Who Is To Blame in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Essay Example

Can someone be blamed for a life they didn’t ask for? Can they then be responsible for their actions after that? Shelley’s Frankenstein sparks debate for who is ultimately at fault for the events of the novel, specifically the deaths of multiple characters. Whether it is Victor or his creation that is either directly or indirectly responsible. Victor is more at fault for the destruction and death caused by the creature as a result of his choice to bring the creature to life in the beginning of the novel and his subsequent choices, driven by fear and selfishness, that resulted in the deaths of his loved ones.

Shelley’s portrayal of Victor sets the tone and understanding of the characters for the rest of the novel. After two years of working on his creation, Victor is finally able to bring it to life ‘infusing it with a spark’. However, when the creature awakens, Victor becomes frightened and flees from his laboratory. “He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed downstairs.” (37) Victor describes seeing his creature about to speak just after being brought to life, but instead of staying to see what happens, he runs outside. By including this detail, Shelley highlights the cowardice of Victor’s character, allowing the reader to sympathize with the creature, who is abandoned by Victor. This sets the tone and the reader’s feelings towards the characters for the rest of the novel and suggests that the subsequent events and deaths were the result of neglect on Victor’s part. Shelley’s presentation of Victor’s cowardice after the birth of the creature allows the reader to sympathize and begin to view Victor as a failed father figure, as he abandons his creature minutes after its birth. 

Shelley’s portrayal of Victor after the death of his younger brother William and his reaction to the wrongful accusation of murder suggests to the reader Victor’s selfish character. Shortly after the creature’s “birth”, Victor falls ill and after his recovery, he learns that his brother William was murdered in his hometown of Geneva. Traveling home, the family friend Justine is being tried for William’s murder despite Victor’s knowledge that the creature was behind his death. “A thousand times would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine; but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman, and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me.” (60) Victor describes his conflict about whether or not to testify that Justine is innocent, eventually concluding that confessing would make him seem like a ‘madman’. Shelley highlights Victor’s selfish character, allowing the reader’s view of Victor to be molded according to his actions. By doing this, Shelley effectively suggests that it is because of Victor's creature and his neglect of it that leads to the death of Justine and Victor’s brother William in the previous chapters. Therefore, Shelley’s presentation of Victor’s selfish character suggests that it is Victor’s fault, indirectly, for the death of Justine and William. 

Shelley’s portrayal of Victor’s character reiterates Victor’s refusal to understand that he is ultimately responsible for everything the creature did due to his neglect and failure to care for his creation. After drifting in a boat while in England, Victor ends up on a beach in Ireland, where Henry Clerval’s body was recently found. “when I saw the lifeless form of Henry Clerval stretched before me. I gasped for breath; and throwing myself on the body, I exclaimed, “Have my murderous machinations deprived you also, my dearest Henry, of life? Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny: but you, Clerval, my friend, my benefactor-” (129) Victor describes seeing the corpse of his friend Henry Clerval and his reaction to it. He questions if his death is the doing of the creature and reflects on the other people that have died because of his creation. Even Victor begins to admit that there are people that have died because of his creation, although he still puts a lot of blame on the creature, failing to understand that it was ultimately because of his neglect and failure to care for the creature that he created, that these people have been killed. Meanwhile, some would claim that the creature is intelligent enough to understand the seriousness of his actions. However, Victor’s failure to teach him these human values and be an effective role model, proves that the creature’s actions were the direct result of Victor’s own. Shelley’s portrayal of Victor emphasizes a failure to admit that it is he who is ultimately to blame for the deaths of his loved ones, proving his fatal flaw out to the reader and suggesting again that Victor is at fault for the events of the book. 

Shelley presents Victor as the underlying cause of Elizabeth’s death as the reader is able to reflect on his actions that led to the creature’s, although drastic, actions. After promising to create a female creature for the creature but then destroying his work, the creature warns him "It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night." (123). “I saw at the open window a figure the most hideous and abhorred. A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed towards the corpse of my wife” (145) Victor describes seeing the creature through the window pointing to Elizabeth, who, moments before, he had strangled and killed as revenge towards Victor. Elizabeth, being the fourth or fifth victim due to Victor’s neglect and failure to care for his creature, is killed on her wedding night to Victor. While it is true that the creature killed Elizabeth, it is because of Victor’s destruction of a second creature that he promised to create as a companion for the creature, and his overall failure to provide for the creature as a father figure, that Elizabeth and other of Victor’s loved ones, were killed. And while it can be argued that the creature can understand the drastic measures he’s taking by committing these murders, it is because Victor failed to teach him these values and help him to control his strength, due to his selfish and cowardly nature, that the entirety of the creature’s actions can be counted as the fault of Victor. Shelley’s presentation of the situation surrounding Elizabeth’s death suggests to the reader that, although the creature was directly responsible for her death, Victor’s actions from the moment of the creature’s “birth” led to these events. 

In summary, Shelley’s presentation of Victor’s character suggests that he is more at fault than the creature for the death and destructive events within the novel, as a result of the “birth” of the creature in the beginning of the novel and ensuing choices, driven by his cowardice and selfishness. Seen even at the creature’s initial contact with Victor, his cowardice causes him to flee, neglecting his newly “born” creation, and even after the death of his brother, Justine, Henry Clerval and his wife, Elizabeth, Victor fails to accept that it was ultimately his negligence and the creature’s lack of a role model that led to these events. Therefore, Shelley’s portrayal of Victor’s character and the circumstances in which the events of the novel happened, it is suggested that Victor is more at fault.