers and terror; because at every new incident, your fortitude was to be called forth and your courage exhibited.
(Volume 3, Chapter 7, p217)
This is similar to Victor’s pursuit for glory, as both men (Victor and Walton) are putting the life of themselves and other men in danger by continuing to try and achieve their ambition. From Victor’s above words we can see that he is still motivated to seek revenge on the monster, despite the danger to his life. He also attempts to put the life of others in danger, as he asks Walton to murder the monster if he gets a chance:
If I do (die), swear to me, Walton, that (the monster) shall not escape; that you seek him, and satisfy my vengeance in his death.
(Volume 3, Chapter 7, p212)
When Victor enters the novel, he is portrayed as a noble and kind person who is capable of both love and friendship. He has strong ambition and eager to learn. However, one gets the impression that when he starts to create life, he is trying to take the role of God, and becomes obsessed with gaining glory and power so much, that he forgets the importance of love and family. Victor also fails to care for the monster, which in my opinion is highly monstrous as it just like abandoning a new born baby. Furthermore, Victor acts selfishly in many occasions throughout the play. He decides to create a female companion for the monster, to stop the monster chasing him. But he goes against his promise when he thinks about what the world will think of him, if a “race of monsters” attacks the world. Everything Victor does is centred on himself and he only thinks about what benefit it would be to himself, when he considers an action.
Now that I have considered Victor as a character, I will now examine the monster. The monster starts off his life as an innocent creature; however his abnormal figure and demented shape caused people to be scared of him and reject him. When the monster walked into an old man’s home to “obtain food and shelter”, the old man:
-turned on hearing a noise; and, perceiving (the monster), shrieked loudly, and, quitting the hut, ran across the fields.
(Volume 2, Chapter 3, p108)
All the man had to see was monsters figure to make him run away without any enquiry. This suggests that the creature’s look posed a threat to everyone who saw him, and led to him being alienated from society.
However the monster is quite kind to start off with. While he was observing the De Lacy family, he demonstrates his kind gestures by gathering “a great pile of wood” for the De Lacy family to use as firewood. He also put their well being before his starvation, as he stopped stealing “a part of their store for (his) own consumption” when he found out that it “inflicted pain on the cottagers”.
During the beginning period the monster spends with the De Lacy family, he “perceives that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers”. He too wanted to be able to interact in this way and “ardently desired to become acquainted” with speech. This shows that the monster is eager to learn and wants to become just like other humans.
Once the monster has mastered the use of speech, his desire to be like humans motivated him to enter the house of the De Lacy family, and speak to the blind old man when he was “left alone at the cottage”. This shows that the monster has some wit and cleverness as he selects a person who can’t judge him by his figure, but his personality and speech. However, whilst he is talking to the blind old man, the rest of the De Lacy family return home and were shocked by the appearance of the monster to such an extent that Felix, a male member of the De Lacy family, beat the monster “violently with a stick” using “supernatural force”.
It is this mistreatment of the monster that sparks a deadly hatred within himself for his creator. The monster had received abuse from the De Lacy family after he had helped them, all because of the way that Victor had made him look, and the fact that he had failed to protect him. It is this anger that makes the monster monstrous by personality and drives him to kill William (Victor’s younger brother):
“‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy--to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.’
(Volume 2, Chapter 8, p144)
The monster also seems to be jealous of Victor, as he knows that he can never have love and relationship like him and other humans because of the way he looks. We know this because the monster frames Justine for murder of William, as he knew he could never possess anything as beautiful as her. And it is this feeling that brings the monster to demand Victor to make “a creature of another sex, but as hideous as” himself. From this, we can see all that the monster wants is a bit of love and companionship, to make him lead a life which is similar to humans.
However Victor cheats the monster by first agreeing to create the female monster, but then “tearing (her) to pieces” in front the monster at the final stages of her production. This upsets the monster as Victor has effectively destroyed the monster’s only chance of love in front of his eyes. This antagonism caused the monster to become monstrous once again, as he murders both Henry Clerval and Elizabeth (now Victor’s wife):
-what I now held in my arms had ceased to be the Elizabeth whom I had loved and cherished. The murderous mark of the fiend's grasp was on her neck, and the breath had ceased to issue from her lips. (Volume 3, Chapter 6, p199)
Despite this, the monster does illustrate some humane characteristics towards the end of the novel. He presents great grievance for the death of Victor, and heartfelt remorse for his malicious actions:
Oh, Frankenstein! generous and self-devoted being! What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst.
(Volume 3, Chapter 7, p221)
These lines show that the monster does have a conscience and after all does have love for the person who created him. All he ever wanted was a bit of attention, which can be supported by the fact that the monster encourages Victor to follow him once he committed the murder of Elizabeth:
Follow me; I seek the everlasting ices of the north, where you will feel the misery of cold and frost to which I am impassive… Come on, my enemy;
(Volume 3, Chapter 7, p208)
The monster is born into the story as innocent creature with an abnormal figure. As he is abandoned by his creator, Victor, he has to grow up during his tender years by himself. But due to his abhorrent countenance, he is rejected by civilisation where ever he goes. Nonetheless he is keen to become like humans and be accepted, so he slowly learns about how to live and speak by observing the De Lacy family. However when he reveals himself to them, his horrific look scares them and causes them to violently beat him. This ignites anger within him to avenge the person who created him, and from this point onwards he adopts more monstrous characteristics. In pursuit for revenge, the monster kills William, and when he is cheated by Victor over the production of a female for himself, he murders both Henry and Elizabeth. Nevertheless, the monster does express grief over the death of Victor and repentance for his crimes, showing that the monster does have a conscience. All the monster ever wanted, was to lead a normal life where he was loved by somebody and accepted into society. But the prejudice that people had over his look never let this to be, and led him to despise his creator.
After looking at both Victor and the monster as a character, I believe that Victor Frankenstein is of greater monstrosity. I have come to this conclusion because despite having a perfect childhood, an abundance of money and numerous qualities in life, Victor turns evil and monstrous in greed for glory. However the monster turns monstrous due to the actions of someone else (Victor); he is angered by the fact that his creator made him ugly and did not want to help him survive once he was created.
Victor also fails to accept responsibility. Once he had created the monster, he had to realise it was just like a new life entering the world. It is the creator’s duty to look after the new born, and guide it until it was able to manage by itself. Yet Victor just does not care about what happens to the monster, as it is of irregular shape and figure. In my view, this is just like abandoning a new born child because it looks unusual.
Even though the monster commits more serious crimes than Victor, I believe that Victor is still more monstrous as his crimes had no reason behind them. What did the monster do to make Victor abandon him? Whereas the monster commits his crimes because he is robbed of love and cheated by Victor.
Till the very end of Victor’s life, he does not learn from his mistakes and realise that pursuing a desire is not always worth it. As a result, he loses virtually all his immediate family and his life. However, the monster realises that what he has done was wrong and expresses genuine sorrow. Therefore I continue to believe that Victor is more monstrous. Word Count: 2,703 words.
