Is society responsible for the creation of “Frankenstein” or is Victor Frankenstein solely responsible for creating this monster?

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, published in 1818, is one of the most renowned gothic novels of the Romantic era. Shelley remarks that she used fragments of her dream for the inspiration of the “being” that Victor Frankenstein creates. The progression of the narration gives rise to complex issues that are underlined in the narration. The original title of the novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” explicitly highlights the Greek myth of Prometheus who dared to trick the Olympian Gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity. According to classical Western ideas, this myth represents man’s desire to transcend beyond nature’s limitations using scientific endeavours, thus taking the risk of unintended consequences, which parallels Victor Frankenstein’s endeavours to create a “being” by reanimating body parts from corpses using alchemy.

Boris Karloff’s depiction of Frankenstein in modern scientific fiction is of a tall green-skinned horrific creature, but Shelley’s description of the creation in the original text is more grotesque. She writes ” His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was lustrous black, his teeth pearly whiteness, his watery eyes, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips” ” Her description of the “monster’s” appearance matches Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate’s dictionary meaning of ‘monster’: “a person of unnatural or extreme ugliness, deformity, wickedness or cruelty.” Victor himself was so terrified of his creation that he abandoned it, hence making us question his role as a nurturing guardian. This also reflects Shelley’s struggles following the simultaneous loss of her three children immediately after birth. Moreover, her struggles as a kid after the loss of his mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, and her constant conflicts with her father and his ideologies put her in parallel with that of the monster. The lack of nurturing feminine features and abandonment of the fatherly figure is a reflection of Shelley’s own life experiences.

Victor Frankenstein proves to be a character of faulty ethics, moral instabilities, and poor decision-making. Burke mentions in her essay Victor’s psychological complexities after the loss of his mother at an early age, after which he required the replacement of this feeling of loss by creation. This made him take refuge in these critical scientific endeavours, which ultimately led to repercussions. The creation was like an infant with no knowledge of the harsh realities and fickleness of humanity. Victor addressing him as “wretch,” “monster,” and “daemon” throughout the novel is a reflection of humanity’s narrowness that tends to showcase an unmatched standard of beauty. The creator himself loathed the creation’s physical abnormalities, which was the beginning of the rejection of the being that would finally make him one with his gruesome appearance, “the evil monster”. Sterrenberg in his essay “Mary Shelley’s Monster: Politics and Psyche in Frankenstein” states the disturbed relationship of Mary and his father, Willian Godwin. Victor Frankenstein’s utopian aspirations are seen as criticism of Godwin’s radical ideologies, which is evident through the levels of metaphors and narrative structure.

Even after the rejection from his creator, the monster attempted to survive only in the hope of being accepted by the human world. His observation of the prototype of the De Lacey family enhanced his longing for a connection. He says, “Let the man live with me in the interchange of kindness; and instead of injury, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance.” However, even with his kind gestures towards the family, he was beaten and casted out because of his fearsome appearance. In contrast to the sighted society, who misjudged him being a terrible monster, the old blind man, Mr. De Lacey, remains an exception. This rejection from the entire humanity causes the monster to self-loath and to self-depreciate which creates the “monster” who negates Victor’s life by destroying his family. Shelley thus managed to portray the poignant criticism of her contemporary English society through the unjust treatment that was inflicted on the monster. The fear of the unknown leading to irrational discrimination against someone being unique is a mirror to society’s groundless expectations of beauty standards. Again, this reflects the rigidity that women, in general, have to maintain an idealized feminine form. Hence, an individual with any kind of physical deformity is marginalized, even to the extent of association with moral corruption and evil.

From a feminist perspective, Shelley mocks the patriarchal system via the depiction of Victor Frankenstein’s hubristic ambition to control nature’s order. Superficially, he succeeds in his creation, however, the rejection of the motherly nurturer’s role is a grotesque parody of childbirth. Moreover, the vilification of the monster is a metaphorical representation of women being subjugated and marginalized by men. The use of violence inflicted against the monster can also be critically analysed as the destructive nature of the flawed patriarchal power structure.

Burton Halten in his essay “Milton, Mary Shelley, and Patriarchy” states how Shelley’s novel was highly influenced by Milton’s Paradise Lost. He established a criticism that parallels both Shelley’s novel and Milton’s epic poem to the themes of the destructive consequences of endeavours going unchecked beyond the limitations (abuse of power) as well as the orthodoxically patriarchal structure. Milton’s portrayal of Adam and Eve, in which Eve is seen as the source of temptation and downfall, is challenged by Shelley’s creation of the monster. The Creation, like Eve, is casted out and marginalized by society, highlighting the patriarchal biases that lead to such ostracism.

Through Victor’s tragic journey and the monster’s heart-wrenching quest for connection, Shelley addresses fundamental questions about responsibility, and innate human desire for acceptance. The novel not only serves as a cautionary tale about scientific overreach, but also resonates with the ongoing quest for belonging and acceptance in a world that often prioritizes conformity over individuality. Shelley complicates the archetype of “mad scientist” by presenting Victor as a deeply flawed individual shaped by his trauma. His ambition to transcend the limitations of human existence through scientific innovation ultimately led to his decline. Victor’s hubristic quest for dominance over nature not only critiques male ambition but also reveals the absence of feminine nurturing. The rejection of maternal roles culminates in a grotesque parody of childbirth, suggesting that abandonment of nurturing qualities leads to destruction and chaos.

Sources:

• Sterrenburg, Lee. “Mary Shelley’s Monster: Politics and Psyche in Frankenstein.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 73, no. 4, 1974, pp. 462–484.
• Halten, Burton. “Milton, Mary Shelley, and Patriarchy.” Milton Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 1, 1991, pp. 15–24.
• Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. 1790.
• Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. G. & C. Merriam Co., 1965.
• Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. Yale University Press, 1979.
• Poovey, Mary. “My Hideous Progeny: The Lady and the Monster.” The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer: Ideology as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen. University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 114–142.
• Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters. Routledge, 1988.