Frankenstein: Isolation

                As Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein progresses, Victor seems to willingly isolate himself from all others more and more, leading me question what motivation lies in his desire for solitude. I admit that, at times, his wish to be alone is actually reasonable, such as when he began to undertake the task of creating a female companion for the creature. Victor explains that conducting the assembly a woman creature in the confines of his house would become extremely dangerous, for the possibility of his family’s discovery of his disturbing work would greatly increase. Victor possessed a great aversion to his family ascertaining the products of his work, for they may be overcome with fear or disgust. He also did not want them to be troubled by the sickly and morose mood he would be likely to foster while working on the project. Therefore, in circumstances such as these, Victor’s longing for solitude is certainly understandable; however, I cannot help but notice his tendency to seek solitude even in times of loss and sorrow when most people would tend to seek the company of their friends and family even more often than usual.

Perhaps the most potent example of Victor’s tendency towards isolation is the fact that, even after Clerval is murdered and Victor is wrongly detained in prison for a number of months, he still detests the company of others even in his freedom. In determining why Victor is so hesitant to place himself in the presence of others, one must consider the circumstances of the past few years of his life. Perhaps the fact that Victor’s actions in creating the creature has already led to a number of murders has traumatized him to such an extent that the sight of man merely reminds him of the horrendous results of his work. This notion is supported by Victor’s comment while in Paris that, “I abhorred the face of man. Oh, not abhorred! They were my brethren, my fellow being, and I felt attracted even to the most repulsive among them… but I felt that I had no right to share their intercourse” (Shelley, 136). While this justification certainly sounds plausible, however, Victor’s reaction still seems somewhat strange to me. I find it ironic that he was so obsessed with the idea of producing life and preventing death that he passionately pursued the creation of life for two years, yet this creation ultimately separated him emotionally from all mankind for the rest of his life. In creating one life, Victor destroyed his own , and in manufacturing a companion, he inadvertently isolated himself from everyone he knew. Unlike the creature’s forced solitude, however, Victor’s was essentially by choice. This causes the reader to consider the diverse causes of isolation and the impact of this critical theme in Frankenstein on the characters of the novel.