An Analysis Of Victor Frankenstein's God Complex

Alex Smith
Mrs. Joyner
Honors English 4
1/7/15
Victor Frankenstein’s God Complex In the novel “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a God figure. He creates the monster, which makes him like God because according to Christianity only God can create life. Frankenstein abandoned his creation, just like God turned his back on Jesus as he was crucified. Frankenstein made the monster, which killed people, which is a reference to when God created Adam and Eve and they sinned. When Frankenstein created the monster, he was even God when it came to power. According to Christianity, only God can create life. The monster was Frankenstein’s creation, which makes him the father. In Catholicism, which is a branch
It is in a human’s natural instinct to sin because we are not perfect and we don’t know any better until we actually do what we will learn is wrong. This goes with the popular phrase “learn your lesson”. But in honesty, the monster never learned its lesson because no one taught him differently. It continued to kill because it was following its natural instincts. This being said, if Victor had taught it right and wrong, what would the monster have done? For starters it probably wouldn’t have killed anyone. It would have found a friend somewhere instead of wandering the world alone. In Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Victor states that “The innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.” (Shelley 2) This proves that Victor, while being like God, had the choice of showing the right or righteous path, or leaving it to fall into the ways of darkness and evil. We can obviously see what route was
With him being portrayed as God, he had certain responsibilities to his creation. He was supposed to teach him right and wrong and shelter it. But since he failed to do so, his creation went down the wrong path and killed or sinned. This means that we all, as humans, have an obligation to teach our creations, or children, what is right and what is wrong. If we do not teach them these things, their life can take a turn for the worst. They can end up on the streets, in jail, or the worst, in the ground. An anonymous publisher said in an article called, “Frankenstein: a Warning to Society Today”, said that “Her writing tells us that using technology to go beyond human abilities can have bad consequences.” (Anonymous 1) If this was Shelley’s warning to humanity, she could have retold the story of life. Starting with the birth of the first humans or the monster, then showing where the creation kills or sins, and then finally reaching the very end where not even the creator can escape. So Shelley poses the reader with this question, will you be the creator of a masterpiece or a failed