Question: If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster from the start, do you believe the death and destruction the monster caused could have been prevented? Thesis: If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster, and nurtured him as if he was a young child, then the monster would not have had to learn from nature and society which resulted in the monster feeling ostracized causing him to killing in spite towards Frankenstein.
Concept of nature vs. nurture.
From the beginning Victor rejects his creation:
"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?"
"... but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Chapter 5
wretch: person of despicable character, disgust: to cause loathing or nausea in.
As the monster grows without the influence of a "parent" figure, Victor Frankenstein loses whatever hold he had on the monster becoming a "shadow"
"Doctor, my shadow shivering on the table, you dangle on the leash of your own longing; your need grows teeth. You sliced me loose and said it was Creation. I could feel the knife. Now you would like to heal that chasm in your side but I recede. I prowl. I will not come when you call." Speeches for Dr. Frankenstein, Mary Atwood. (X)
Victor fades to being a shadow, after he let's the monster loose. The monster gains knowledge and basically tells Victor, you made me you let me go, and now I am not going to listen to you anymore, you didn't care.
Victor (finally) takes responsibility for the Monster and his actions
"I am the assassin of the most innocent victims; they died by my machinations."
"As timed passed I became more calm; misery still had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes..."
Victor calls the actions of the monster "my own crimes" showing that he has taken responsibility for what the monster did, but it was just a little too late.
Rough Draft If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster, and nurtured him as if he was a young child, then the monster would not have had to learn from nature and society which resulted in the monster feeling ostracized causing him to killing in spite towards Victor. The monster is forced to learn the ways of society on his own, and he learned that he would be rejected by most because of the way he looks. Coupled with Victor's initial rejection and the exclusion from the rest of society leads the monster into a consistently growing feeling of resentment towards Victor. The monster did not asked to be created, but he was, and it was Victor Frankenstein who was the source of his constant dismissal from society.
When the monster first springs to life, his first interaction with another living being ended with Victor Frankenstein running away from the monster in terror. In Chapter Five, Victor describes the monster as a "delineate wretch." The meaning of wretch is a person of despicable character. This encounter with Victor was the monster's first run-in with rejection. His own creator was afraid of him, disgusted by him. Victor was so focused on his work that he could not see what he was actually creating, and when the monster did begin to move he realized what he had done. In Chapter Five he goes on to say that, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." By using the word "disgust" Victor reveals the hatred he has for the monster. This hatred causes him to ignore the monster and his responsibilities to his creation and society. The monster goes out on his own, oblivious to the true nature of Victor's feelings and his own creation, and ends up living next to a family's cottage. There he learns how to read and speak. By Chapter 15, the monster learns the true nature of his creation and Victor's sentiments, through pages of Victor's diary that the monster has found. This is the basis for the resentment the monster feels towards Victor. The monster tries to keep hope that someday he will find companionship, but rejection after rejection, the monster grows angrier and more resentful.
With their separation, Victor begins to lose whatever control he had on the monster. This thought is illustrated in a poem by Mary Atwood, entitled Speeches for Dr. Frankenstein. The tenth stanza of this poem, "Doctor, my shadow shivering on the table, you dangle the leash of your own longing; your need grows teeth. You sliced me loose and said it was Creation. I could feel the knife. Now you would like to heal that chasm in your side but I recede. I prowl. I will not come when you call," comes from the point of view of the monster, and helps you understand his pain. Victor created the monster out of his own free will, and once the monster was created, Victor decided the monster was a "wretch" and wanted nothing to do with him. Victor's abandonment of the monster, and the monster's discovery of Victor's diary, causes Victor to lose control of the monster. Victor loses total control of, or respect from, the monster when he refuses to make the monster a female companion. In this stanza, the monster is telling Victor that, 'you made me, you let me go, you did not want me, so I am not going to listen to you.' All the monster wanted was some companionship, someone to love, who could understand him. The monster was constantly rebuffed instead of being able to learn and grow under the care of Victor Frankenstein.
By the time Victor does take responsibility for the monster and his actions, it is too late. Several people have already been killed at the hands of the monster. The monster wanted Victor to know what it was like to feel loss, and have no one to be with. In Chapter 22, while talking to his father, Victor takes responsibility for the deaths. He says, "I am the assassin of the most innocent victims; they died by my machinations." Victor created the monster, and the monster went out into the world and committed heinous crimes. Victor takes responsibility for the crimes of the monster, for if the monster had not been created the deaths would not have happened. At first, Victor is hysterical about the crimes, but as time went on he began to become numb to the emotions. In Chapter 22 he describes the feelings as, "... I became more calm; misery still had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes..." What happened, happened and he begins to accept that fact. However, if he had shown this kind of compassion from the beginning the crimes might have never happened, which is why "misery still had her dwelling in [his] heart."
If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster from the start, do you believe the death and destruction the monster caused could have been prevented?
Thesis:
If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster, and nurtured him as if he was a young child, then the monster would not have had to learn from nature and society which resulted in the monster feeling ostracized causing him to killing in spite towards Frankenstein.
Rough Draft
If Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility for the monster, and nurtured him as if he was a young child, then the monster would not have had to learn from nature and society which resulted in the monster feeling ostracized causing him to killing in spite towards Victor. The monster is forced to learn the ways of society on his own, and he learned that he would be rejected by most because of the way he looks. Coupled with Victor's initial rejection and the exclusion from the rest of society leads the monster into a consistently growing feeling of resentment towards Victor. The monster did not asked to be created, but he was, and it was Victor Frankenstein who was the source of his constant dismissal from society.
When the monster first springs to life, his first interaction with another living being ended with Victor Frankenstein running away from the monster in terror. In Chapter Five, Victor describes the monster as a "delineate wretch." The meaning of wretch is a person of despicable character. This encounter with Victor was the monster's first run-in with rejection. His own creator was afraid of him, disgusted by him. Victor was so focused on his work that he could not see what he was actually creating, and when the monster did begin to move he realized what he had done. In Chapter Five he goes on to say that, "the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." By using the word "disgust" Victor reveals the hatred he has for the monster. This hatred causes him to ignore the monster and his responsibilities to his creation and society. The monster goes out on his own, oblivious to the true nature of Victor's feelings and his own creation, and ends up living next to a family's cottage. There he learns how to read and speak. By Chapter 15, the monster learns the true nature of his creation and Victor's sentiments, through pages of Victor's diary that the monster has found. This is the basis for the resentment the monster feels towards Victor. The monster tries to keep hope that someday he will find companionship, but rejection after rejection, the monster grows angrier and more resentful.
With their separation, Victor begins to lose whatever control he had on the monster. This thought is illustrated in a poem by Mary Atwood, entitled Speeches for Dr. Frankenstein. The tenth stanza of this poem, "Doctor, my shadow shivering on the table, you dangle the leash of your own longing; your need grows teeth. You sliced me loose and said it was Creation. I could feel the knife. Now you would like to heal that chasm in your side but I recede. I prowl. I will not come when you call," comes from the point of view of the monster, and helps you understand his pain. Victor created the monster out of his own free will, and once the monster was created, Victor decided the monster was a "wretch" and wanted nothing to do with him. Victor's abandonment of the monster, and the monster's discovery of Victor's diary, causes Victor to lose control of the monster. Victor loses total control of, or respect from, the monster when he refuses to make the monster a female companion. In this stanza, the monster is telling Victor that, 'you made me, you let me go, you did not want me, so I am not going to listen to you.' All the monster wanted was some companionship, someone to love, who could understand him. The monster was constantly rebuffed instead of being able to learn and grow under the care of Victor Frankenstein.
By the time Victor does take responsibility for the monster and his actions, it is too late. Several people have already been killed at the hands of the monster. The monster wanted Victor to know what it was like to feel loss, and have no one to be with. In Chapter 22, while talking to his father, Victor takes responsibility for the deaths. He says, "I am the assassin of the most innocent victims; they died by my machinations." Victor created the monster, and the monster went out into the world and committed heinous crimes. Victor takes responsibility for the crimes of the monster, for if the monster had not been created the deaths would not have happened. At first, Victor is hysterical about the crimes, but as time went on he began to become numb to the emotions. In Chapter 22 he describes the feelings as, "... I became more calm; misery still had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes..." What happened, happened and he begins to accept that fact. However, if he had shown this kind of compassion from the beginning the crimes might have never happened, which is why "misery still had her dwelling in [his] heart."