Forgiveness In Frankenstein

Some may argue that revenge is the best way to get back at those who have done you harm, however, this is not a longterm solution. Searching for vengeance can only go so far, Nothing but forgiving those who hurt you may mend a lifetime of pain. In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, and Josh Bernatchez’s criticism, “Monstrosity, Suffering, Subjectivity, and Sympathetic Community in Frankenstein and ‘The Structure of Torture.,” it is evident that the quest for revenge will never heal like that of forgiveness. This is shown through the monster burning down the Delacy home, the murders of William and Elizabeth, and the monster crying by Victor’s bedside at the end of the novel.
After the monster’s abandonment he felt nothing but resentment,

They each wanted revenge that the other had createdHowever, revenge brings nothing but a craving for closure, demonstrated as the monster grieves by Victor’s bedside as he died: “I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery” (Shelly 165). The creature spent so long chasing revenge, that he ran out of time. He had no choice but to forgive the creator who had made him become such a monster. The hunt for achieving vengeance against his creator kept him alive, it drove him to push forward, it gave him a purpose. All that Victor wanted to do was avenge his loved ones who were killed, but through tormenting Victor, the monster morbidly felt a sense of peace in his company. It is obvious that Victor could have helped to ease the monsters pain, but was too caught up in what the monster may do to him instead: “Victor has appropriated suffering as a means and justification for the continued infliction of pain on the Creature” (Bernatchez 209). The hunt for revenge on both sides could have easily been avoided with some communication. If both parties forgave each other and understood their wrongdoings instead of blaming each other, all characters would have been able to live in