Appearance In Frankenstein

Before meeting Frankenstein’s creature, I was convinced there were two possible answers to the question of whether Frankenstein, his creature, or neither existed. After I had finished reading the novel I was left with the conclusion that Victor Frankenstein is real, but his creature, and thus most of his story, is not.

First, I want to explain why Frankenstein would have a reason to make up this story/envision a creature. The first and most prevalent reason is the death of his mother and then his brother. While he was not a child when his mother died he was rather young: 17 (chapter 3). From the text, we learn about the utter despair Frankenstein feels as he states that “the void that presents itself to the soul; and the despair that is exhibited

He then throws himself into his work so much so that he rarely even writes to his family, as he is supposed to do. This new world of university far from home, which can perturb even the most well-mannered students, slowly and surely wears down Frankenstein (which I will touch on further in a moment). There is no reconciliation with the death of his mother and instead we just see Frankenstein get more and more involved with his work until he inevitably gets sick and halts his “project” with his creature. Since Frankenstein’s obsession with bringing a creature to life occurs after his mother passes, it may be likely that he wishes to bring his mother back from the dead and the project of his creature is an ode to that. Not soon after he is better from an illness does his brother die. Yet again, he is affected by this death as he recounts Clerval’s reaction to the letter as Frankenstein’s countenance changes from “the despair that succeeded to the joy I at first expressed” (chapter 7). Both deaths weigh heavily on Frankenstein’s mind and, I believe, contribute to his hallucinations of a creature. Greif is a powerful emotion and can even cause hallucinations, though

After spending months researching, and gathering objects, Frankenstein begins his experiment at “one in the morning” on “a dreary night” (chapter 5). Upon electrifying the body parts, Frankenstein claims to see “the dull yellow eye of the creature open” (chapter 5). I believe that this is all a hallucination of Frankenstein. First, it is late at night and the room is dimly lit. Dim lighting paired with a late night could easily cause Frankenstein to see things that are not there. Plus, after seeing this he immediately falls ill. It is possible that he was even sick before the experiment begins as he notes in the chapter before that “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever” which of course can cause hallucinations (chapter 4). From this point on, most of his encounters with the creature can be discredited from Frankenstein himself who claims that “this state of mind preyed upon my health, which had perhaps never entirely recovered from the first shock it had sustained” (chapter 9). Not to mention, that before most of his encounters with the creature he is both alone and usually remarks about his own grief/issues as in this chapter where he states that “as I drew nearer home, grief and fear again overcame me” before he sees the monster on the following page (which is preceded by commenting on how gloomy and dark it is that night)