Social Isolation In Frankenstein

A monster is a relentless force that has no regard for life, and that is exactly who Victor Frankenstein is. During the novel Frankenstein there is much debate on the topic of who is the true monster, however, Victor Frankenstein is the true monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. As a result of being isolated from the one’s he loved, this lead to Victor being hostile, selfish, and full of ambition. Victor was obsessed with his goal to create life. With this obsession, it led Victor to become isolated from society and those who he loves. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor put himself into social isolation. Social isolation is distinct isolation in which the person typically removes himself from the outside world by choice, and prefers

From the moment the creature comes to life, Victor had no compassion for his obsession that has now become a reality. Victor shows his hostility by viewing the creature with disgust and describing it as a horrific incident. Victor then does what every child may fear the worse. Victor portrays monstrous action when he abandons ‘it’ since he is “unable to endure the aspect of the being that he had created” (Shelley 42). The creation of the creature derived from Victor’s thirst for alchemy, and the want to truly be a “god-like” figure. Victor says while trying to create the creature, “... a new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me...” (Shelley 52). This shows how selfish Victor is and the only reason he wants to create a life is to have power and

One selfish act in Frankenstein that Victor is at fault for is the murder of William. Victor knows that the creature has murdered William, however, he does not confess his knowledge of the creature. Because of Victor’s selfish act, this leads to the death of Justine. “Justine also was a girl of good merit and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated by an ignominious grave, and I was the cause!” (Shelley 66). Victor admits that Justine’s death is all his fault. Victors states that Justine’s punishment was due to creating the monster, but not because of the information that he decided not to share. This shows how Victor was full of negative ambition from the beginning as he would rather save his creation that he fears so much than to save Justine’s life. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor shows that he is full of ambition throughout the book by displaying acts of challenging the human knowledge and going beyond the natural laws. Although his ambition was meant to be for the good of his experiment, this ambition of his turns negative when he became reckless with the creation of his creature. His ambition led to him unleashing a creature on society, which led to it feeling rejection and horror due to society’s views on his differences because in the end, all he wanted was a relationship with his creator, and Victor couldn’t do