The Creature in Frankenstein is not the Villain

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Recommended: Critical analysis of frankenstein monster

Many readers often think of the creature from Frankenstein as a revolting villain. Readers do not seem to understand the severity of what Victor Frankenstein took from him. His own father, Frankenstein, left the creature for dead. Frankenstein abandoned and victimized his own child; he deserted his child to be forever in solitude. He had to learn to survive, learn that humans will fear him, and learn how to love completely on his own. Victor refused to help him by creating a new monster for him to love. Only a child, he felt alone and desperate for compassion.
Victor, afraid of the creature’s power after he created life, abandoned his son. After Victor neglected his creation, he felt terribly alone, “’I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept’” (Shelly 72). The creature could not have been evil upon creation because he knew nothing! Essentially an infant, he did not know good or evil. Feeling desolate and lonely, he had no one to care for him. “…the monster faces rejection and fear from his creator” (Monster). Victor’s fear blinded him from the creature’s true identity. If Victor had stayed with the monster he could have seen the love the being could hold. The creature never would have hurt anyone if Victor cared for him from the beginning.
Victor not only took the creature’s only chance for love, he rid him of his childhood. After he wept, the creature ran toward the sun into the forest. Taught nothing, he began to learn how to survive on his own, “’…I began to distinguish my sensations from each other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with drink, and the trees and shaded me with their foliage… One d...

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...itude. He never truly had love reciprocated to him. He had to teach himself how to live in this wretched world, how to feel compassion, and to fear humans. He never got to have a family because of Victor. From birth to death, the creature had to live on his own. Victor caused the trauma that the creature endured for a lifetime.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Print.
"Frankenstein: Analysis of Major Characters." SparkNotes. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"Frankenstein: Characters." LitCharts. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"The Monster." CliffNotes. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Print.

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