Examples Of Narcissism In Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein is just your average scientist, till the notion to create new life catches him, and from its inception this idea changes Victor from a scientist into a villain. Throughout Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, despite narrating most of the story from his point of view, Shelley portrays Doctor Victor Frankenstein as the true villain of the story, rather than the creature that he creates. The main things that make victor the villain are several large character flaws he has: immoderation, irresponsibility, narcissism, and apathy. He meddles in the territory of gods, abandons his own creation, ignores chances to stop the deaths of his loved ones, and ignores the monster’s cries for help. Victor shows himself to be nearly sociopathic …show more content…
He is a grotesque creature whose looks repel all those who see him, dashing his hopes of ever being accepted into society. The saddening plight of this monster is made worse by the fact that he has nobody in his life to call a friend, not even the man who brought him to life. Midway through the tale, the monster discovers some books, among them is John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the monster even compares himself to the tragic figure of Satan, “Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred” (Shelley, Frankenstein 119). The reason given for Victor’s abandonment in the book was his sheer terror and abhorrence of what he had made. Victor himself speaks of his horror upon seeing his creation when it was brought to life, “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks” (Shelley, Frankenstein 44). The reader can see how he, and even those of a stronger disposition, would have fled. However, even this fear doesn’t excuse Victor’s breach of responsibility, being the one who brought this monster into the world he owed the monster some form of care, be it actual compassion and attention, or seeing that the monster was destroyed to end his suffering and preserve the lives of others. Yet this care and attention that the creature needed so desperately was not given in any way, so this creature, who was aesthetically terrifying to everyone, and also had no education and very basic forms of thought, was abandoned and left to his own devices. Having been abandoned, the monster had to find his own way in the world with no guidance. The monster recalls his first