Victor Frankenstein Sociopath Analysis

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as the name implies, centers on the character of Victor Frankenstein. Over the course of the novel, the point of view switches across a cast of several characters, all of which have interacted with Victor, some more than others. Victor’s pursuit to find the source of life, and the events thereafter, show him making countless questionable decisions, hurting the people close to him, and getting away wit hit all because of the society he lives in. These points unequivocally prove that Victor Frankenstein is a sociopath. The first reason that Victor is a sociopath is the fact that he makes all of his decisions in the moment with complete disregard for anyone else. The article “Moral Ignorance and Blameworthiness states

No one in their right mind would ever think that it is socially acceptable to create this creature, neglect it to the point where it runs away, and then not take responsibility for the actions of the creature that he made. There is a complete disconnect between Victor and the society that he lives in. For example, the reason that Victor neglects his creature is the fact that it is physically ugly. Anyone with a social conscience would not have made this creature in the first place, but if they hypothetically did, they would be ecstatic that they just discovered the source of life itself rather than be upset over the appearance of their

As surprising as that is to hear, the way society reacts to events absolutely plays a massive role in the future decisions of those who initiated the original events. For example, “Someone plays a loud movie in a crowded train. Someone litters in a public area. Someone jumps the line to a music club. These are examples of social norm violations with negative consequences for other people in the same group or same environment” (Eriksson). The idea behind this concept is that if someone severely violates a societal normalcy, then someone will speak up against the person who broke the norm. On paper this sounds fantastic, until you apply the same logic to the world of Frankenstein. When talking about littering at a train station, the study “When is it Appropriate to Reprimand a Norm Violation? The Roles of Anger, Behavioral Consequences, Violation Severity, and Social Distance” states “A survey among passengers showed that they tended to believe that the more severe violation should be more strongly reprimanded” (Eriksson). So even after Victor has quite literally played God and left a trail of bodies in the wake of his decisions, it is surprising that not a single person speaks out against him. If no one ever told him that what he was doing was wrong, then he would never learn from his mistakes. Victor continually breaks these social norms because no one ever tells him he