How Is Victor Frankenstein Selfish

In Marry Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein selfishly goes on an unethical scientific journey to gain glory and fame. From a young age Victor has an abundant amount of knowledge and extraordinary ambition that he continues to cultivate through his unfaltering study of science and alchemy. After experiencing the tragic of death of his mother, Victor isolates himself in an attempt to reach the level of success he believes his knowledge and ambition entitles him to. Through his constant dedication to his work, the dangerous project that drives Victor insane comes to life on a dark and stormy night in Ingolstadt, Germany, forever changing his innocence and livelihood. The selfish manner in which Victor yearns to gain glory

While Victor is at college he makes the decision that the best and only way for him to gain glory is to be the first man to create life. After Victor “had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (45) in order to gain glory and fame he claims that “[he] imagined that the monster seized [him]; [he] struggled furiously, and fell down in a fit” (48). Victor remains mentally ill for a long period of time while his creation dangerously goes out into the world with minimal knowledge to fulfill his own needs. Victor believes that he falls ill because of his fear of the creature making it out to be a monstrosity when it is actually his own ambition that scares him the most. Virginia Brackett comments on the way Victor continues to shift blame and makes the creature out to be a monster because he begins to regret the decisions that his ambition lead him to

A large amount of time passes after the creature first comes to life and continues to get revenge on Victor. He fearfully ponders upon “the death of William, the execution of Justine, the murder of Clerval and lastly of [his] wife; even at that moment [he] knew not that [his] only remaining friends were safe from the malignity of the fiend”(150). Victor now lives with the fact that because he allowed his ambition to become out of control, most of those near and dear to him are no longer alive. Victor further recalls “the memory of past misfortunes” and “[begins] to reflect on their cause” (152). Victor deep down understands that he is the main cause of his own misfortune, but he never gains the strength to admit he was wrong. After all of the terror his ambition causes the life of Victor begins to reach the end. On his death bed Victor begins to reflect on his entire life and remarks that “In a fit of enthusiastic madness [he] created a rational creature, and was bound towards him, to assure, as far as was in [his] power, his happiness and well-being” (165). The reason that the ambition of Victor is so dangerous is because he chose the most unethical path to gain glory and fame. Victor in essence is an incredibly cruel “father” who abandoned his child as soon as it was born and allows it to go out into the cold hard world with absolutely no