Victor's Destruction in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Mary Shelley, in her book Frankenstein, makes several allusions to the fact that Victor Frankenstein is usurping the role of God in bringing his creature to life. The point of the book seems to be that a human who attempts to usurp the role of God will be heavily punished. Victor Frankenstein is severely punished. He loses everyone he loves before perishing himself in the arctic wastes. But did he really "play God" or did he merely unleash his own id and destroy himself?
Allusions to Frankenstein's identification with God are sprinkled liberally throughout the book. From an early age Frankenstein identifies himself with God through his study of metaphysics. "It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn (23)," Frankenstein says. From an early age it was the metaphysical secrets of life and death that obsessed Frankenstein. It was this interest that led him to study the alchemists. A choice that he believed brought about his own downfall.
Frankenstein fears for his sanity. He exhorts us more than once to "remember that he is not recounting the visions of a madman (37)." Yet he fears so much that he will be thought mad that he doesn't reveal that his creature killed William, even though it means the death of Justine, who was wrongly convicted of the murder. Frankenstein protests his own sanity so strenuously throughout the book that one begins to wonder if he is, in fact sane.
The image of Frankenstein as God is reinforced in the dialog between Victor and the creature when they meet on the summit of Montanvert (Chapter 10). The creature says:
I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perfo...
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...d friend, and the destined mate -- rivals for the affection of his parents and for success. It is significant that Frankenstein, although he knows of the creature's threats, does nothing to protect Elizabeth on their wedding night. In this way he is complicit in her death, and in his own destruction.
Frankenstein spends the rest of his life chasing the creature. He seems to want to confront and kill him, but it is not destined to be. In reality Frankenstein ostracizes himself from human society, even traveling to the uninhabitable North Pole. He never catches his creature. Instead he wears himself out, dying more of guilt and exhaustion than anything else. The creature, freed by Victor's death, retreats from the inhabited world searching for the death that he hopes will bring him relief.
Works Cited
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein. (Bantam Classics, NY), 1981.
Throughout the novel Victor Frankenstein isolates himself from humans and elevates himself to the level of God. Frankenstein spends countless hours in isolation, something humans are not meant to do, and he “succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life” (50). After remain in isolation he believes he is greater than other humans and was able to attain God’s level because he can create life. The power to bestow life is something that is thought of as godly and after Frankenstein created the creature he felt like a god because he “became capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (50). Frankenstein makes a comparison of his new species to human kind and cites himself as the new god. Frankenstein stated that this “new species blesses [him] as its creator and source,” elevating himself to god’s level and replacing him (52). God is something people look to for answers and for benevolence. Frankenstein describes himself as a person “with benevolent intentions, and thirsted for the moment when [he] should put them into practice” making it seem as if he has the same intentions as God but has a higher ability to fulfill his intentions because he is on earth
The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farfetched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein.
Throughout Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein pursues, with a passion lacking in other aspects of his life, his individual quest for knowledge and glory. He accepts the friendships and affections given him without reciprocating. The "creature," on the other hand, seems willing to return affections, bringing wood and clearing snow for the DeLaceys and desiring the love of others, but is unable to form human attachments. Neither the creature nor Victor fully understands the complex relationships between people and the expectations and responsibilities that accompany any relationship. The two "monsters" in this book, Victor Frankenstein and his creation, are the only characters without strong family ties; the creature because Frankenstein runs from him, and Victor because he runs from his family.
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