Similarities Between The Monster And Victor Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein and his monster are thought to be very different, but they share many of the same qualities and experiences. Throughout the novel Victor and the monster slowly become more and more alike. Many similarities develop as the story progresses. The two characters are thought to be very different but reveal that they have experienced many similar things that shape their life. Victor Frankenstein and his monster are both viewed as outcasts in society, they have been abandoned in some way, and they have good intentions in the things that they do. Victor Frankenstein becomes an outcast along with his monster because of society and his obsession with work.Victor isolates himself away from others in order to create his monster. Being
cut off from society made Victor go insane. As Victor is alone and creating his monster he says “every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree;the fall of a leaf startled me, and i shunned my fellow creatures as if i had been guilty of a crime”(32). Victor is such a recluse that he begins to get sick. Once Victor left the monster he didn’t want to be viewed as an outcast, but his features didn’t help with that. The monster says “I am an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around and I have no relation or friend upon earth.”(91) The monster is not capable of getting out of isolation but he is in it just like his creator. Frankenstein and his monster both live in isolation away from society.
Victor Frankenstein and the monster have both dealt with being abandoned.
Victor talks about how he thinks that the parents of someone have a large impact on how the rest of their life turns out and says “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.”(6) Victor lost his mother at an early age and it has impacted his life greatly. Victor's loss of his mother and abandonment has caused many of the issues in his life but, these actions cause the monster to suffer in the same way. The monster was abandoned so it had no mother or parent to show it the way. He needed his creator to guide him. The monster needed to be taught the ways of the world so that he could fit into society. The monster got pushed into the world all by himself with nobody to lead the way. Victor and his creation both needed a mother to help take care of them. Victor needed one when he became isolated and the monster needed someone to help it understand the world. Even Victor says how he believes that the parents have a huge part in how the life of their child will turn out. The fear and disgust that Victor felt from the monster kept him from being that person that the monster needed. Someone not letting the monster know right from wrong caused him to commit the murder of the boy because he did not know the proper way to interact with
other people. Victor abandoned the monster which is why it hated him, while victor could have treated the monster like his creation but instead he was treated as a mistake. This created the hatred inside of the monster for Victor and caused the monster to experience anger. Not having someone to help Victor or the monster, like a mother, led to many issues down the road.
Doctor Frankenstein and his creation have good intentions in the things that they do.
When Victor created the monster he did not have the intention to get rid of him. He created the monster and regretted it but he did not know he would feel that way before he made it. “You see for knowledge and wisdom, as i once did and i ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been” (9) Victor also seeks knowledge and wisdom so that he can do good. He had good intentions to seek those things and was planning on doing good which it acquired. Victor Frankenstein and the monster have good intentions when they do things and do not intend for them to go wrong yet things tend to go wrong for them. The monster had good intentions also. The monster may have had hate for Victor since he created and abandoned him but the hate was not sincere because he actually cared for his creator. He could die once his creator was dead. When the monster killed the boy he did not have the intention to murder him.. The monster did not know its strength even though he did not intend to hurt anyone, this is seen when the monster says “I drew his hand forcibly and said, “Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intent to hurt you””(16). Whenever he does something with good intentions and it goes wrong, he gets very angry. He only wants to do good but he does not know how so his anger is because he can't do what he wants to do. He never had the intention to
hurt anyone but his appearance made people think that he was going to. While his intentions were good his appearance caused people to make the assumption that his intentions were bad and that he wanted to hurt them. The monster also had good intentions when he was learning the language of the people in the cottage. “My days were spent in close attention, that i might more speedily master the language”(13) The monsters intentions of learning the language were good. The monster put so much effort into doing things with good intentions yet they always went badly. The monster and Victor both deal with the same types of issues in different ways. Even though they differ in multiple ways, they both grow more and more alike as the novel progresses. Both are isolated from society because of Victor and his work. The monster was born outside of civilization and had no one to show it how to act in the real world. They both experience not having parents in their lives. Victor dealt with losing his mother, but the monster had the pain of never having a parent from the start. Victor and the monster showed their good intentions in some of the things they did, but usually they went wrong. Throughout their lives they are presented with many of the same issues and that is why their lives ended the way they did.