Who Is The Monster In Frankenstein

Frankenstein In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley both Victor Frankenstein and his creature have monstrous characteristics. They both fit under the definition of monster. The creature is a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty. Victor is one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character. In society a monster could be a person who does awful things. They both do awful things all throughout the book. The creature murdered people, but Victor could have stopped him from doing that. The creature was mean, sad, and lonely because of the way Victor and other people treated him. Victor left his family and didn’t talk to them for two years to create a monster that he did not like. Victor and the creature
were both monsters. The creature killed people and Victor did nothing to stop him. After the creature killed William, Victor's younger brother, one of their family friends Justine Moritz was accused of murder. Victor knew that the creature did it, but didn’t tell anyone about it. “A flash of lightning illuminated the object, and discovered its shape plainly to me… What did he there? Could he be (I shuddered at the conception) the murder of my brother? No sooner did the idea cross my imagination, than I became convinced of its truth” (Shelley 50). The creature was a monster because he killed people. Victor was a monster because Justine was killed after she was accused and confessed to the murder. “I did confess; but I confessed a lie. I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins” (Shelley 58). Victor still didn’t tell her anything after she said this to him. Victor wasn’t happy about what he did. He felt bad about it after, but not bad enough to stop the creature from killing two more people. “Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts” (Shelley 60). Victor said that these were the first victims which implies there will be more in the future. Victor and the creature were monsters for different, but similar reasons. The creature was sad and lonely because people were mean to him.
This is one of the reasons why he was so mean to people. Victor was mean to the creature because right after he created him he ran away from it. “Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived” (Shelley 36). If Victor would have listened to the creature he would have found out he just wanted someone to talk to. This could have stopped the creature from doing bad things. When the creature stayed next to the cabin and got to know the people that lived there he thought they would be different. They were not and this ruined how he felt about humans. “Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me” (Shelley 69). Victor made the creature feel awful and that is something a monster would
do. Victor left his family for years without talking to them to create a creature he didn’t like. At the beginning of the book he left his house to study natural philosophy even though his father didn’t approve of it. Then he decided that he wanted to make something and give it life. This took a while and he stopped talking to all of his family and friends. “And the same feelings which made me neglect the scenes around me caused me to also forget those friends who were so many miles absent, and whom I had not seen for so long a time” (Shelley 33). He was selfish because he didn’t think of other people except himself. Later in the book he does this again when he leaves Henry to travel alone while he creates another creature. “I may be absent a month or two; but do not interfere with my motions, I intreat you: leave me to peace and solitude for a short time; and when I return, I hope it will be with a lighter heart” (Shelley 118). Henry was there to make Victor feel better, but Victor just left him. Victor went to creature another creature, but changed his mind and destroyed it. Victor knew the creature would kill his friends and family if he did this. The creature killed Henry and Victor did nothing to stop him. Victor was a monster because he was selfish and mean. The creature was a monster because he would not leave Victor alone until he got what he wanted. Both Victor and the creature were monsters by the dictionary definitions and by what society thinks. Victor was mean and selfish. He didn’t care that much about other people. He let people die even though he knew the truth. The creature looked like a monster, but at first he didn’t act like one. Later in the book he kills Victor's family and friends just to get back at him for what he did. The real monster in the book Frankenstein is Victor and the creature.