Abuse Of Power In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Another form of abuse of power, according to Lars Lunsford, takes the idea of the male’s inability to give birth and applies it to Victor’s actions. Lars makes the assumption that Victor tried to take away the female’s power over procreation, further devaluing the life of a woman (Lunsford 174). In fact, Victor might have been trying to eradicate the need for females entirely by creating a race of super humans. Anne Mellor rationalizes that he cared not for those around him while he worked and especially treated women like possessions (qtd. in. Frankenstein 274-275). The devaluing of human life portrayed by Mary Shelley makes sense because of the social restrictions of women in the 1800’s and fits perfectly into the theme of abusing power …show more content…
She uses the themes of abuse of power and hiding dangerous knowledge to show the reader how a real monster gets made. For example, Victor uses the knowledge that he hides and abuses the power of God in order to create a monster he despises. Additionally, Victor can be the only one to blame for the creature he created becoming a monster. Specifically, Victor refuses to even look and think about the monster only seconds after its birth. He does not try to nurture the creature or even teach it how to live accordingly to the rules of humankind (Chao 224). Furthermore, the monster cannot gain his bearings after being rudely abandoned by his creator. Victor abused the creature by not investing any parenting into its life. The monster gets lost in the wilderness and must learn to how to live (Lunsford …show more content…
In other words, Victor becomes the real monster because he refuses to acknowledge his part in the making of his own destruction. Victor’s inner evil shows itself through his creation and Victor cannot handle the fact that he might be responsible for the death all around him (Lunsford 175). In addition to this, Mary Shelley lets the reader see the motives behind Victor’s narcissism and the monster’s revenge. First, Victor shows his narcissism through his laborious work and irresponsibility. In other words, Victor ignores his family for months on end while he works on creating a superhuman breed of mankind. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the monster wants revenge because Victor made him a laughing stock among men. The monster found rage where compassion once thrived and he jumped on the opportunity to make Victor pay (Vargish 336). In conclusion, Victor created a self-image within the monster that represented his own evil