The Nature Of The True Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Each and every person has different ideas and opinions on what makes someone a monster. For some it could be the way a person treats another. However, to the majority of the population, it is the way the person looks. In Frankenstein, who the monster is seems to be a very controversial topic given neither the monster nor Victor did very stellar things throughout the story. The monster is an incredibly lonely and bent on revenge against the man who abandoned him, killing those with any ties to his creator. Victor not only created the monster, but abandoned him and then left this monster to its own devices without even knowing what damage he was capable of wreaking. In this sense, the true monster in Frankenstein isn't the monster himself, but …show more content…
The definition of a monster is one who is “unnatural”, “not entirely human”, or “selfish” and Victor most definitely shares with the reader his tendency to be “unnatural” and “selfish”. When he refers to Elizabeth, it's not one of love, it's more of a possession towards her. As Caroline had presented Elizabeth to Victor, he says that he “with childish seriousness, interpreted her words literally and looked upon Elizabeth as [his]—[his] to protect, love, and cherish” (Shelley, 1) or that she was a “possession of [his] own” (Shelley, 1). Every time Victor mentioned Elizabeth he regarded her as a possession rather than a lover. Victor also only talks about her in regards to her looks, saying, after he hadn't seen her in two years, that she has“loveliness surpassing her childish years” (Shelley, 7). Another way Victor shows his “unnatural” and “selfishness” is the way he puts his glory over the life of others. His intention to create the create the creature was pure at first, driven into his mind from the loss of his mother as she fell ill, however he became truly obsessed with the idea of being like God. He shows his insane obsession when he says, “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley, 4). Victor didn't care about what happened to those around him as long as he became of a God-like being. Victor shows that he's a monster by conforming to the definition of one, but he shows it through the way he treats blames others for his
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