Keywords: frankenstein guilt theme, guilt in frankenstein
"I may expire; but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware; for I am fearless, and for that reason powerful. " -The Monster, Ch. 20
I, the miserable and the discontinued, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.
In Walton's final notice to his sister, he recounts what that the monster speaks to him over Victor's lifeless body. This eruption of furious self-pity as the monster questions the injustice of how he has been cured compellingly captures his interior life, presenting Walton and the audience a glimpse into the suffering that has determined his crimes. This series also evokes the motif of abortion: the monster can be an unwanted life, a creation empty and shunned by his creator.
Frankenstein was a guy whose ambition led to a tragedy; His actions resulted in bad. Is Frankenstein an innocent? In my opinion, he was not an innocent. This is of innocent is to clear of wicked or guilt. The term "Frankenstein" is identified in the dictionary (Encarta Dictionary) as "a creator of something that triggers ruin or devastation, or results in an individual downfall, displaying a well suited name.
A common quotation is the fact "The first is innocent until proved guilty", If this quotation is put on Victor Frankenstein, he'd be innocent, for creating a man, that was morally and contextually wrong; He'd be innocent for allowing the murders of William, Justine, Elizabeth and Clerval to take place. It might be true that Frankenstein did not in physical form murder, however, he's the primary cause, and the reason why they passed on. Frankenstein never admitted to his young families what he had done; he never needed responsibility for his activities. The so called "monster" murdered for companionship, not to seek revenge from his victims, but to get revenge from Frankenstein. The circumstances forced Frankenstein's monster to take action, Victor was the instigator of these circumstances.
"My first thought was to find what I recognized of the murderer and cause instant pursuit to be made. But I paused while i reflected on the storyline I had to inform. "(Frankenstein, Mary Shelley), This demonstrates Victor had the data that he was the reason William was useless. Frankenstein didn't need to know about the murderer, because he indirectly was the murderer, through the circumstances he designed for the monster, when i pointed out briefly before.
Frankenstein's reason behind creating the creature was his involvement in his studies, which led him to the thought of bettering mankind. Victor thought he was performing a service to humanity by creating a "new individual".
"A fresh kinds would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. I would in procedure for time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where loss of life had apparently devoted the body to problem. " This quote shows his ego behind these strategies. He wanted to conquer loss of life, something the common human cannot do. He wished to be revered highly by this so called "perfect" and "beautiful" creature. Corresponding to him, it could have been satisfactory to play the role of god; maybe his being a scientist is why he didn't think of that which was morally right. However, the quotation shows that right from the start, Victor had a concept of how he'd somewhat be stepping in to the shoes of the godlike body, he outlines the fact that he'd be superior, and he would have the energy to renew the inactive. This shows that he previously no innocence, or naivety in conditions of knowing precisely what he was doing and what it could lead to.
After creating his creature, on the basis of looks, he shunned it. He may also have shunned it because he already conquered fatality, so in his view, he may have already obtained the status of god, or an excellent power, something no-one acquired achieved. He didn't think about anything at night "ugliness" of the creature, or his personal benefits. His selfishness is what ultimately demolished him among others as well.
The creature he created is similar to a project to Frankenstein, his aim is to overcome death, and once he has done so, the project is over. Not once does he consider the actual fact that he has simply given beginning to a new individual, with feelings and feeling, a live creature who has to be taught the means of life as though it is just a baby.
Frankenstein's abandonment of the creature is another factor that proves him guilty, and not innocent. Frankenstein was wrong to be irresponsible, brief sighted, and neglecting his creature. He didn't give his creature anything he needed. It's his own problem that the creature comes back saying "I may die; but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery. Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful. " The creature was deprived of the companionship, which he could only get from his originator. The creature characters that the only path he can get some attention, is by threatening his inventor.
This could be compared to a predicament with a kid and a parent or guardian. Frankenstein is slightly the parent or guardian of his creature. His job is to nurture him, but because of his own ego, he works away. If it were a parent or guardian and a child, the child would be defenceless since it hasn't even developed bodily, nevertheless the creature can be an example where he is an uneducated child, with a higher physical strength. Frankenstein's creature considers through intuition, as any child who hasn't learnt anything would do. He doesn't know what's right and incorrect, so he doesn't know it's wrong to threaten; he doesn't know it's wrong to eliminate. Blaming him is like blaming a child for breaking a very important, such as a vase. You can't blame the kid because their knowledge hasn't developed, they haven't yet learned. However in the child's circumstance, after making such a mistake, the child would be taught not to do so again, making a basis of how it is wrong, this will not take place for the creature. It could be argued that the creature should know through Victor's dread, but does a child learn anything when it senses fear? No, it anything, it will only figure out how to keep intimidating.
Frankenstein's faults of his creation, or you could say his faults in parenting, in simple fact started from the very starting. Frankenstein's creature is described as having dark dark hair, yellow epidermis, black lips and eye sunk into his sockets (Shelly 56). It's quite ironic that Frankenstein feared his own creation, he's the main one who hand-picked the features his so called perfect man could have. For him to say "breathless horror and disgust crammed my heart"(56), towards a creation of his own, just shows his propensity towards aesthetics, and exactly how backward he's in terms of being acknowledging, yet how onward he is in terms to do something new. He's responsible for what sort of creature turned out. This once again, demonstrates his irresponsibility, and his view to the creation as a job. His attitude on the creature is why he was irresponsible. He wasn't serious enough, or simply he wasn't ready to face negative repercussions, seeing as he was a perfectionist.
The history Frankenstein created in conditions of nurture is what brought on his creature to murder. Victor accepted to creating the monster, but he refused that he drove the monster to commit murder. He wouldn't declare to anyone; not himself, not his family, that he was the one who allowed the murders to occur. He allowed Clerval, his partner Elizabeth, his brother William and Justine's loss of life to take place because he didn't take the blame for his activities. If he previously admitted to his activities earlier, less fatalities could have been induced, if he previously been accountable, and given the creature what it needed, he'd not be guilty of four murders.
In the end, Frankenstein was at loss of everything near to him, he blamed the monster, but it was his mistake. He previously a faint proven fact that it was his problem, although no-one may be able to say that to murdering the people near to you. The only path he could be innocent, is made for not literally going for a knife and stabbing his family. Nevertheless the pain he got from his creature was his own fault. Innocence is based on having no sense of guilt for any action of yours, this, Victor did clearly not have. The creature couldn't stop himself from destroying Victor, because Victor couldn't stop himself from creating the creature. The creature was an innocent; it only reacted to the activities of culture. Victor was guilty in every way.
