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Frankenstein The Creator

Frankenstein: The Creator’s Faults In The Creation Essay, Research Paper


Frankenstein: The Creator’s Faults in the Creation


Often the actions of children are reflective of the attitudes of those who


raised them. In the novel Frankenstein : Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly,


Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the sole being that can take responsibility for the


creature that he has created, as he is the only one that had any part in


bringing it into being. While the actions of the creation are the ones that are


the illegal and deadly their roots are traced back to the flaws of Frankenstein


as a creator.


Many of Frankenstein’s faults are evident in the appearance of his creation. It


is described as having yellow skin, dark black hair, eyes sunk into their


sockets, and black lips (Shelly 56). Frankenstein, having chosen the parts for


his creature, is the only one possible to blame for its appearance. Martin Tropp


states that the monster is “designed to be beautiful and loving, it is loathsome


and unloved” (64). Clearly it is Frankenstein’s lack of foresight in the


creation process to allow for a creature that Frankenstein “had selected his


features as beautiful,” (56) to become something which the very sight of causes


its creator to say “breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”(56). He


overlooks the seemingly obvious fact that ugliness is the natural result when


something is made from parts of different corpses and put together. Were he


thinking more clearly he would have noticed monster’s hideousness.


Another physical aspect of the monster which shows a fault in Frankenstein is


its immense size. The reason that Frankenstein gives for creating so large a


creature is his own haste. He states that ,”As the minuteness of the parts


formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first


intention, to make a being gigantic in stature …” (52). Had Frankenstein not


had been so rushed to complete his project he would not have had to deal with


such a physically intimidating creature. Tropp however states that ambition may


have had a role in the size of the creation. He says that the creation is “born


of Frankenstein’s megalomania” (81). This may indeed be true as the inventor


states “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and


excellent natures would owe their being to me” (52). Frankenstein seems obsessed


with being the father of this new race, so he makes the creature large in order


to assure its dominance.


The more important defect within Frankenstein is not so much shown in the


appearance that he gave his creation, but the manner in which he responds to it.


The first thing that Frankenstein notices upon the activation of his creation is


one of being appalled (56). Frankenstein sees the creature’s physical appearance


only, taking no time to attempt to acknowledge its mental nature. He cannot


accept it simply because it looks too far removed from his view of beautiful


(Oates 77). Because of this he drives the creature away, abandoning it. The


creature is “in one sense an infant-a comically monstrous eight foot baby- whose


progenitor rejects him immediately after creating him…” (Oates 70). It is due


to this abandonment that the monster develops the murderous tendencies displayed


later in the novel. Even when the creature is shown to be naturally good, its


physical form never allows it acceptance. Whenever the creation attempts to be


rational with Frankenstein it is rejected, with in almost all cases Frankenstein


sighting its appearance as one of the reasons. “Frankenstein’s response to the


`thing’ he has created is solely in aesthetic terms…” (Oates 75).


Throughout the novel Frankenstein continually insists that “The tortures of Hell


are too mild a vengeance for all [the creature's] crimes” (95). Frankenstein is


incorrect, however in assuming that the creature is inherently evil. Mary Lowe-


Evans states that ,”Nothing in Frankenstein is more unexpected than the


Creature’s sensitivity” (52). His benevolent nature described in his story is


meant to show that he is not the beast that Frankenstein has

made him out to be


(Lowe-Evans 52). The creature is intrigued by the lives of the people that he


finds living in a small cabin, the De Laceys. The creature loves everything


about these people and attempts to aid them by gathering for them much needed


firewood. This action is described by Tropp as, “a last attempt to enter its


[Paradise's} gates" (75). He also sympathizes with the plights of other


unfortunate people that he hears of such as the Native Americans (Lowe-Evans 53).


It is only upon being again rejected because of his appearance that the creature


becomes the monster that Frankenstein sees him as.


Just as the creature’s love of the De Laceys show that he is not an evil being


and that Frankenstein has caused him to become this way, so does the creature’s


constant longing for companionship. The creature says in regard to originally


capturing Frankenstein’s brother William, “If I could, therefore seize him … I


should not be so desolate in this peopled earth.” (136). He only murders him


upon realizing that he is a relative of Frankenstein. The creature’s ultimate


plea for companionship comes when he requests that Frankenstein creates another


monster to be his mate, and that the two monsters would live in isolation. Tropp


acknowledges that this is truly meant to do no harm to the race of man, and


simply to comfort the creature. He also states, however, that it is in the


creation’s nature to look for acceptance by humans, and will if given the chance,


return to human civilization (78).


The most major crime committed by the creature in the eyes of Frankenstein is


the murder of his wife Elizabeth. The roots of the killing can be traced back


not only to the malice displayed by the creature toward Frankenstein, but also


to Frankenstein’s own self-centered attitude. The creature pronounces his threat


on Elizabeth’s life, after Frankenstein has done what Oates calls “The cruelest


act of all” (78), destroying the partially finished monster that was to be the


mate of his first creation. She also states that Frankenstein, “in `mangling’


the flesh of his demon’s bride, he is murdering the pious and rather too perfect


Elizabeth…” (78). Frankenstein wishes for his own happiness through


companionship in marriage, but denies the same right to his creation.


Frankenstein can also be viewed as being responsible for the death of Elizabeth


by assuming that when the creature states “I shall be with you on your wedding


night” (161) he is going to be killed rather than Elizabeth, even when all of


the creature’s prior killings point to the fact that he would attempt to make


Frankenstein’s life miserable rather than actually kill him (Lowe-Evans 61). In


fact if the creature actually wanted Frankenstein to die, it had the perfect


opportunity to kill him the second Frankenstein destroyed his would be wife.


Lowe-Evans points out that this can be attributed to Frankenstein’s own selfish


attitude. She says he “might feel that even the attention implied in the


Creature’s warning rightfully belongs to him” (62). This fits the spoiled


childhood life of Frankenstein, detailed in the works early chapters (Lowe-Evans


62).


It is stated by Oates that ,”The monsters that we create … `are’ ourselves as


we cannot hope to see ourselves…” (75). This statement is perfectly applicable


to Frankenstein. The qualities that he would most like to deny are shown through


the results that they have had on the being which he has brought into existence.


The results of his flaws take on a physical aspect, destroying those around him,


until he finally dies seeking revenge on something that he himself has brought


about.


Works Cited


Lowe-Evans, Mary. Frankenstein: Mary Shelly’s Wedding Guest. New York: Twayne


Publishers, 1993.


Oates, Joyce Carol. “Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe.”


Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers,


1987.


Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. New York: Penguin Books,


1978.


Tropp, Martin. Mary Shelly’s Monster. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.

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