In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, characters must reckon with the conflict between

personal glory and human connection. Through the story of an alienated monster
and his ambitious creator, Shelley raises themes such as familial loss, the search
for belonging, and the cost of ambition. Other characters serve to reinforce the
importance of community.

Victor Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein is the main protagonist of the novel. He is obsessed with

scientific achievement and glory, which drives him to discover the secret of
manifesting life. He devotes all his time to his studies, sacrificing his health and his
relationships for his ambition.
After spending his adolescence reading outdated theories on alchemy and the
philosopher’s stone, Frankenstein goes to university, where he succeeds in
germinating life. However, in trying to create a being in the mold of man, he
fashions a hideous monster. The monster runs off and wreaks havoc, and
Frankenstein loses control of his creation.
Out in the mountains, the monster finds Frankenstein and asks him for a female
companion. Frankenstein promises to create one, but he does not want to be
complicit in the propagation of similar creatures, so he breaks his promise. The
monster, enraged, kills Frankenstein’s close friends and family.
Frankenstein represents the dangers of enlightenment and the responsibilities
that come with great knowledge. His scientific achievement becomes the cause of
his downfall, rather than the source of praise he once hoped for. His rejection of
human connection and his single-minded drive for success leave him bereft of
family and love. He dies alone, searching for the monster, and expresses to
Captain Walton the necessity of sacrifice for a greater good.

The Creature

Referred to as “the creature,” Frankenstein's unnamed monster yearns for human

connection and a sense of belonging. His terrifying façade frightens everyone and
he is chased out of villages and homes, leaving him alienated. Despite the
creature's grotesque exterior, however, he is largely a compassionate character.
He is a vegetarian, he helps bring firewood to the peasant family he lives near, and
he teaches himself to read. Yet the constant rejection he suffers—by strangers,
the peasant family, his master and William—hardens him.
Driven by his isolation and misery, the creature turns to violence. He kills
Frankenstein’s brother William. He demands that Frankenstein should create a
female creature so that the pair can live away from civilization peacefully, and
have the solace of each other. Frankenstein fails to deliver this promise, and out of
revenge, the creature murders Frankenstein's loved ones, thus transforming into
the monster he has always appeared to be. Denied a family, he denies his maker a
family, and runs to the North Pole where he plans to die alone.
Thus, the creature is a complicated antagonist—he is a murderer and a monster,
but he began his life as a compassionate, misunderstood soul searching for love.
He demonstrates the importance of empathy and society, and as his character
deteriorates into cruelty, he stands as an example of what can happen when the
basic human need for connection is not fulfilled.