In Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, the narrator Victor Frankenstein explains how he puts together human body parts, and brings to life his own man. Victor immediately despises his creation, who ultimately does become murderous. However, all of the wrongs that Victor’s creation does commit cannot distract from the story’s original villain: Victor Frankenstein. Victor’s self-centeredness allows him to think that his success is better than everyone else’s, his sorrow is deeper than everyone else’s, and that his interpersonal needs are more significant than anyone else’s. Victor’s inability to empathize with anyone else, and his own self-importance slowly and effectively destroy everyone around him. Although Victor Frankenstein creates a monster, the ego-centric Victor is the real villain of Mary Shelley’s story.

Glory

Victor begins his story with the claim: “I am by birth a Genevese; and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic” (p. 37). Victor’s very first words in the novel convey his high opinion of himself and his lineage, as he counts himself among Geneva’s “most distinguished.” Victor explains that only after a very successful career, his father thinks “…of marrying, and bestowing on the state sons who might carry his virtues and his name down to prosperity” (p. 37). Victor portrays himself as a gift that his father bestows on society, someone significant in the present and future. When Victor thinks about his legacy, he explains, “Wealth was an inferior object: but what glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death!” (p. 40). Victor ignores how his scientific discoveries might affect the lives of others. He also does not concern himself with wealth because he already has wealth. Instead, Victor relishes the honor and fame he trusts his discovery will confer. He fantasizes about “what glory would attend the discovery,” if he discovers the secret to immortality. When Victor accomplishes his goal, he marvels: “…among so many men of genius, who had directed their inquiries towards the same science…I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (p. 48). Victor claims that many other genius men in the same field cannot do what he can do. He says, “I alone should be reserved,” for the discovery of immortality as if to suggest he is God’s choice, distinct from and above the other geniuses. Professionally, Victor Frankenstein seeks a unique glory, so that he becomes greater than any other genius scientist before him.

Sorrow

Just as Victor feels superior in his glory, he feels the most extreme in his sorrow. When people around him die, Victor does not think of the victims or of other people that love them, he pities only himself. After the death of his young brother William, Victor visits the scene of William’s murder. Victor claims: “No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air” (p. 65). Victor believes that other people cannot begin to understand his great pain. He focuses entirely on his own suffering, his cold, wet, unsheltered night (which he chooses to experience), instead of his dead brother William’s fate. The servant Justine Moritz endures an accusation, a trial, a conviction, and a sentence for young William’s murder, and all the while Victor refuses to explain that his creation is his brother’s murderer, not Justine. Despite Justine’s terrible situation, Victor argues that: “The tortures of the accused did not equal mine…” (p. 71), and that: “The poor victim, who on the morrow was to pass the dreary boundary between life and death, felt not as I did, such deep and bitter agony” (p. 73). Victor thinks not of Justine, the young woman who faces her entire community’s condemnation and her own execution. Despite Justine’s position, Victor maintains that her troubles cannot equal his own. Again, Victor claims his agony to be greatest. Following the death of his friend, Henry Clerval, Victor Frankenstein insists that he feels, “More miserable than man ever was before…Of what materials was I made, that I could thus resist so many shocks, which, like the turning of the wheel, continually renewed the torture” (p. 135). Victor feels that he is a constant victim and that he is the most unhappy man. He also compliments himself when he calls into question his constitution. He suggests that he is different from other men, and able to endure an unusual amount of challenges. Around the time of William, Justine, and Henry’s deaths, Victor focuses only on himself and believes he feels the most sorrow.

Relationships

Victor perceives himself as the center of the world, while people he knows are simply there to support him. When Victor’s mother dies of scarlet fever, Elizabeth does her best to console Victor, his younger brothers, and his father. Victor remembers: “I never beheld [Elizabeth] so enchanting as at this time, when she was continually endeavoring to contribute to the happiness of others, entirely forgetful of herself” (p. 44). Victor’s fondest memory of Elizabeth is at a time when she puts Victor and his immediate family members before herself. Victor likes Elizabeth best when she puts Victor before herself. As he builds his eight foot man, Victor trusts that: “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 their’s” (p. 49). Victor likes to think of himself as the creator (god), source, and father of a unique type of being. He believes he deserves gratitude from his creation more than any other father deserves gratitude from his child. When Victor’s younger brother, William dies, Victor returns to the family home. Victor’s brother, Ernest, greets Victor and begins to cry. Victor chides Ernest: “Do not welcome me thus; try to be more calm, that I may not be absolutely miserable the moment I enter my father’s house after so long absence” (p. 66). Although Victor and Ernest are both William’s brothers, Victor prioritizes himself over Ernest. Victor demands that Ernest change his emotional state in consideration of Victor’s emotional state. Victor expects Elizabeth, his creation, and his brother to prioritize him.

Victor Frankenstein thinks he comes from a distinguished family, and that his very birth is a gift on earth. He expects fame and respect from the public for his scientific discovery, and when he achieves his goal, he considers himself a genius above others. His feelings are equally extreme and self-centered when he experiences negative emotions. When Victor’s brother William dies, he believes that he feels worst, and does not consider the anguish of William’s Father or other siblings. When Justine faces her own execution, Victor still believes he feels even more agony. At the death of his friend, Victor insists that his misery is the worst of anyone’s in history. As he fluctuates between feelings of intense grandeur and misery, he wants the people in his life always to defer to him. Victor wants his wife, his creation, and his brother to adore him and put him first. Victor’s consistent preoccupation with himself, not Victor’s monster, is the true source of horror in Mary Shelley’s novel.

References

Shelley, M. (2018). Frankenstein: The 1818 text. Penguin Books. (Original work published 1818).