Mary Shelley's Frankenstein-Who Is The Monster?

Who is the Monster in Frankenstein?
The term monster is derived from terms monstrare and monere; monstrare in latin means to demonstrate and monere means to warn. This makes the term monster mean that monsters are demonstrative; they reveal ideas about humanity and make evident ideas that are hidden (“What is a Monster?”). In the story Frankenstein, there is lots of controversy about whether or not Victor Frankenstein, the main protagonist, is the monster or if his creation is. Victor is the monster in this story due to what he reveals about humanity. He shows the darker side of mankind and how humans tend to avoid the blame by finding scapegoats for their own actions.
To begin with, Victor represents the “monstrous” side of humanity. This is the part of humanity that is darker such as selfishness, asocial, and has a lack of empathy. To start, Victor has a lack of empathy. This is seen when the monster is talking to Victor and says, “‘It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half afraid, as it were, instinctively , finding myself so desolate’” (p. 90). Victor’s responds to hearing that the monster was alone is afraid by being afraid of the monster, he does not feel bad for the monster. Victor could have helped the monster, but he responds by
running away and trying to forget the monster.
Another monstrous aspect of Victor is his selfishness. An example of this is after the death of his wife and father, he abandons his younger brother, Victor, in an attempt to get vengeance for the murder of his wife and father. Victor gets so caught up trying to catch the monster that he does not even think of helping Ernest. In fact, in the story, Victor never even thinks of helping the only family that he has left on Earth. This lack of helping family members adds to the monstrous nature of Victor. This adds to the next horrifying nature of Victor, his asocial tendencies. Victor spends copious amounts of time away from his family while building his monster. He first spends two years with almost no contact with the outside world, then another long period of time on an island alone attempting to build a mate for the first creation that he made. These aspects of Victor are in all humans and show how humans have many monstrous qualities.
Victor also shows how humanity copes with its own guilt by blaming others.
This is best seen when Victor is gives up on assembling the monster’s wife. As he is looking at his work, Victor says,“Had I right, for my own benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generation?” (p. 156). Victor is calling his creation a curse and completely forgetting the fact that it his fault that the monster became violent. The monster is merely an abandoned creation that turned to violence because he was never loved and always alone. Victor does not take this into account and acts as if the creation was truly the one to blame. This cursing of the creation is Victor’s way to cope with the guilt he feels for creating a
monster.
Victor Frankenstein is the monster in the story Frankenstein. When he blames the monster for his own actions, it shows the need for a “monster”.Blame is usually placed on something irregular or different as an attempt to ease the guilt of one’s actions. This is why “monsters” are needed in modern society.