Is Frankenstein A Hero Or A Villain Analysis

Frankenstein's creature is almost always portrayed as the antagonist: as the villain in the story. His atrocious features appall everyone he meets, including his creator; however, once the reader hears the creature’s tale, sympathy emerges for the poor beast. Frankenstein’s creature is more victim than villain. In the beginning, Frankenstein obsesses over the possibility of creating life, yet when he accomplishes this goal, he vehemently regrets his actions. When Frankenstein lays his eyes on his creation, he is disgusted, even though he, himself, accumulated the body parts that were necessary for the beast. Because the creature has horrible features, he is cast away and forced to live in isolation. “Increase of knowledge only discovered …show more content…
In his research, Gary Kennedy discusses the effects of social isolation on health and explicitly states that “ loneliness, social isolation and living alone are a greater threat to health and well-being than the other way around.” In other words, being isolated from society could bring about real mental and physical consequences. This can be seen with the creature in Frankenstein. When the creature wakes up, all he wants is to be accepted and loved, but having not received this, he grows envious and bitter. He witnesses humans who live in the cottage love each other, accept each other, and work hard for each other, and he wanted to experience these thing too. All he wanted was a family, someone to care for him, someone to communicate with. Humans are essentially social creatures, including Frankenstein’s creature, and denying these basic needs will have its consequences either on the person or society. The beast, desperate for someone’s company, persuades Frankenstein to create his mate and promises to leave everyone alone if he obeys. When the creature realizes that Frankenstein will not construct his bride, he murders Henry, Frankenstein’s best friend, and Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s wife. Furthermore, scientists have found a correlation between violent behavior and loneliness: “a combination of social isolation, depression and impulsivity are significantly more likely to …show more content…
The creature’s mentality is unstable. He was not only abandoned by his creator, but also by everyone else he has met or will meet. Again, the “monster” is perceived to be the villain, but he suffers, himself, more than he harms other people. His actions were wrongful, but everything could have been evaded. Frankenstein’s monster is just another victim to society’s standards. In the end, the creature regrets all of his actions. I believe his actions were not because he was evil, but because he was lonely and had no other way to express himself. When he asked nicely for a female companion, his own creator did not want to listen to him; therefore, he has to threaten Frankenstein. Evil is not present when one is born, or in this case created, but instead it manifests out of a circumstance or people. The creature only experienced horrible things without any explanation to why he was created or why he was given life. For instance, villagers raced to wound him or to chase him away because they believed he was there to cause damage. For this reason, the creature in the story is not the antagonist, but the true