Dr. Frankenstein Treated Frankenstein as a Science Project

Shan Mustafa

214564384

En, 1002, T07

Jacqueline Chia

March 14th 

                                How to Build a Monster         

        Frankenstein by Mary Shelly is an example of a child growing up without a role model to mold its own understandings of the world. Victor, the creator of the monster refuses to acknowledge the monster as its child. The monster at times displays the understanding and feelings of humans, but can not full grasp them because its creator does not support them or it. Frankenstein’s creature truly becomes a monster because neglect and suffering were the only things ever experienced. Victor’s parental negligence leads to the monsters hatred towards mankind. Victor treated the monster as more of a science project than as its child/creation. Frankenstein’s monster had never experienced its creator’s guidance, support or pity, which in return would have led the monster to be keener of mankind.

        Victor had the chance to act as a parent and show guidance and support the monster but refused to do so. Firstly, Victor’s motivation to create the monster was never to raise it, it was a way to play god, create it in such a way that it was perfect right from the start. Victor wanted to also capture a moment he had experienced before known as the sublime. Which is also an act of god, during Victor’s adventure in Mont Blanc; he was faced against a great storm, a violent storm, a terrifying storm, but an intriguingly beautiful storm that left Victor in awe, “This noble war in the sky elevated my spirits.” Victor sees the lightning during the storm dismantle trees and is frightened but his initial thoughts are to conquer it. Victor wanted to play god to create something that gave him that feeling forever. He wanted to be the reason for that feeling; he did not want it to be a random of god to bring him that feeling. However, that is not what happened, the monster did not turn out how Victor wanted it to. Victor is clearly discouraged and disappointed in the monster from the start, “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelly, 36) Victor is no longer a god and is at this point a parent who did not want a child. Victor treats its creation/child like an “unwanted pregnancy” (Hustis, 845) Victor refuses to acknowledge the creature or show it any compassion. The monster shows signs of humanity when he is seeking Victor in Geneva; he saves a little girl from drowning and is shot. This is where the monsters rage for mankind begins and his benevolence starts to dissipate, “This was then the reward for my benevolence!... I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelly, 99) Victor has a chance to guide and support the monster by creating it a companion. For the most part in their conversation, it is clear that Victor understands the monsters point of view and is willing to create it a companion, which would show the monster that humans are capable of benevolent actions. The monster clearly came to Victor as a kid coming to their father, “My creator, make me happy” (Shelly, 102) Victor initially agrees to make its child a companion. But as the companion is partially built, Victor rejects its child’s wish that would make it happy solely based on a decision that was built off of a facial expression and a knee-jerk reaction. Victor had thoughts of not making the companion, because of reasons such as if it does not work it would mean two monsters in the world, what if the companion does not like the monster, it would make it angrier. But a facial expression by the monster set Victor off, “As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery.” (Shelly, 119) Victor then destroys the half finished companion in front of the monster, which then in return set the monster off, “I shall be with you on your wedding-night” (Shelly, 121) Which is a foreshadow of things to come. Victor’s reluctance to make the monster a companion cost the monster to lose hope for mankind’s benevolence. Had Victor supported and guided the monster in this situation, the monster would have had more of a gratitude to mankind.

        There is a certain pity and support that only a parent can show its child. (Hustis, 847) As much as Victor despises the monster and wishes that it could have been aborted, it is still its creation. The monster still looked to Victor. The monsters ‘adopted family’ abandons the monster, the monster immediately goes to find Victor, the last hope it had. The monster clearly felt even more hatred towards Victor because he discovered the role of a creator after seeing it in the De Lacy family, “I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. Where was mine?” (Shelly, 157) Frankenstein by many has been dubbed the modern day Prometheus, man plays god, and it fails. But there are many details that make it different that are rarely mentioned. Zeus abandoned its creatures to provoke long-term happiness, where Victor abandons the monster because it did not fulfill the feeling of sublimity of his creative intentions. In the story of Prometheus, there is an understanding that hideousness can be overcome by a genuine and benevolent pity, and that feeling of pity might come at a price. It is that benevolent pity that the monster in Frankenstein cannot obtain from its creator. At best, Victor admitted all it felt for the monster was compassion. The core principle of benevolent pity is to ‘put oneself in another’s shoe’; Victor for a second could when he decided to make the monster a companion, but that feeling quickly disappeared and was filled with hatred and disgust of what he created, “I compassioned him… but when I looked upon him.. my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred.” (Shelly, 103)

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