Frankenstein

Often the actions of children are reflective of the attitudes of those who raised them. In the novel Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the sole being that can take responsibility for the creature that he has created, as he is the only one that had any part in bringing it into being. While the actions of the creation are the ones that are the illegal and deadly, their roots are traced back to the flaws of Frankenstein as a creator.
Many of Frankenstein’s faults are evident in the appearance of his creation. It is described as having “yellow skin”, “dark black hair”, “eyes sunk into their sockets”, and “black lips� (Shelley 56). Frankenstein, having chosen the parts for his creature, is the only one possible to blame for its appearance. Martin Trop states that the monster is “designed to be beautiful and loving, it is loathsome and unloved� (Trop 64). Clearly, it is Frankenstein’s lack of foresight in the creation process to allow for a creature that Frankenstein “had selected his features as beautiful,� (Shelley 56) to become something which causes its creator to say “breathless horror and disgust filled my heart� (Shelley 56). He overlooks the seemingly

The most major crime committed by the creature, in Frankenstein’s eyes, is the murder of his wife Elizabeth. The roots of the killing can be traced back not only to the malice displayed by the creature toward Frankenstein, but also to Frankenstein’s own self-centered attitude. The monster pronounces his threat on Elizabeth’s life, after Frankenstein has done “the cruelest act of all” (Oates 78), destroying the partially finished monster that was to be the mate of his first creation. Oates states that Frankenstein, “in mangling the flesh of his demon’s bride, he is murdering the pious and rather too perfect Elizabeth…” (Oates 78). Frankenstein wishes for his own happiness through companionship in marriage, but denies the same right to his creation. Frankenstein can also be viewed as being responsible for Elizabeth’s death by assuming that he is going to be killed rather than his wife, when the creature states “I shall be with you on your wedding night” (Shelley 161). All of the monster’s previous murders point to the fact that he would attempt to make Frankenstein’s life miserable rather than actually kill him. In fact, if the creature really wanted Frankenstein’s death, it had the perfect opportunity to kill him in the very moment when Frankenstein destroyed his would-be wife. Lowe-Evans points out that this can be attributed to Frankenstein’s own selfish attitude. She says “he might feel that even the attention implied in the Creature’s warning rightfully belongs to him” (Lowe-Evans 62).

Throughout the novel Frankenstein continually insists that “The tortures of Hell are too mild a vengeance for all the creature’s crimes” (Shelley 95). He is incorrect, however in assuming that the creature is inherently evil. Mary Lowe-Evans states that, “Nothing in Frankenstein is