Mary Shelley certainly seems to enjoy playing with the
reader’s sympathies as they read Frankenstein.
On one hand, the reader pities the miserable and lonely creature and criticizes
Victor’s heartless rejection of his own creation; on the other hand, the reader
sympathizes with Victor as he gradually loses every family member and friend in
his life and loathes the horrendous acts committed by the creature himself.
However, while pitying Victor’s miserable life is certainly not a challenge,
one must consider how many of Victor’s misfortunes are entirely because of his
own doing. While it may be true that Victor may have never foreseen his
experimentations with the production of life taking the form of such a hideous
and capable creature, his actions towards the creature after its creation were
certainly potent factors in bringing about his own unhappiness. From the
creature’s experiences in the first two years of his life, the reader can
clearly ascertain that he originated as an inherently good being. Rather than displaying
rage, malignancy, and violent tendencies, the creature was instead kind,
generous, and merely desirous of companionship. Had Victor not fled in horror
from his initial encounter with the creature, he may have quickly learned this
about his creation and have been able to produce a happy life for the being.
Furthermore, had Victor shown more kindness, acceptance, or even civility to
the creature when they met atop of the mountain in chapter 10, the creature may
have reverted back to his kind nature and never have come to the point of
murdering Henry or Elizabeth. Despite this, Victor’s instinctual rejection of
his creation and refusal to comply with any of his requests, as well as his
tendency to flee from his problems, is certainly what I believe to be the
largest factor in determining his miserable fate. Because his own actions
remain largely responsible for his misfortune, I find it somewhat difficult to
feel great amounts of pity or sympathy for Victor.
On the
other hand, the reader must consider the morality of Victor’s actions and the
internal conflict which took place in his heart during chapters 17 and 20 as
Victor pondered whether or not to create a female being for Victor. On one
hand, Victor felt compelled to create the horrendous being so as to forever
terminate his interactions with the creature and banish him to a remote island
where he could no longer disturb mankind. On the other hand, Victor
rationalized that the results of the creation of a second creature were highly
unpredictable and could in fact effect even more destruction than the creation
of the first creature had. In reflecting on the fact that the woman creature could
possibly be even more evil and commit treacherous acts purely out of enjoyment,
Victor admitted that, “…for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst
upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest,
whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps,
of the existence of the whole human race” (Shelley, 121). While Victor’s
actions in destroying the woman creature ultimately led to the deaths of Henry,
Elizabeth, and his father, he certainly never intended for this to be the case;
on the contrary, he was actually attempting to save society as a whole from the
potential wrath of his creations. Therefore, Shelley utilizes the internal conflict
taking place within Victor’s heart as a tool for creating both sympathy and
resentment for Victor’s actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment