How to Take Responsibility for Your Newborn Monster Throughout Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein we can see the very importance of taking care of one's newborn
monster. Only through a magnificent atrocity, such as Victor Frankenstein's own
murdering and rampaging monster, can Victor himself realize that he owes a huge
amount of responsibility towards society. In the beginning of this novel Victor
starts off with huge illusions of grandeur, which include his overwhelming
desire to bring dead beings back to life. All that he can see is how his
discoveries in this new field of science will help mankind. Victor Frankenstein
neglects to realize that this monster could be an awesome burden on society as a
whole. As the story unravels and the plot thickens, we see that the creator is
startled and abhors his own creation. This has immense and overbearing
consequences for not just Victor, but many other people as well. Mister
Frankenstein shows us an initial lack of responsibility towards the human
community, but later Victor shows us that he realizes his mistakes, and that he
must take care of them. Towards Walton, our narrator, Victor Frankenstein shows
us a great sense of responsibility right from the start. Victor's own sense of
responsibility changes throughout the novel, and he is tested many times. His
senses of duty, to the narrator and community, do indeed come into conflict with
each other. Victor Frankenstein, after an initial lack of responsibility, shows
us that he does indeed owe a great commitment towards the human society. As this
novel starts, Victor Frankenstein is recanting his journeys and deeds to Walton,
and Victor has already realized his responsibility towards the human community.
He wants to tell Walton this story so he will learn a very important lesson.
This is because Victor has seen that he does indeed need to show responsibility
towards Walton, our narrator. "You may easily perceive, Captain Walton,
that I have suffered great and unparalleled misfortunes. I had determined at one
time that the memory of the evils should die with me, but you have won me to
alter my determination. ... I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my
tale." (15) By saying this part, Victor tells us that he did not want to
tell his stories to anybody at first, but his decision was swayed by Walton.
Frankenstein has indeed seen great folly in his own deeds and wants other people
to learn what not to do. Initially, in Victor's own story, there is no sense of
responsibility. The only thing that he can think of is how all of mankind will
benefit from his discoveries. Although when telling his story to Walton, he
tells Walton when and how he should have taken more responsibility. When the
monster is filled with life, Victor finally sees that his monster is a hideous
creature. He just runs away frightened, not knowing what to do with this huge
ugly monster. Only when the monster talks to him does Victor understand that he
is responsible for this being. "Oh, Frankenstein, be not equitable to every
other and trample upon me alone, to whom thy justice, and even thy clemency and
affection, is most due. Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam,
but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no
misdeed." (84) The monster clearly has been educated by someone or
something, and knows that Victor Frankenstein has indeed neglected him. He gives
us the metaphor with Adam and the fallen angel. This is similar to how God made
man, and man turned evil after a while. God took responsibility for the creation
that was his and his alone, and created the flood. He saved only good men and
animals. Victor sees that the creation of the monster was his and his alone, and
that, like God, he must be responsible for his actions. By this point the
monster has already killed William, and Justine has killed as a result of that.
The monster wants Victor to create another one that he may love and share his
feelings with. Victor, seeing not only that he has this new burden of society on
his shoulders but also that a new one would double that burden and wreak more
havoc, decides to not create this other creature. By deciding not to create a
mate for his monster, Victor Frankenstein shows us that he knows of his true
responsibility towards society. He begins to create the female version of his
monster when in Scotland. He works diligently, day and night, striving to get
the job done. Yet, at one point he finally sees that this can lead to only evil,
no good at all, and he decides to destroy it. "Had I right, for my own
benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I had before been
moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck senseless by
his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise
burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their
pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price,
perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race." (150-151) Here we see
that he has passed his test. Victor finally realizes his true responsibility
towards society, and what he must do to uphold it.