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Moral Responsibility In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher, stated that “With great power comes great responsibility.” Taking responsibility is recognizing and admitting the choices we have made, how we carried out this choices into actions, and their outcomes. There should be a correspondence between the actions we choose and our moral values. Having moral responsibility is one of the things that separate us from animals. As social beings, we have learned to follow the rules of society and to fulfill certain obligations. However, being responsible is a choice; individuals must choose to be in charge of their own emotions and intentionally act according to their values, beliefs, and goals. Furthermore, we have to think in the …show more content…

This trait is intimately correlated to self-victimization. Once again, Frankenstein rationalizes the causes that led him to the creation of the creature and decides to shift the blame to others. In chapter 2, when he discovered and become obsessed with the works of Cornelius Agrippa, Victor blames his father for not explaining him with detail why he should not waste time studying this. He claims, “If, instead of this remark, my father had taken the pains to explain to me that the principles of Agrippa had been entirely exploded […] I should certainly have thrown Agrippa aside…” (Shelley 24) In chapter 3, Frankenstein blames his professors, Krempe and Waldman, for the way he directed his studies stating that, “M. Krempe was a little squat man with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not prepossess me in favour of his pursuits.” (Shelley 31) Conversely, M. Waldman was a handsome, eloquent professor with the “…sweetest voice he ever heard” (Shelley 32), so it was only logical that Frankenstein felt inclined to follow the path of Chemistry. Furthermore, Frankenstein places all the blame on the creature, or the monster, as he calls him. He never admits that his lack of care, teachings, and understanding were the ones who had a negative impact in shaping the personality of the creature. Instead Victor argues, “He showed unparallel malignity and selfishness in evil; he destroyed my friends; he devoted to destruction beings who possessed exquisite sensations, happiness and wisdom…” (Shelley 193) Throughout the story, Victor Frankenstein continues to assign blame to others: guilt, hatred, and sadness propelled this blame

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 Based on an evaluation of Aristotle’s arguments and the objection that stands against it, people are responsible for voluntary actions and involuntary actions whose circumstances or particulars they themselves have caused.   In order to evaluate Aristotle’s ethical argument, it is first necessary to explain his definitions of character acquisition, volition, and responsibility.  Aristotle defines character acquisition very succinctly:

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Initially, characters in Frankenstein not taking responsibility show the reader the potential dangers of pain and death in numerous situations in the novel. The reader of Frankenstein sees various examples of Shelley’s warnings of the dangers in not taking responsibility in the first couple chapters in the novel. Shelley first points out the dangers of not taking responsibility when Victor first creates the monster on a stormy November night when he was shocked with the “horror of that countenance [the monster]”(Shelley 44) before he vacated his home, abandoning his creation which fueled the monster with the hatred that he needed to punish his creator. Shelley’s Sliwowski 2 illumination of Victor and the monster as father and son, shows the importance of a parental

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In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, it scrutinizes the punishments when a man creates life, and plays the role of God. Victor Frankenstein, is at fault for the creature’s actions. Victor was looking for some honor and triumph, but when he accomplished his experiment, not only did it bring terror to Victor, but to the whole world. The monster never learned right from wrong and was never raised correctly, his first moment of life, all he experienced was the fear in Victor's emotion, and was abandoned right from the start. Victor selfishly isolated himself from society and ran away from his responsibilities which caused destruction to the people Victor cared for and loved deeply.

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There are many signs that happen in Frankenstein’s early life that’ll deflect him from pursuing his original studies, such as, his father not explaining why Victor shouldn’t read the book by Agrippa, the storm that he’s fasciated from and after he discovers the tree that was struck by lightening the night before. While, the Monster is traumatized after being abandoned by Victor. The Monster wants to be validated and loved by Victor. His need for validation leads him to seek it out whenever he can, though it proves to be disastrous.

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In it, the narrator Victor Frankenstein describes to us the circumstances under which he went to the University of Ingolstadt. H describes that his whole life had been spent with people whom he considered beautiful and aesthetically pleasing in some way or form. Victor blames his seclusion as the reason why he finds new people and places repulsive, or even ugly, but in fictional reality it is due to his immensely narcissistic nature; an ego defence mechanism. This so-called narcissism will eventually lead Frankenstein to his ultimate demise. His ego prevents him from realizing the consequences of his scientific

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Yet, one must be causa sui to achieve true moral responsibility. Hence, nothing is able to truly be morally responsible. Strawson 's whole purpose of writing the article is to change anyone 's mind who says that we should be responsible for the way we are and what we do as a result of the way we are. He believes we are lacking freedom and control of doing so. He argues that if we do something for a reason, that is how we are, so we must be responsible.

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Have you ever been held responsible for the tragedies caused to others? For most the answer is no, however, for some, their actions have led to the misfortune of guiltless lives. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, because of the absence of attention and teaching, the reanimated creation Frankenstein is unstable; Victor Frankenstein is who to blame. Two events that he should be accountable for are not training his creation to know right from wrong and abounding the monster which led to the murder of innocent people. Firstly, Shelley uses conflict of “human” versus nature to demonstrate the major idea that Victor Frankenstein is responsible for the loss of innocent lives.

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Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” exposed the reader to a tragedy and horrific story of the life of Victor Frankenstein. We’re introduced to a series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister, that in which explains the story of Victor Frankenstein. A man determined to create life, accomplished the goal but soon led to his downfall. Throughout the novel, I learn that our actions can sometimes determine someone else’s fate. As shown in the many flashbacks of the multiple narratives of Victor, the creature and Walton.

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A timeless human goal has always been to set visionary goals to advance the coming generations. Although many results can be successful, a great number of them can turn out deadly. In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley illustrates the result of a man’s visionary motive of creating life, which consequents into the birth of the deadly creature. The creatures understanding of justice is based on eliminating anyone or anything preventing him from reaching his goal; accordingly, his actions to attempt revenge upon Victor only led to his downfall throughout the novel. The creature’s understanding of justice and it’s revenge against Victor is the driving force of the story because it builds up the anticipation the reader has for the final confrontation.

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This much is true for Victor’s failure to take responsibility for not only teaching his creation about life but also failure to take responsibility for the actions of his creation. “Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy… you shall be my first victim” (153). Victor’s knows that he is responsible for the death of William because he abandoned his creation and made the monster learn the hard way that he would not be accepted into society. But he has no choice but to let Justine take the fall for the death of his brother because he fears being seen as a madman.

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This prescribed title infers that when put into certain situations, we hold a responsibility to always choose what is ethically right. Now the definition of ethical responsibility is simply the obligation or commitment to do what is morally correct according to whatever principles the society may have. Human will naturally want to make the right choice in fear of guilt. This quote has an assumption that because we have information of certain events, it is our duty to make just decisions to protect others from harm. However one point this quote does not address is the relationship between two individuals.

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The monsters revenge on Frankenstein, drives him too to be full of hatred and need for vengeance because he destroyed everything good in his life. He feels as the death of his loved ones is his fault because he is the one that created the horrid creature in the first place (Brackett). “As time passed away I became more calm; misery had her dwelling in my heart, but I no longer talked in the same incoherent manner of my own crimes; sufficient for me was the consciousness of them” (Shelley 158). The monster wanted Victor to feel the same thing as him, lonely and sadness. The monsters revenge works, Victor becomes rejected by people and has nobody but himself.

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Victor Frankenstein caused his own misery and destruction, which is why he is to blame for what

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Victor Frankenstein is selfish. The novel portrays Victor as a selfish character who is only concerned about his own well-being. Frankenstein wanted to manipulate the power of life. He abandons his creation because of the creature’s appearance and also withholds information or lies about his creation. Due to Victor 's selfishness, readers feel sorry for his creation.

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Throughout the novel, the main character Frankenstein, made many poor decisions that I would consider to be morally wrong and unethical. Frankenstein’s research and discoveries are ethically wrong because he was taking dead bodies from cemeteries, cutting off their limbs, and body parts to create a human like creature. He did not have anyone's consent to do this study causing it to be unethical, and he also should not be able to do this because he is playing the role of god. In the beginning of the book, Victor Frankenstein described to Walton that he had created a monster using body parts from a graveyard.

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