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Frankenstein by Merry Shelly: A Depiction On The Real Monster

Introduction

After reading Frankenstein by Merry Shelly a lot of things come in mind. Who is at fault in-between Victor and the creature? Who is the real monster? It takes a thorough read of the book to figure out the fit answer to these questions finally. Victor Frankenstein can be blamed for numerous things. For starters, he should not have had the dark desire to hold forbidden knowledge. He reanimated life, which was against Mother Nature. Now that he had committed the awful act of recreating life, he did the worst possible thing to his creation; he abandoned the creature. A lot of things could have been avoided if he just embraced the creature as his son, but he could not bring himself to doing that. Further, Victor was responsible for the death of Justine, Elizabeth, Henry, William, and his own father as well. He might not have killed them directly, but he was accountable for creating the creature who killed them, but the creature was the monster? At the end, he himself is to blame for his death as well. Further, through this paper, I will try to strengthen my argument regarding Frankenstein's creature as the most sympathetic character and Victor indeed as the antagonist.

Discussion

When an individual analyzes Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, there are various conclusions that come in mind, but one undeniable fact is the innocence and compassion of the creature. Every other reader will feel sympathy for the poor creature, in fact, more pity than any other character. The creature was abandoned by his creator and the society which pushed him to commit evil deeds despite being good at heart. When a child is born, who is responsible for his or her actions? The parents. Victor abandoned his creation, his son and never taught him the values and ethics that one has to be familiar with in order to survive. The creature taught himself how the world works. He was always good at heart, in fact, everyone born is pure. The creature never got the chance to a normal life to prove his purity and innocence. There is a saying that; never judge a book by its cover, for the poor creature everyone thought he was a monster based on his appearance. He could not help the way he looked. The reaction that he got from people based on his looks made him bitter by the time. He was labeled "a monster" from the very start. Throughout the novel, the reader can see the little acts of kindness that he does. These acts assure that he has a good heart. Even though the society abandoned him, the creature helped De Lacey’s store through scarcity; “The creature had been accustomed... to steal a part of the De Lacey's store for his consumption, but when he found that in doing this the creature inflicted pain on the cottagers, he abstained and satisfied himself with berries, nuts, and roots... he gathered from the neighboring wood” (Shelley 109). Just by this small scene created, one can tell that he could not come to the thought of ever hurting anyone. He was kind and would rather live on edibles that could have never been able to satisfy his appetite. He did not care that how De Lacey would react to his appearance, he is showing traits of selflessness here.

Further in the book one can read; “A young girl came running... laughing... when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the rapid stream. The creature rushed from his hiding spot and with extreme labour... saved her and dragged her to shore” (Shelley 142). Another act that shows that the creature was kindhearted and meant well. When he was on his journey in Geneva, all he could think of was to get answers from his creator Victor, but when he saw the girl fall into the stream, the creature decided to help her. He could have let the girl drown and walked away without even anyone knowing, but he could not bring himself to do that. He is called the monster, yet the monster is more human than most characters in the story inclusive of Victor. Towards the end of the story, the apparent protagonist is indeed the monster and the antagonist being Victor. The selfish man who recreated life in the name of science regardless of the consequences. Then, after seeing his creation for the first time, abandoning it leaving it on its own to get by.

Conclusion

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is a heart-wrenching tale. It shows the life of a creature that was brought into the world against nature's ways, abandoned and eventually pushed to the life of evil. A lot of people might question my argument saying that he killed people, but was he capable of killing at the start of the novel? No, he was similar to a newborn child who was left without guidance. Even then, the creature carried out acts of kindness and helped people regardless of the backlash that he got from the society. On the contrary, Victor the so-called great creator walks away from his responsibility. He was too consumed by the forbidden knowledge to care to think about the creature. He looked at the creature like an experiment and nothing more; he was left behind like garbage that served no purpose by the real monster “Victor.” The one who looked like a monster was far better and humane than the one who looked human.

Work Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein 1818. Neri Pozza Editore, 2018.