Frankenstein Victim Essay

In 1818, Mary W. Shelley wrote Frankenstein with the intentions of leaving the readers pondering who the real victim is. A victim is defined as a person or being who has suffered loss. Shelley wrote about Victor who used dead body parts to conjure a creature, yet fails to assume responsibility for his actions. Unfortunately, the creature suffers from his conception until the end of the novel. People might assume that the creature is a villain because of his actions; however, due to Victor’s actions in the novel, the creature is a victim. The fact that the creature is abandoned by his creator, rejected by society, and denied any chance at happiness clearly characterizes him as the victim of the novel. Shelley writes about a man named Victor

Initially, the creature survived without any interaction with humans until he wonders upon a family of cottagers named the DeLacey’s. When the creature first saw the cottagers, he describes how humans intrigue him. Following the months of watching the DeLacey’s, he finally enters the hut with innocence and curiosity to reveal himself to the blind father. Although he plans to befriend the father; unfortunately, the rest of the DeLacey’s come home and do not give him a chance. Once the family lays eyes on him, the creature recalls, “[The son] dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick” (Shelley 114-115). Then the creature describes how he could have “torn [the son] limb from limb”, but decides not to because “[his] heart sank within [him] as with bitter sickness, and [he] refrained” (Shelley 115). Without a doubt, people immediately turn to emotions of disgust and horror after seeing his eight-foot stature, yellow skin, and thin black lips. Reasonably, the creature’s outward appearance alarm society, but that does not justify the treatment he endures. Since the creature does not look “normal”, this causes society to become so fearful of the creature to where humans reject him without giving him a chance. Shelley writes about how the creature tries to save a drowning girl and in return gets shot in the shoulder. The creature getting undeservingly shot shows the readers how society causes the creature to become vengeful and creates a victim of neglect. Angrily, the creature describes being shot and says, “This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction” (Shelley 121). Then, he recalls how “the miserable pain of a wound” (Shelley 121) causes “the feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before [gives] place to vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 121). By society rejecting the