Victor’s Abandonment is the Source of the Creature’s Destruction In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the two characters of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature influence each other and the world around them in many ways, most of which lead them into getting involved in many terrible situations and circumstances. The greatest of these circumstances are the murders of many innocent people which are viewed initially as the fault of the Creature for it is his hands that commit the crimes. But, if Victor Frankenstein, the Creature’s creator, raised him properly, the Creature would not have had to teach himself all the necessary skills in life on his own. The Creature would have been taught that violence does not solve all your problems, and therefore he would not have committed the multiple murders. Victor’s shallowness is what leads him to abandon the Creature which leaves the Creature to fend for himself and therefore causes the Creature to end up being a murderer because of his lack of knowledge on how to handle his problems. Victor’s shallowness is what initially compels him to abandon the Creature in which he creates. Victor is raised in a lifestyle that teaches him to only love and care for people who are pleasing to the eye. Early in his life, Victor’s mother, Caroline, spots a “thin and very fair” child whose “hair was the brightest living gold” (22) among a crowd of children who are all living in poverty. Caroline does not even take a second to consider any of the other children surrounding this beautiful young girl named Elizabeth, and she quickly decides that Elizabeth is the one she wants to adopt. Caroline proves that she is shallow by only showing interest in the prettiest girl of the group without even considering any of the children’s personalities. She believes that because all the other children are ugly on the outside, their personalities will also be ugly. When Victor receives the “pretty present” (24) of Elizabeth from his mother, he quickly takes ownership of her because of the fact that she is beautiful. As Victor grows older, he begins revealing his shallow self on a regular basis. For instance, when he goes off to University, his professor, M. Krempe, has “a repulsive countenance” (36) and immediately Victor expresses that he does not agree with him or wish to follow in his footsteps. He judges M. Krempe’s intelligence solely on the way he looks which proves to be very shallow and disrespectful of him. However, this next instance of shallowness is the one that has the greatest impact on Victor’s life. When Victor creates the Creature and first lays his eyes upon its live body, he immediately runs away from it because of its “yellow skin” that “[fills] [Victor’s] heart” (48-49) with disgust. Victor immediately “[rushes] out of the room” (49) because he is unable to face the fact that the creature, in which he has just brought life to, is unattractive. Victor wants to be able to brag about his creation the same way his parents brag about Elizabeth. Victor follows in his mother’s footsteps when it comes to being shallow, but when it comes to caring for the lives he has brought into the world, he does not see it is necessary for this love to be unconditional. Victor does not love or care for his creation at all. The Creature is still considered Victor’s child, even though he did not naturally bring him upon the earth. This is a reason why Victor believes that he does not have to care for him as much as he would have to care for a child that is genetically his. But, Elizabeth is not directly Caroline’s child either, yet Elizabeth’s “presence” is a “blessing to them” (23). Therefore, it is solely Victor’s shallowness that ultimately begins the downfall of both Victor’s and the Creature’s lives. After being abandoned by Victor, the Creature has no one to turn to for guidance and he proceeds to venture off into the unknown world he was abruptly brought into. The Creature does not have the physical
