Janessa Guzman

Mrs. Wierson

English 2324- 3rd pd.

8 February 2016

Frankenstein: Evil Person or Evil Circumstances

Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a highly renowned novel that was published in

the 1800s. First published anonymously by the author, the book gained much attention as it

rejected the ideas of the then popular Age of Reason ideals and instead embraced the concept

of Romanticism. It continues to be taught as a work of literature and has gained recognition as

the greatest romanticism novel in British literature at the time that it was published. Author Mary

Shelley, who eventually did claim the novel as her own, writes about an aspiring scientist, Victor

Frankenstein. In an attempt to become famous through his work, Frankenstein creates a monster

out of dead body parts that he gathers from cemetarys. By doing so however, Frankenstein only

brings harm upon himself as he rejects the creature as well as the rest of society due to his

monstrous looks which then causes the creature to become angry and seek revenge.

Frankensteins family, best friend, and bride are all victims of the creature, leaving Frankenstein

eternally miserable. Because of these acts, the creatures true nature and personality is that of

evil, because even if society drove him to hate and anger, he still committed multiple acts of

murder not only in order to make himself feel better, but also to watch Frankenstein suffer, and

he did so without any real type of remorse.

For example, in one part of the story the creature tells Frankenstein that he murdered his

brother, and then blamed one of the beloved friends of the Frankenstein family. He said
Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy- to him towards whom I have sworn eternal

revenge; you shall be my first victim (Shelley, 122). He then said The child still struggled, and

loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him,

and in a moment he lay dead at my feet (Shelley, 122). The creature murdered an innocent

child, and as the boy struggled for his life the creature claimed that it brought despair to his heart

because he knew what he was doing was wrong, but still continued to kill the child. Even after

committing such an act of horror, the creature then continued his misconduct by blaming

someone else for the murder, meaning that even after already committing such evil acts, he could

still go on and do even more. The creature told Frankenstein The sleeper stirred; a thrill of terror

ran through me. Should she indeed awake, and see me, and curse me, and denounce the

murderer? Thus would she assuredly act, if her darkened eyes opened and she beheld me. The

thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me- not I, but she shall suffer: the murder I have

committed because I am for ever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone (Shelley

122). Furthermore, in the quote the creature himself calls himself a fiend, again he knows what

he has done is wrong which is why he does not wish to be caught, and he knows what he is doing

to someone else is wrong, but still continues to commit the act.

Additionally, as these acts are bad, they are not as bad as the ones the creature commits

further on in the novel when he proceeds to kill the rest of Frankensteins family. The worst

murder was probably that of Elizabeth, Frankensteins bride, as Frankenstein heard her

screaming during her murder as he wrote But I discovered no trace of him, and was beginning

to conjecture that some fortunate chance had intervened to prevent the execution of his menaces,

when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream (Shelley, 166). Frankenstein then goes on to

talk about when he found the body of his beloved bride, saying Why am I here to relate the
destruction of the best hope and the purest creature on earth? She was there, lifeless and

inanimate, thrown across the bed, her head hanging down, and her pale and distorted features

half covered by her hair. Everywhere I turn I see the same figure- her bloodless arms and relaxed

form flung by the murderer on its bridal bier (Shelley, 166). One of the most chilling sentences

however is when Frankenstein tells Walton how when he embraced his bride for one final

goodbye, he catches a glimpse of the creature, who is smiling at the sight of Victors suffering.

Victor states While I still hung over her in the agony of despair, I happened to look up. The

windows of the room had before been darkened, and I felt a kind of panic on seeing the pale

yellow light of the moon illuminate the chamber. The shutters had been thrown back; and with a

sensation of horror not to be described, I saw at the open window a figure the most hideous and

abhorred. A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to jeer as with his fiendish finger he

was pointed towards the corpse of my wife (Shelley, 166). Not only is the creature finding

delight in his act of terror, but he is making sure that Frankenstein knows that he is the one who

committed the murder, he is taking responsibility for the murder with the upmost pride and self

gratification.

In conclusion, while the novel goes on to present more acts of evil committed by the

creature, the ones listed above are the best when proving that the nature of the creature is

completely inhumane. One could go on to argue about how society was what caused the monster

to become as evil as he did, however no one could justify the fact that the monster knew that

what he was doing was wrong and still continued to commit the murders. Furthermore, the

creature committed the worst acts he possibly could, as he murdered a completely innocent and

nave child, along with a kind and caring young bride. For these reasons, the true nature and

personality of the creature in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is that of wickedness.