Sympathy for Frankenstein

In the eighteenth century novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the protagonist creates a creature commonly known as Frankenstein. From a young age when his mother past away, the main character, Victor Frankenstein had a passion to create life. With this passion, Victor set out for the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Here Victor acquired the knowledge allowing him to execute his plan. Victor was interested in bringing the dead back to life, thus leading to his downfall. After many tries he finally accomplished the creation of a monster. The creation was extremely hideous, but far more real than Victor could have imagined. In the years that would follow, the monsters eloquence and persuasiveness would allow him to not be blamed of murder and force Victor to make another creation all to sympathize for his ugly physique.

Victor Frankenstein’s creation was able to elude the warrants of murder through his eloquence and pensiveness in short talks with his creator. As the antagonist of the story, the creation sought revenge on Victor for making him as appalling as any human being. No person or community would allow the creation to be near them even if he was trying to help. For instance, Frankenstein saved a young girls life. She was drowning and Frankenstein saved her as he was on his way to Geneva. For a reward the girl’s father shot the creation for his horrendous physique. The creation did not want to live the rest of its life relinquished from society and stranded. To balance out his creator’s wrong doing, the monster endeavored to make Victor’s life more miserable than his own. To accomplish such a feat he would have to take what he loved most, his family. Upon crossing Victor’s youngest brother William, he strangled him to death. After this he took the necklace that William had worn and placed it on the family servant, Justine Mortiz, to frame her for the murder. Several days later Justine was executed for the murder of William although it had been the monster all along seeking revenge. When Victor learned of all the misfortunes he knew it most have been his creation. While taking a walk on a snowy mountainside Victor finally met his creation for the first time in almost two years. Victor’s “feelings allowed (him) no respite; no incident occurred from which (his) rage and misery felt furious and wished that he had never created the monster” (Shelley 108). Still when the monster spoke to Victor his eloquence and persuasion could be enough for Victor to sympathize with him and not accuse him of the murder. The monster spoke to Victor and told him how villages had chased him away and even the loving Felix and Agatha could not bear to see him. Victor’s “heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine” (Shelley 184). Since Victor would sympathize with his creation, but also the creations overwhelming strength and agility were reasons enough for him to not accuse him of the murders he had committed and the ones that would come.

The second commodity that Victor’s creation achieves through his eloquence and persuasion is that he gets his creator to make him another monster. Throughout the course of the story the creation is lonely and unhappy with his short life. Victor has made him “hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life and stir with an uneasy, half-vital motion” (Shelley 4). As the creator of the monster he cannot bear to see his creation. Victor realizes that if he cannot look at his own creation than maybe the monster does deserve someone like himself to be with. That creation must “be supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world" (Shelley 4) in order for it to get along with another monster as ghastly. Victor creation is able to win Victor over by making him truly comprehend how miserable his life is alone with no one wanting him. With his persuasion the monster gets Victor to make him another monster or wife to live with by his powerful tactics of persuasion. Although the monster would ruin his hopes of a second creation, his eloquence did win Victor over and would keep him from being killed by Walton at the end of the novel.

In all the monsters persuasion and eloquence were crucial in order for it to feel equal amongst people. When Victor Frankenstein first created the monster it was a horrible disaster and an experiment that had gone completely wrong. By the end of the story the monster convinced Victor to satisfy his needs allowing him to get away with the murder of many innocent people. Also the monsters eloquence made Victor sympathize with him and force Victor to make him a wife. This would never happen in the end but the monster did get Victor to sympathize with him. At the end of the story Victor and the monster had built a social integrity with each other through persuasion and eloquence although the monster would be the only one that lived.