Who or what, in your opinion, is the real monster in Frankenstein?
Martin Jubb 10S
"I always saw my monster as something inarticulate, helpless and tragic. To him, Frankenstein was God."
Boris Karloff (on his portrayal of Mary Shelley's monster).
Who or what, in your opinion, is the real monster in Frankenstein?
Ever since Mary Godwin wrote the first edition of Frankenstein, as a then unmarried 19yr old girl, people have been voicing different opinions over who is the real monster in the novel. Since the first writing of the novel, it has been rewritten and reworked into many different films and plays. Many of these do not follow the storyline of the book exactly and often portray the monster as a savage beast who has no self-control, knowledge, understanding and, most of all, feelings.
Mary Shelley rewrote her first edition in 1831. This volume is more conservative and does not shock the reader as much as the first edition did. It portrays Victor more sympathetically and the monster more intellectually gifted than the first version.
Mary Shelley illustrates many opposites in this novel: good and evil; creator and creature; monstrous and human. But the theme I will be looking at in detail is villain and victim, which relates to the original question of who is the real monster or villain. The dictionary defines a monster as an 'Inhumanly wicked or cruel person; A misshapen animal; A large, hideous animal or thing.' This definition seems to imply that the exterior reflects the interior, or that a frightening external appearance conceals a wicked character. The creature in this novel has the notorious reputation for being the monster, but is this really justified?
The first key passage describes the creation of the monster. Shelley builds up atmosphere at the start of the chapter by her description of the weather and surroundings,
"It was on a dreary night of November".
This contrasts with Victor's anticipation. He has been waiting his entire life for a chance to create life and now his workings reach a climax.
This part of the novel is also a climax for the reader. But once Victor has seen the creature he has created, he is flooded with a huge feeling of anti-climax. The creature repulses Victor on sight. He refers to the creature harshly as "the wretch" and is completely horrified by the thing he has just given life to. This shows that Victor is only concerned with physical appearance. This is the same as when he was studying at the university in Ingolstadt. He was so disgusted with the appearance of his tutor M. Krempe that he delayed going to his first lecture for a few weeks until he was sure that another tutor was giving the lecture. This shows intolerance of imperfection and a flaw in Victor's character. Shelley advances a criticism of intolerant and superficial societies that place emphasis on appearance.
Victor rejects his creation. This is like a father rejecting his child. He had to initially resort to grave robbing to obtain the material needed to create his 'creature'. Perhaps, when the creature came to life, Victor realised the enormity of the monstrous deeds he had committed. This passage shows Victor to be a monster, as he does not even try to understand the creature's cries for help. He has forsaken any duties he is expected to perform as a father.
When the creature 'awoke' from his 'sleep' he "convulsed". When Victor awakes from his sleep, all his muscles convulse also. These could be the first signs that the creature is the other side of Victor, the side that does all the things he cannot bring himself to do.
When Victor sleeps, he has a dream. This dream could be seen as prophetic. Maybe Victor is associating the birth of the creature with the death of Elizabeth.
Shelley's description of the monster is full of pathos. The first things that the creature wants are contact and affection, as any newborn thing wants, but his creator or 'father', Victor, denies him this. When Victor awakes from his dream, he finds the creature standing nearby, reaching out a hand towards him. Victor rejects this appeal for help and recognition.
This passage may parody 'The Creation of Man' by Michelangelo, which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It shows God stretching out his hand to give life to Adam. The analogy of this is that Victor is playing God and the creature is Adam. Another parody is the story of Prometheus who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the people on earth. Victor has stolen the power of life from the Gods and given it to the people. This is why the book's title has the subtitle 'The Modern Prometheus'. By usurping the ...
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This passage may parody 'The Creation of Man' by Michelangelo, which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It shows God stretching out his hand to give life to Adam. The analogy of this is that Victor is playing God and the creature is Adam. Another parody is the story of Prometheus who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the people on earth. Victor has stolen the power of life from the Gods and given it to the people. This is why the book's title has the subtitle 'The Modern Prometheus'. By usurping the role of the woman, he can be perceived as monstrous because this is against the laws of nature.
The creature leaves Victor and sets out to find other people. His creator has abandoned him. Later in the story, Victor by chance glimpses the creature. It seems that whenever they meet somewhere, the weather is always bad and often storms seem to follow them. A vivid picture is portrayed of the scene,
"Vivid flashes of lightning dazzled my eyes, illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fear."
This is a classic gothic scene. The atmosphere is being built up and the scene is tense. Recently Victor's brother, William, had been murdered. He was strangled by an unknown killer. When Victor catches sight of the creature at a distance, he immediately comes to the conclusion that he is William's killer.
Mary Shelley has now introduced the possibility of the creature being a monster. The reader is unsure whether the creature has murdered William but now starts to sympathise with Victor.
Victor starts to pursue the creature intending to kill him, but gradually realizes the enormity of what he has created. He has no hope of overpowering the creature who has superhuman strength and power and doesn't seem to feel the cold. It disappears into the night and as soon as this happens, the storm and the thunder and lightning all disappear reinforcing my opinion that when Victor and the creature meet, there is a natural reaction to the unethical life form.
Victor starts to feel a great amount of anguish over the possibility that the 'wretch' he has created may have killed his brother out of revenge.
" Alas! I had turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery; had he not murdered my brother?"
This quote can be interpreted in two ways. The first is that Victor is condemning the creature for killing his brother. The reader may perceive the creature to be the monster after this sentence. But the other way the quote may be interpreted is that Victor is condemning himself for bringing the creature into the world and then setting it free to cause havoc and destruction.
I feel that the latter interpretation is the true one and that Victor is the monster in this scene because of the creature he had created and because he is now not willing to suffer the consequences for his actions. He has neglected his responsibilities as a 'parent'.
Victor starts to say things that could once again lead the reader to the conclusion that the creature is another side to Victor's own character.
"Nearly in the light of my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave."
This quote reinforces my opinion that Victor is the monster in this particular passage.
Later in the story, Victor has just witnessed Justine, a servant, being hanged for William's murder. He is very upset and angry with himself, for making the creature who he thinks is responsible for the crime, so he decides, in an attempt to forget his sorrows, to go to the Chamounix valley. The beauty of it and all the nature around him entrances him. This comforts him and takes his mind off the murder of William and of the wrongful judgment of Justine.
But the creature has followed Victor to the valley and confronts him. As at the last time Victor and the creature met, a storm begins. Victor is forced by the dreadful conditions to confront his creation. The storm prevents him from continuing on his journey or retracing his steps, so he decides to kill the creature in a moment of pure anger and vengeance.
Victor has now become furious and out of control. He begins to use violent language towards the creature,
'Devil' ' vile insect!'
He is angry, desperate and confused.
The creature is now in complete control of the situation due to his calm and composed stature and his eloquent, reasonable language, which he uses in an attempt to calm Victor. He is acting as the reader would expect Victor to act. They have changed roles and this shows the reader another glimpse of the idea that the creature is another side to Frankenstein. The creature reinforces this impression by eloquently saying,
"Thou hast made me more powerful than thyself."
Victor is enraged by this comment and flings himself at his creation who, with superhuman reflexes, sidesteps out of reach. This emphasises the gulf between creator and created. Victor's savage actions indicate to the reader that he is the true monster in the passage. This underlines the feeling that the creature is the other side of Victor. Whilst Victor wants conflict, the creature declines, only talking eloquently to put forward his view. Another side to the theory that the creature is Victor's double is that Victor rejects what the creature craves: love and companionship. Victor has avoided marrying Elizabeth who would provide him with love and companionship.
As the story progresses, the reader learns about the creature's experiences when he relates his life story to Victor. The creature has learnt how to speak and write, things that are usually learnt by children from their parents. Victor rejected the creature 'at birth', so he never learnt anything from Victor. All his knowledge has been learnt from books or, incidentally from the de Lacey family as he secretly watches and listens when Safie is being taught her lessons by Felix.
Once the creature discovers Victor's journal in his pocket, he learns how he was made and from this moment he is changed emotionally. He calls Victor "Accursed creator" and damns the "Hateful day when I received life."
He is filled with bitter thoughts and is filled with sorrow about his repulsive appearance. He also thinks of Victor bitterly,
"He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him."
His spirits are momentarily lifted when he 'introduces' himself to old man De Lacey. The creature approaches the old man because he is blind and can't judge him by his appearance as everyone else does. He finds comfort for the first time in months when the old man offers to help him and gives him the friendship he craves. He receives the contact with humans which he has desired for so long. However, when the old man's son Felix returns, he reacts in just the way the creature suspected he would and beats him and throws the creature out.
The creature learns the vicious cruelty of man towards those alien to themselves, "At once so powerful, so virtuous and magnificent, yet so vicious and base."
He realises that he has no family and friends to turn to and with a deformed and detested appearance is the ultimate alien,
"I saw and heard of none like me."
This pitiful picture of a figure with not much hope in the world makes the reader sympathetic. Victor, although he is not mentioned in the passage, is the monster in it because he has created such misery.
Shelley is once again suggesting how society judges people. Victor is once again perceived to be monstrous for creating such an unloved and repulsive creature.
In the next passage I examined, the creature tells Victor about his meeting with William. The creature is seen as a monster for the first time in the book. This passage begins with the creature frightening little William with his horrid appearance. William is obviously scared and tells the creature to go away or his "Papa" will "punish you". When the creature learns his father's name is Frankenstein he strangles him. The creature has started his systematic killing of everything dear to Victor. He desires revenge for his creation and this is the most painful way of exacting it. He is pleased with himself for what he has done,
"I, too, can create desolation; ............. This death will carry him to despair and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him."
In focusing upon the creature's first murder, the moment where he becomes truly "demonic", Shelley encourages us to consider how our personalities are formed and what forces can transform a man into a monster.
The next cruel act committed by the creature is to frame Justine with the child's murder. He is almost killing two birds with one stone here. This is another monstrous act of revenge emphasising the fact that the creature is the monster in this passage.
Shelley seems to be suggesting that it is both the external forces that act upon us and the inner workings of the mind that turn 'men' into 'monsters'.
At the end of the passage, the creature demands a companion, also created by Victor. This is what he has been waiting for since his creation. If Victor rejects this demand he will become a monster because, once again, he is denying the creature love and compassion in the form of a companion. But Victor does not want to create another creature like this one. He is in a lose-lose situation. If he creates another being, he will feel double the guilt; if he does not, the creature will continue to exact revenge.
Later in the story, Victor starts to reconsider his decision to create a companion for the creature. He is considering the effects of having two superhuman beings in the world. He is indecisive until he sees the creature at the window of his workshop. He is reminded of the past actions of the creature. Victor, perceiving the creature to be spying on him, rips apart the second creation, almost in defiance. The creature is deeply unhappy about this, " The Wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness". Victor is the monster here but when the creature returns later and says
"I shall be with you on your wedding night",
We start to think of what the creature will do to Victor. The reader is now undecided about who the real monster is. The creature is the master of Victor but Victor is the only one who can give him a mate. The creature is powerful over Victor physically and can control his outer movements, but Victor is in control of his own mind and his conscience and he can't be forced to make a mate for the creature.
Near the conclusion of the novel, Victor is sent to gaol following a wrongful arrest for the murder of Clerval. He is distraught when he finds Clerval's body. He believes that he has caused the death and says
"Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny: but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor"
This shows that Victor has now come to think of himself as a monster for creating a creature that had killed even his best friend. After serving some time in gaol, he is eventually released and decides to marry Elizabeth as soon as possible because he suspects that the creature is going to kill him on his wedding night and he is prepared for death. However, by marrying Elizabeth, he is really hastening her death unknowingly. He is anxious and apprehensive of what may happen soon, but he is so concerned about his own safety fears that he does not think about anyone else's. The negative side of his character has increased, selfishness has taken over and he bears no responsibility for Elizabeth. When Elizabeth dies at the hands of the creature, Victor's thoughts turn to revenge. By killing the creature he hopes to put an end to the traumatic events.
After Victor has finished his narration to Walton, Walton continued to write letters to his sister because he is filled with admiration for Victor. It appears to the reader that Walton is so desperate for a companion that he thinks favourably of Victor even if he were to be a murderer. This associates Walton with the creature in some ways.
The previous passage fills the reader with sympathy for Victor. He has practically given up on life and the only purpose he has for living is to "destroy the being to whom I gave existence."
He feels that no man can be as close a friend as Clerval was to him and no woman can be like Elizabeth. Both of these important people have been removed by the creature.
"Can any man be to me as Clerval was; or any woman another Elizabeth?"
Victor believes that when he has killed the creature his
"Lot on earth will be fulfilled, and I may die."
The creature is portrayed as a monster who has destroyed Victor's very reason for living, but it may be argued that Victor created the being and so brought the misery on himself.
The last passage in the book is very moving. Victor has died (through natural causes) and as Walton returns to his cabin to prepare him for his funeral, he discovers the creature bent over the cold body of Victor, in immense grief. The creature has come to hate himself for what he has put his creator through.
"That is also my victim! In his murder my crimes are consummated: the miserable series of my being is wound to its close! 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. Alas! He is cold, he cannot answer me."
This shows the creature regretted his actions. The creature himself has realised how monstrous he has been to Frankenstein but it is not as much as the creature has had to endure in his short 'life'.
Overall, I believe that Victor is the real monster in this novel. He creates nearly all the suffering and misery in the story. He creates the creature which suffers because of disfigurement; he makes his family suffer misery by hardly ever acknowledging their constant support and love for him, and, probably most of all, he makes himself suffer huge amounts of misery through his unplanned actions.
Also by usurping the powers of God, he is performing the biggest sin: trying to play God. Victor's overwhelming ambition was to give life to something which was lifeless. By creating life by himself without the need of the involvement of a woman was against the laws of nature and could be seen as monstrous. This could only bring destruction and misery to everyone involved. Frankenstein pays dearly for this and, in some ways, gets his just reward by having all he ever loved taken away from him.
The creature was not born evil. His actions were merely reactions to the way he was treated. Even his murder of Elizabeth was only a copy of Victor's actions when destroying the mate he was making for the creature. Frankenstein had an overwhelming desire to be reknowned for a major achievement in medical science. This desire to satisfy his own ego grew into something which turned him into a monster.
