Ho 1

Vickey Ho

English 2 Honors

Dadabhoy

25 March 2016

Word Count: 1440

Victor’s Moral Ambiguity

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, tells a story about Victor Frankenstein, a

recondite and scintillating scientist, who creates life through scientific knowledge. His ambitions

to create life and play the role of God leads to a harmful obsession with natural philosophy.

Unfortunately, Victor, being afraid and anxious, neglects the creature and it grows up abandoned

and vulnerable, becoming pernicious through its experience encountering with the harsh society.

According to Ask, a morally ambiguous character is defined as someone who “are difficult to

classify as either good or evil, as they contain strong elements of both.” Many critics argue who

the morally ambiguous character is in the novel Frankenstein. Through Victor Frankenstein’s

actions in pursuing knowledge, treatment when encountering the creature, and _____thoughts,

Shelley demonstrates and persuades him as the morally ambiguous character of the novel.

Because Victor consumes himself searching for hidden knowledge about how to create

life, it shows him as a morally ambiguous character in the novel. When Victor grew up, he

became fascinated by natural philosophy and had an unhealthy obsession with seeking hidden

knowledge. When he becomes interested in studying life, he begins to think, “I seemed to have

lost all soul and sensation but for this one pursuit.” (58). According to the novel, Victor isolates

himself from his friends and family, never procrastinating on how work. He tries to create and

resuscitate life by playing the role of god, going against the laws of nature. However, he is not
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characterized as evil or good by trying to create life. Luckily, through Victor’s recondite mind,

he creates the knowledge and efficacious solutions for people in need of life. When Victor grows

older, he tells Robert Walton, a sailor, the gist of his desecrating journey from creating the

creature and says, “...how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier

that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater

than his nature will allow.” (57). When Robert meets Victor, Victor tries to persuade him about

the dangers for seeking hidden knowledge. After Victor creates life, he receives an illness that

made him morally and physically sick. He goes through many troubles after creating the

creature, because of the obsession of knowledge he had. Victor’s act of trying to become god and

create life was dangerous to his body and mind. When he was young, Victor’s study at Ingolstadt

made him interested in natural philosophy. He had a desire to penetrate the secrets of nature and

search for the elixir of life. After seeing and understanding the ways of life, Victor says, “Life

and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of

light into our dark world.” (58). Because Victor becomes interested in alchemy, he studies

impossible things that go against nature. According to morals, no one should play with life and

death like Victor did. He accomplishes in finding knowledge in the world full of dark mysteries.

Victor’s morals are ambiguous considering the chances he takes to create life. Victor’s obsession

with creating life is accomplished when he plays the role of god and uses science to help him.

Although Victor uses his knowledge of science to create life and act as a god, he

abandons it after discovering/seeing the cadaverous appearance of the creature. When Victor

begins to create the creature and dreams of it with beauty and munificent. He tells himself that he

will teach the creature and nurture it, however, when he finishes the body, he thinks “… but now

that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my
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heart.” (61) Unfortunately, after creating the creature, Victor runs away and abandons the

egregious monster to survive on its own, because his heart filled with odium. Victor leaves the

creature alone because he finally realizes what horrifying thing he created. Victor disavows the

responsibility for creating a monster. His obsession into creating the monster into a perfect

human failed and ultimately led him to see the truth of the creature. When encountering the

creature, the creature tells Victor, “Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to

whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us.” (93). Because

Victor was blinded by finding hidden knowledge, he never realized what he was really creating.

When the creature finds Victor, it explains to him about the harsh society that discriminated and

reproved him because of his motley looks from the various cadaverous body parts.

Unfortunately, Victor’s abandonment of the creature led to the creature becoming into a

pernicious and deleterious character. After creating the creature, he deserted it into a world

where it doesn’t fit in and where it becomes an anathema.

Victor ___conveys__ arrogant thoughts towards the creature, however, he starts to

discover the perspective of it. After listening to the creature’s story of growing up, Victor thinks,

“for the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I

ought to render him happy before I complained of his wickedness.” (pg. 95). Victor begins to

feel sorrow and regret of how he neglected the creature. He realizes his fatherly duties instead of

the overwhelming hatred he had and feels culpable. The creature lived in a society full of

discrimination because of the appearance Victor gave him. It grew up without being nurtured and

lived like Victor had with his family. However, after thinking, Victor continues to treat the

creature with odium eventually leading to his own destruction. His illness continues and Victor

begins blaming the creature as the gist of his sickness. Before his death, Victor informs Watson,
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“I had a persuasion that I should be supposed mad, and this in itself would forever have chained

my tongue…. I would have given the world to have confided the fatal secret. (160).” After

experiencing the consequences of creating life, Victor realizes the big secret he has kept from the

world. When he dies, the creature will continue to live on Earth without anyone knowing. After

creating the creature, Victor never destroyed it, because he was its creator. He admits to having

committed ignoble acts to create the monster, and he feels culpable. However, for the good of

society and himself, Victor decides to continue to seek vengeance on the monster. Victor begins

to absolve the creature for his illness and failures.

Throughout many works of literatures, morally ambiguous characters, like Victor, are

conveyed significant and the heart of the works. When learning new knowledge, Victor believes,

“...treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and

unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation” (53). In the novel, Shelley suggests Victor

Frankenstein as the morally ambiguous character through his journey for knowledge. Victor

demonstrates as a character who show readers that there can be right and wrong. For instance, his

decisions in creating life goes against the laws of nature but can be helpful to resuscitate life.

Victor makes a decision to continue a journey full of hidden knowledge. Morally ambiguous

characters, like Victor, show that there is a grey area and that the world isn’t black and white. In

addition, many characters are used to portray themes in the novel. When Victor created life, it

came with many consequences. His obsession with finding knowledge consumed him to isolate

himself from friends and family. When Victor has his obsession, it shows the dangers of

knowledge. Victor has an urge to go beyond human limits to access the secret of human life. His

unchecked ambitions are ambiguous. Morally ambiguous characters show readers that there is no

clear answer or right thing to do. Authors concoct the characters by giving them an ambiguous
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mind. Through morally ambiguous characters, works of literatures can demonstrate a grey area

in decision making and there is no clear cut answer.

Ultimately, in the novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as the morally

ambiguous character through his actions and thoughts. Throughout the story, Victor discovers

consequences in creating life by playing god. He seeks for hidden knowledge in natural

philosophy. Victor’s creation becomes an obsession and he isolates himself from society.

However, after creating the monster, Victor abandons it to survive on its own. He begins to

ignore and deny the responsibility of the monster and blames it for his illness. Afterwards, Victor

begins to accept his creation and understand what it has been through.