Frankensteins Innocence
The Defense of Frankenstein's Creature
Victor Frankenstein, a character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, decided that he wanted to bring life into this world; a life that would eventually go on to killing the creator himself. The Creature can be seen as either innocent or guilty. The popular opinion of the Creature seems to be that he is guilty considering how he has burned down a house, set up Justine for murder and murdered three others. However, after taking a close look at the text, it can be seen that Frankenstein's creature is not guilty. He was brought into this world with a child-like innocence, never progressed past the emotional state of a child and was rejected throughout his whole life causing him to do the things he did. Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor's Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor "escaped and rushed downstairs." (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat down and wept." (106) The Creature knew nothing when he was born. He could not distinguish rite from wrong. The only thing that he could feel was pain from being rejected by his own creator. Victor was the first to force the Creature's child-like innocence away from him. Even after being educated by the DeLacey family his child-like innocence shines through. He was reading books while he stumbled upon a story of bloodshed and he "could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow (He) turned away (from them) with disgust
Victor Frankenstein, a character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, decided that he wanted to bring life into this world; a life that would eventually go on to killing the creator himself. The Creature can be seen as either innocent or guilty. The popular opinion of the Creature seems to be that he is guilty considering how he has burned down a house, set up Justine for murder and murdered three others. However, after taking a close look at the text, it can be seen that Frankenstein's creature is not guilty. He was brought into this world with a child-like innocence, never progressed past the emotional state of a child and was rejected throughout his whole life causing him to do the things he did. Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor's Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor "escaped and rushed downstairs." (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat down and wept." (106) The Creature knew nothing when he was born. He could not distinguish rite from wrong. The only thing that he could feel was pain from being rejected by his own creator. Victor was the first to force the Creature's child-like innocence away from him. Even after being educated by the DeLacey family his child-like innocence shines through. He was reading books while he stumbled upon a story of bloodshed and he "could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow (He) turned away (from them) with disgust