Victor Frankenstein is the main character and main narrator, and his life story is at the heart of Frankenstein. A young Swiss boy, he grows up in Geneva reading the works of the ancient and outdated alchemists. He dislikes learning languages, politics, and government and instead he chooses to throw himself into the study of science, which he calls "the physical secrets of the world." He wants to learn all he can about the how's and why's of the world. He attends the .
University of Ingolstadt, where he learns about modern science and, within a few years, masters all the his professors have to teach him. He becomes fascinated with the "secret of life," discovers it, and brings a monster to life. The monster proceeds to kill Victor's youngest brother, best friend, and wife, when Victor refuses to create a mate for the monster. The monster also indirectly causes the deaths of two other people including Victor's father. Though torn by remorse, shame, and guilt, Victor refuses to admit to anyone the horror of what he has created, even as he sees the ramifications of his creative act spiraling out of control. .
Victor changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by the prospects of science into a disillusioned, guilt-ridden man. We begin to see Victor's personality type as sometimes "violent and my passion vehement." He cuts himself off from the world and eventually commits himself entirely to an animalistic obsession with revenging himself upon the monster. At the end of the novel, having chased his creation ever northward, Victor relates his story to Robert Walton and then dies. With its multiple narrators and, hence, multiple perspectives, the novel leaves the reader with contrasting interpretations of Victor: classic mad scientist, transgressing all boundaries without concern, or brave adventurer into unknown scientific lands, not to be held responsible for the consequences of his explorations.
