Victor's Role In Frankenstein Essay

In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, published in 1818, the relationship between creator and created is is explored in a completely new way. The novel is a series of letters and notes written by a Captain named Robert Walton addressed to his sister, retailing the life of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist in search of the secrets of life in order to achieve glory, and his creation apptly called the creature, a paradoxical character that is shunned by both his creator and humankind for his grotesqueness. The question of who is responsible for the creature’s actions has been discussed and debated in length. Victor Frankenstein is responsible for the creation of his creature, both literally and figuratively. Similarities to this topic are also …show more content…
Victor detested the creature even before it was created, “the whole detail of that series in disgusting circumstances which produced it is set in view; the minutest description of my odious and loathsome person is given, in language which painted your own horrors and rendered mine inedible” (Shelley 117-118). In their very first interaction, Victor runs away from the creature in horror before the creature could even do anything and vehemently tries to forget his creation afterwards. Victor Frankenstein is solely responsible for putting the creature in a lonely environment. According to Lobrano’s article, “if a parent stops responding, ‘it’s a form of emotional abuse’” (Lubrano). In the debate of nature versus nurture, it can be argued that infants are at some level aware of the emotions around them, so the creature would also be aware on some level of the fact that the first interaction he ever had was a bad one. The creature even goes on to state that he “was benevolent ; [his] soul glowed with love and humanity” (Shelley 87), but Victor constantly shuns the creature, even though the creature, at the beginning, shows Victor no harmful intent, but simply pleads that Victor “[l]isten to [his] tale...hear [him]” (87). Not only is Victor responsible for the creature’s less-than-desirable environment at the beginning of the creature’s …show more content…
In The School-to-Prison Pipeline, there is statistical evidence that “black students in New York City are 14 times more likely to be arrested because of school-based incidents than their white peers” (New York Times). This is also true in the creature’s case, who is always judged on his appearance, and even the creature calls himself “deformed and horrible” (Shelley 132), rather than being judged on his actions. The creature has proven himself to be kind, such as when he “took [Felix’s] tools, the use of which [he] quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelley 99), or when a young girl fell into a river and the creature “rushed from [his] hiding place; and...saved her” (Shelley 129). Victor states that he had “selected [the creature’s] features as beautiful (Shelley 43), yet earlier states that “as the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to [his] speed, [he] resolved...to make the being of a gigantic stature” (Shelley 39), which proves that Victor was even neglectful in the creation of the creature. After the creature is “born”, Victor immediately starts calling the creature demon and catastrophe, saying that “it became such a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived (Shelley 44). In the New York Times article, it is stated that “if you are called something long enough, you start to believe it” (New York