Julio Adrian Rodriguez Rodriguez,1

Professor Kim Freeman

College Writing R1A

22 September, 2017

The Monster Who Played Victim

Every individual has a distinct journey through life; each journey filled with different

experiences, people, environments, and forms of adversity. Personal struggles and impactful

experiences help form personalized views of the world. Reality is simply a matter of perspective,

all people see the same world through different lenses. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

characterizes Frankenstein as a scientist overtaken by the idea of creating life. Driven by his

obsession he stops at nothing until he succeeds in creating a creature he referrers to as the

monster. The creature goes on to kill the people closest to him. Though the creature is

responsible for the physical murders, the fate of his loved ones can be traced back to his own

actions. Frankenstein plays the victim and curses the creature for his loss, but he fails to

understand the consequences of his own actions. Frankenstein may not be freakishly tall and

terrifying, but he is a monster. The role of monster varies through perspective, in the eyes of

a man attempting to flee from responsibility the monster may be his creation, but to a creature

that was brought into the world destined to be lonely, the monster is the creator that cowered

away from his own work at the first sign of trouble.

The cause of all the death and tragedy that arises in the novel can be traced back to the

creatures first moments of life. When the creature first awoke, he searched for any form of life.

The first living being the creature found was his creator. Frankenstein witnessed his creation

after waking up terrified from a nightmare, in which he closely held his cousin Elizabeth and

witnessed her youthful body transform into his mother's corpse (Shelley 39). It was difficult for
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Frankenstein to process reality after waking up from a dream that forced him to accept that his

obsession with creating life was correlated to the memory of his mother. The nightmare stirred

up feelings of regret and anger for his actions. Frankenstein saw his creation for the first time,

influenced by the feelings induced by his nightmare. A cold dew covered my forehead, said

Frankenstein, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and

yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch

the miserable monster whom I had created (Shelley 39). The nightmare made Frankenstein

regret ever forging life, and thus when faced with the product of his regret he could not help but

tremor with fear. Frankenstein was terrified by the presence of his own work and fled the scene

afraid of what he had created. The monster was heartbroken by the rejection of his creator which

led him to build up rage. Frankenstein perceived his creation as devil-like, but the creature meant

no harm. Frankensteins perception of his creation became a reality, by rejecting his creation and

characterizing it as a monster, he only led the creature down a path of misery and loneliness

that caused the creature to break and become a violent and terrorizing beast. The origin of all the

hate and violence in the creature can be traced to Frankensteins rejection. Frankenstein

provoked the creature to kill his loved ones, therefore Frankenstein is responsible for all the

death and tragedy in the novel.

Frankenstein chose to run and hide from his creation because he wanted to escape his

responsibilities. If Frankenstein had taken the time to understand what he had created, he would

have realized that he created a creature capable of feeling sympathy and love. After being

rejected by his creator, the creature had no other choice but to go off into the world alone. The

creature settled near the cottage of the De Lacey family. He lived in their shadow, observed them

and grew to care for them. He developed a feeling of sympathy towards the family and their
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struggle against the harsh winter. He helped them anonymously by bringing wood to their

cottage as a selfless good deed (Shelley 88). The creature dreamt of the day in which he would

present himself to the family and they would accept him despite his appearance. The creature

decided to try his luck and entered the cottage when De Lacey was alone, hoping that he would

take him for a friendly and caring being. During their conversation in the cottage, De Lacey tells

the creature I am blind, and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your

words which persuades me that you are sincere (Shelley 109). De Lacey was unable to judge

the creature based on his appearance, rather he judged the creature based on his tone of sincerity.

De Lacey was blind to bias criticism. De Lacey perceived the creature as sincere, while others

classified him as a monster. The fact that De Lacey was able to recognize the kindness in the

creature comes to show that the classification of monster varies by perspective. The creature is

not a monster to a man unable to judge based on appearance.

The creature saw Frankenstein as a monster because he brought him into a world where

he was destined to a life of loneliness. The monster asked Frankenstein to make him a female

version of himself to keep him company as he lived his life as an outcast (Shelley, 118).

Frankenstein agreed to fulfill his request but just as he was completing his work he realized the

consequences of bringing another monster into the world and stated, the wretch saw me

destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness (Shelley 139).

Frankenstein gave the creature hope; he promised him a companion to accompany him through

his life as an outcast and then took away that hope he had given him. The creature was sick of

the life he was destined to liveall he asked for was to live his miserable life with someone else,

to be an outcast with a friend, to have someone who he could relate to. The creature was
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primarily affected by the actions of Frankenstein, which influenced the creature to perceive

Frankenstein with a sense of anger.

The creature held Frankenstein responsible for bringing him into a world he did not

belong in. The novel portrays the creature as the monster only because the story is told in

Frankensteins perspective. The creature did kill the people dearest to Frankenstein, but

Frankenstein was responsible for the creation of the murderous creature. The blood of

Frankensteins loved ones rests on his own hands because they all died as a result of his lack of

responsibility towards his actions and his self-centered obsession with creating life.

Frankensteins creation was a peaceful being searching for a sense of belonging and

Frankenstein deprived him of that. The idea that reality is based on perception is strongly

embedded in the overall conflict of the story. The main dilemma in the novel is that the creature

cannot fit into the world because of the way others perceive him. Since everyone saw him as a

threat to life, they treated him as a threat and eventually the way people saw the creature urge the

creature to break and become the monster. The perspective fueled by fear and ignorance

became a reality.

The world is filled with different perspectives, which makes it nearly impossible to please

everyone in decision making. For example, in the United States, the Republican and Democratic

party find themselves in a constants battle. Both Republicans and Democrats have different

priorities and ideas, yet there is no particular party that is better than the other. The majority of

the nation is divided into these two parties due to the fact not all people see the world the same

way. People attach more importance to certain issues than others. The ideals of opposing groups

may be viewed as wrong or even monstrous; it all depends on how people conceive reality. It

is important to realize that ones perception of someone may not be their true self. An individual
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should be defined by the things they do, not by the way others perceive them. The monster in

Frankenstein varies from point of view. Frankenstein was a monster but saw himself as a

victim through his eyes, which were pointed away from responsibility and blinded by fear.
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Work Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Oxford University Press, 1998