Although humans have the tendency to set idealistic goals to better future
generations, often the results can prove disastrous, even deadly. The tale of
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, focuses on the outcome of one man's idealistic
motives and desires of dabbling with nature, which result in the creation of
horrific creature. Victor Frankenstein was not doomed to failure from his
initial desire to overstep the natural bounds of human knowledge. Rather, it was
his poor parenting of his progeny that lead to his creation's thirst for the
vindication of his unjust life. In his idealism, Victor is blinded, and so the
creation accuses him for delivering him into a world where he could not ever be
entirely received by the people who inhabit it. Not only failing to foresee his
faulty idealism, nearing the end of the tale, he embarks upon a final journey,
consciously choosing to pursue his creation in vengeance, while admitting he
himself that it may result in his own doom. The creation of an unloved being and
the quest for the elixir of life holds Victor Frankenstein more accountable for
his own death than the creation himself. Delivered into the world, full grown
and without a guardian to teach him the ways of the human world, the creation
discovers that he is alone, but not without resource. He attempts to communicate
to his creator, however, he is incapable of speech. As Frankenstein recounts the
situation, he says, I beheld the wretch---the miserable monster whom I had
created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be
called, were fixed on me. His jaw opened, and he muttered some inarticulate
sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not
hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and
rushed downstairs (Shelley, p. 43). As Frankenstein explains, he declares that
he deliberately neglects to communicate with his creation, based on its
shockingly hideous appearance. Had Frankenstein taken the time to communicate
and care for his creation, with all the knowledge that he possesses of the
responsibility of a good parent, the creation would have never developed the
sense of vindication and reprisal that lead him to murdering Victor's loved
one's. The creation would henceforth account Frankenstein for all his sufferings
succeeding his birth. Frankenstein's first of numerous mistaken decisions
ill-fating his destiny relies greatly upon a lack of responsibility for the
creation he so passionately brings to life in the early chapters of his tale.
From his very first words, Victor claims to have been born to two indefatigably
affectionate parents in an environment of abundant knowledge. As he speaks of
his parents, Frankenstein attempts to portray his fortunate upbringing, Much as
they were attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of
affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me. My mother's tender
caresses and my father's smile of benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my
first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol, and something
better---their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by
heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to
direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards
me (Shelley, p. 19). By these recollections, Frankenstein illustrates his
parents as being the most ideal caregivers imaginable to any child, being
granted the all the vital tools of a responsible guardian as a result, which he
neglects to utilize upon animating his creation. Frankenstein abandons his
hideous child, feelings of vindication arise, and the creation kills members of
his family for all the mental anguish that has been set upon him. In his
idealism, Frankenstein is blinded and fails or is unable to foresee the
dangerous outcome of his creation, giving life to a hideous being that could
never be accepted in such a superficial world. As Frankenstein recounts the
procedures of making his being, he admits himself that his idealism blinded his
ability to foresee the drastic effects that might result in giving life to an
unloved creature. No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me
onward like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death
appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should break through, and pour a torrent of
light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and
source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father
could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.
Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon
lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible)
renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption (Shelley,
p. 38-39). Frankenstein's intent was to create a being unlike any other,
superior to all human life and so he picked the most perfect body parts and
beauteous features, all to be pieced together in great anticipation. However,
the results are horrific and irreversible. Accusing Frankenstein of bringing him
into a world where he could never be accepted, the creation realizes his
creator's faulty idealism. However, Frankenstein is unable to detect his
idealistic blindness. In a conversation with Frankenstein, the creation
explains, attempting to make him conceive the amount of mental anguish that has
been brought upon him by giving him life, ...instead of threatening, I am
content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not
shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and
triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities
me? You would not call it murder if you could precipitate me into one of those
ice-rifts and destroy my frame, the work of you own hands (Shelley, p.130). In
the creation's loathsome words, he merely justifies that had Frankenstein not
have been passionately immersed in the creation of a superior being, gigantic
and repulsive as a result, all his sufferings would cease to exist. Longing for
the attention that Frankenstein neglects to provide him with at his birth, the
creation attempts to gain it by stalking and killing his loved ones. The
creation does finally attain this attention as Frankenstein feels that he no
longer has any reason to live but to seek revenge upon the being that has
ultimately destroyed him. Upon hearing Frankenstein's declarations of reprisal,
the creation is delighted in finally receiving the attention that he neglected
to provide to him at his birth. The creation challenges him in pursuing him and.
replies, "I am satisfied miserable wretch! You have determined to live, and
I am satisfied," (Shelley, 186). Frankenstein initiates the conflict that
would lead directly to his doom. Consciously choosing to pursue his creation,
Frankenstein implores himself to seek reprisal upon him. Frankenstein vows that
he will undertake the great task that is the pursuit of his creation. Although
he may be enraged with vengeance and unrestrained anger, Frankenstein does admit
that this pursuit may indeed result in his own death. As he declares this
vengeance, he says, By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that
wander near me, by thee, O Night, and the spirits that preside over thee, to
pursue the demon who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal
conflict. For this purpose I will preserve my life; to execute this dear revenge
will I again behold the sun and tread the green herbage of earth, which
otherwise should vanish from my eyes forever (Shelley, p. 186). Ultimately, in
the end, this leads to Frankenstein's demise even though he realizes that it
might, for the death of either his creation or himself will obliterate and
relieve all the sufferings that he has been forced to endure. Frankenstien is
the tale of a man doomed to failure and death for his desire to play with
nature. By creating a destructive being, in human form, that he cannot control,
Victor Frankenstein brings about his own ruin. Frankenstein neglects to take
responsibility for his creation, abandoning him, resulting in the murder of his
most loved ones as the creation's revenge. In his idealism, Frankenstein is
blinded and is unable to foresee the drastic effects of giving life to a being
that could never be entirely accepted by human society, that further the
creation's vindictiveness. Lastly, consciously choosing to pursue his creation
in vengeance, Frankenstein's sufferings are finally obliterated, for he was well
aware that it may lead to his ultimate doom. The creation of an unloved being
and the search for a death cure hold Victor Frankenstien more responsible for
his own demise than the creation himself.