Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Really Victor?
I think it is great that Victor Frankenstein is finally realizing all the damage he has done. But really? Now? I am amazed that this man could use his head this time and not create a mate for the fiend. I am also surprised that he didn’t just make him a girlfriend and be done with it. After all, he would not to have to deal with him anymore and he could go back to his own selfish life. In the beginning he reveled at the idea of playing God when he said “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve their’s” (Shelley 32). I think that Victor is completely reckless and irresponsible at this point. He is caught up in the glory of what he can create and is not thinking about the consequences of his actions. He had no thoughts of the world that he created for the fiend and how he had abandoned him. Throughout the rest of the story we hear regret in what he has done but he never completely owns his responsibility to his creation. When he finally thinks about his previous actions he says “Three years before I was engaged in the same manner, and had created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolate my heart, and filled it forever with bitter remorse” (114). I have to wonder before he destroyed his second creation…. if things would have turned out better for him….. If he would have this much regret or if he would have continued playing God?
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I don’t think that even if Frankenstein would have given the Monster a female companion he would have been done with it. I’m pretty sure that next, the Monster and his companion would have had the need to become parents (since Victor’s creation seem to be very human) and what they would probably do is go back to Victor in a couple of years and threat him again that if he doesn’t create a little one of their kind, they will hurt Victor’s family. Ultimately, Victor would have to deal with them for the rest of his life, with whatever demands they had (just like humans and God). I think that he was playing with fire while he was trying to create another living thing, but I also think it is in human’s nature to want to know what we are, where we come from and even try to find out if it’s rally God the only one capable of creation, I think that’s why Victor enjoyed science, because there was always more to know: “In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.” (Shelley 29). I think that yes, Victor did a horrible job as a father, but I doesn’t necessarily has to do with the way the Monster came to this world, or what it looked like, but what it represented: responsibility, commitment, education, Victor’s time. I think the way Victor reacted to the “born” of his son was very similar to the reaction some fathers have with their children in today’s society. Like many children, the Monster’s father (Victor) chose the easy path; the one that includes avoiding his responsibilities and trying to forget his own son.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you I don't think Victor would of had any regrets if his creation had of been what he intended it to be. He had intended to create something beautiful: "His limbs were in proportion, and I selected his features as beautiful."(Shelley 34). Instead he created a monster with "His yellow skin scarcely cover the work of his muscles..."(34) You are also right he nevers takes responsibility for his actions. He had no consideration for the being and the life he had to live. Ya he taught about it for a minute by considering to make him a mate, but he could of introduce the creature to society and maybe things would of worked out for everybody. He would of possible obtain the fame he wanted and the monster would of had some form of a life.
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