This essay argues that Victor Frankenstein, not his creation, is the true villain of Mary Shelley's novel. Through an examination of Victor's abandonment of the creature, his refusal to create a companion despite his promise, and his indifference to the suffering he causes, the paper demonstrates how Victor's selfishness and lack of compassion directly transform the initially peaceful creature into a vengeful being. By failing to take responsibility for his creation and denying the creature basic human connection, Victor becomes morally culpable for all subsequent tragedy in the novel.
In the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein becomes obsessed with the creation of life and finds a way to create his own being. Throughout the novel, his creation torments him and slowly kills everyone in his life. However, the real villain in this story is Victor Frankenstein himself. In his greed for successfully creating life, Victor created a grotesque monster that everyone shuns. When the monster asks simply for the solace of another being like himself, Victor promises to create a female companion, and then decides not to.
As Victor successfully creates the monster, he does not think of the consequences—only the possibilities that could follow if he succeeds. This monster is eight feet tall and a conglomeration of different body parts from many different people; he will never successfully mesh with society. During the creation process, Victor thinks the creature is beautiful. But the second the creature comes to life, Victor "beholds the wretch he has created." In that moment of first awakening, the monster already gets its first glimpse of what society will see him as, when Victor runs away from him in fear. Victor is almost unintentionally wicked; by creating the monster from different people's body parts, he makes the creature extremely grotesque, and this sets the monster up for what will shape him into the vengeful being he becomes.
After Victor's shunning, the creature runs off and tries to live on his own. However, between his complete lack of understanding of the language of the people around him and his horrid appearance, he is shooed, beaten, and shunned by all whom he encounters. The creature, though still naive, is beginning to form his understanding of the world as one in which he is different and unacceptable to society.
With a now fully developed understanding of the world through observation of people, the creature seeks out his creator in the hopes that Victor will pity him enough to create him a companion. The creature's methods of getting Victor's attention are not ideal, but he remains a gentle soul at heart. Even though Victor feels great anger toward the creature for killing his younger brother, he still agrees to create a female counterpart.
Partway through the process of creating the creature's female counterpart, Victor decides that he does not want to take the risk that they will wreak havoc and stops making her. This act is what truly changes the creature. Victor's selfishness determines that the creature will forever be alone in shunned solitude, never able to share his compassion with anyone or interact with somebody who will not hate him. Victor changes the creature from peaceful to hatred fueled.
In a way, Victor has brought the death of everyone around him upon himself by lacking any compassion for his own creation. Without Victor's wickedness, the creature could have learned of society not through books that were the worst examples of human nature, but through good examples of humans' loving natures. If the creature can find it in himself to be compassionate toward humans even when they beat and shun him, imagine what he could become if he had somebody to be with or a creator who actually loved him.
"Victor's selfishness and lack of compassion directly cause the creature's transformation from peaceful to hateful."
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