In the Classic novel Frankenstein, the main character, Victor Frankenstein, constantly exhibits behavior normal in sociopaths. He displays many symptoms, including a incapacity to feel guilt or remorse, a failure to plan ahead, and a lack of responsibility Victor Frankenstein is a sociopath.
A sociopath is by medical definition, someone who has a disregard for social laws and morals, has a disregard for life, and fails to feel remorse Victor shows all of these traits and more, he shows a complete and total lack of respect of life, law, and the rights of others. Sociopaths generally display very violent behavior and fail to accept blame, pinning their actions on others (MD #6). Sociopaths also often fail to maintain relationships with friends…show more content… She is found guilty, and sentenced to death, but although victor knows she did not do it, and knows who did, he stands and does nothing while his friend dies because of him “the ballots were all black”. He shows no guilt at what he does, and he goes about life as normal (shelly ch8/ch9). Another instance where victor fails to feel guilt is later in the novel. At this point three people have died because of him, he still feels no responsibility. He fails to feel any guilt until the end of the novel when the death of his friends inconvenienced him “they were dead, and I lived”.
After his friend’s trial, victor agrees to create another creature as a companion for the existing one. Before his task is complete, victor flies into a fit of rage, he destroys his work and the lab he is working in “I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him”. victor becomes violent and unpredictable, he is aggressive and irrational (shelly ch20). Sociopaths are prone to violence and aggression, he exhibits this…show more content… He seems to often isolate himself in his own little world. He still has emotional outbreaks, but many of these seem to happen more internally than they were before. Victor does seem to become better. At the end of the book, he takes more responsibility, he is less emotional, and he even try’s to rectify and avenge the deaths of his friends and family, in short, he changes.
Sociopaths generally have trouble maintaining relationships (MD #3) but victor does not. Victor shows himself to be a very social person in the book, he gets married “it had long been expected that I would marry Elisabeth” (shelly ch22) and makes friends like Henry Clervel. Sociopaths also disregard social norms (MD #2) however, when victor is not carrying out his experiments, he acts like a normal person would.
Another difference Victor has from most sociopaths, is that he eventually does feel some guilt about what he did “they were all dead, and I lived” he tries to avenge the deaths of his friends, and he spends his last days hunting the creature to prevent further tragedy. This is very different from most sociopaths who display a complete incapacity to feel guilt, but victor shows us he can In fact feel guilty, as he claims responsibility for the deaths of his companions at the end of the book “they were all dead, and I
