Defense Of Frankenstein's Creature Victor Frankenstein example essay topic

The Defense of Frankenstein's Creature Victor Frankenstein, a character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, decided that he wanted to bring life into this world; a life that would eventually go on to killing the creator himself. The Creature can be seen as either innocent or guilty. The popular opinion of the Creature seems to be that he is guilty considering how he has burned down a house, set up Justine for murder and murdered three others. However, after taking a close look at the text, it can be seen that Frankenstein's creature is not guilty. He was brought into this world with a child-like innocence, never progressed past the emotional state of a child and was rejected throughout his whole life causing him to do the things he did. Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad.

Victor's Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor "escaped and rushed downstairs". (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat down and wept".

(106) The Creature knew nothing when he was born. He could not distinguish rite from wrong. The only thing that he could feel was pain from being rejected by his own creator. Victor was the first to force the Creature's child-like innocence away from him.

Even after being educated by the De Lacey family his child-like innocence shines through. He was reading books while he stumbled upon a story of bloodshed and he "could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow... (He) turned away (from them) with disgust and loathing". (122) He was innocent in not being able to perceive why one would want to kill another and the thought of it sickened him.

Although the Creature was educated by the De Lacey family, he never learned anything about emotions; he never progressed passed the emotional state of a child. After being 'virtually educated' by the De Lacey family, he found that he cared deeply for them. When he finally got the courage to share his love with the family, he was immediately rejected. After speaking with the creature, the grandfather exclaims "Good god! Who are you?" (137).

As the rest of the family enters the cottage "Agatha fainted, and Safe... rushed out of the cottage... Felix darted forward, ... dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick". (137). Although the family beet him and broke his heart, he did not fight back. He stated that he "could have torn him limb from limb... But my heart sunk within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained".

(137) The Creature never learned what it is to be loved back. The rejection from his 'virtual' family tore him into pieces and created him to be emotionally insane. The Creature was rejected throughout his whole life. First, he was rejected at the moment of his creation by Victor, his own creator. After Victor escaped, he listened carefully "fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which (he) had so miserably given life to".

(59) To Victor the Creature was just a mistake that he had to run away from. Victor judged him at the brief moment that he saw him calling him demon-like and regretting that he ever created him. He didn't see him as any sort of living being despite the fact that the Creature saw Victor as his father or even possibly as his God. The Creature realizes what his creator has done to him as he says: "Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?" (133). The Creature realizes how ugly he is and how he is so different from everyone else.

Secondly, he is rejected when he has an encounter with a man he meets along his journey. When the man saw him he "shrieked loudly and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated from hardly appeared capable". (108) People ran at the sight of the creature, leaving him alone and deserted. The next rejection comes from the family that he saw as his adopted family, the De Lacey's, which also rejected him as described earlier. After the incident at the cottage, the creature later overhears Felix's voice trembling as he speaks of the encounter with the creature.

"My wife and sister will never recover from the horror". (140) The creature hears this and he is heart broken. All of these rejections have made him feel as if he is all alone in this world, as he was. The Creature is innocent due to emotional instability caused throughout his lifetime. He started out innocent and was made to do the things that he did due to never being loved and living with rejection throughout his entire life.

Nobody in the world was rejected as badly as the Creature was. It is not the Creature's fault that he turned out the way that he did.