Essay, Research Paper: Frankenstein's Character

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein caused many complications that could have been easily prevented. These problems were the result of his secrecy regarding his creation. The result was the deaths of many loved ones. Victor brought this upon himself because of his character flaws.
His goal was not to destroy human life, but to put his knowledge to use in eliminating death. “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation...”. The purpose of his experiment was to eliminate death. His reason for doing this was the mounting sentiment from his mother’s death.
One of Victor’s flaws was that he couldn’t accept something that wasn’t perfect. Because the physical appearance of the creature scared him, he rejected it. Before giving the creation a chance, Victor decided that it wasn’t normal. Victor can be held responsible not only for creating the monster, but for all of the results of the monster’s actions.
If Victor had communicated his problem with the people he needed to tell, the tragedies that occurred my not have happened. Unfortunately he never told his family of the creature and a few weeks later he received a letter informing him that his brother William had been murdered. When Victor arrived home, he saw his creation in the woods and was confident that the monster was the cause of the murder. The only person suspect was a girl named Justine, whom had lived in the Frankenstein house for a long while. Because of Victor’s timid nature in relation to the creature, Justine was executed for William’s death.
Victor’s main problem with telling his loved ones about the creature was that the story was so unbelievable that he thought he would be considered crazy. He was a coward and didn’t take responsibility for his actions, and because of that, all of his loved ones were casualties.
Victor played the tragic role of God by altering human life and transforming it. His role as the creator makes him consider himself not only a God-like figure, but a mother-figure. He feels responsible for the creature’s actions as well he should. Victor’s involvement in the interruption of nature resulted in he and his loved ones paying the consequences of his ill-planned venture. Victor can be considered a tragic character because of his lack of foresight. His personality was built on irresponsibility. He didn’t take the blame that he should have.
When Victor finally comes to the realization that he has lost all of the important people that he loved, he went after the monster. After this time he wouldn’t let anyone get close to his creation without warning of what may happen. Robert Walton was the only person that Victor saved from the monster, but that didn’t make up for the mistakes that he made by playing God.


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