Skip to main content

Who is MORE guilty of the deaths in Frankenstein? Please gauge the culpability of Victor and The Creature.

While both characters are guilty of crimes and wrongdoings in the novel, ultimately it must be Victor Frankenstein who bears the most blame. Victor is responsible for making the creature, for abandoning him, and for destroying the female creature, all of which leads to the deaths of the people closest to Victor. 


Before explaining Victor's culpability in more detail, we should recognize that the creature is a conscious, intelligent being who is aware of right and wrong. Though he is not "born" evil, and his crimes may even be somewhat understandable, the creature chooses to kill innocents in order to get revenge on or send warnings to Victor. The creature knows what he is doing when he kills William, Henry, and Elizabeth, and he commits these acts intentionally to hurt Victor. In other words, the creature is not blameless.


Victor, however, is most to blame because of the decisions he makes throughout the novel. His first mistake, of course, is building this creature and bringing it to life. He does nothing to map out how he will handle the creature once it is alive; his blind ambition leads him to act irresponsibly, and his lack of foresight ends in disaster. When Victor abandons his creature, he essentially refuses to parent it, and his absentee parenting contributes to the creature's anger and, later, to his vendetta against Victor.


Specifically in relation to the creature's murder of Elizabeth, Victor's wife, Victor had a chance to prevent the creature's violence. The creature tells him that he must build a female companion for the creature or he (the creature) will be with Victor on his wedding night. Most readers pick up on the threat here, but Victor, as usual, only thinks about how he personally will be affected and does not imagine that the creature would attack his wife. It is also worth noting that Victor knows that the creature killed William, but Victor allows Justine to be executed for the murder in order to save himself the public shame of admitting to what he has done in making this creature. If Victor had addressed the creature's violence responsibly, other lives could've been saved. 


Ultimately, Victor's actions are the root of all of the sins committed by the creature. While both characters share in the blame, Victor should be seen as more culpable for the way his decisions contribute to the creature's demeanor and motivations. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more