Scapegoat In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shelley uses her characters to reflect on the ideals of the time period. Shelley uses Victor and the Creature to parallel society- because society doesn't take the blame for its actions. Mary Shelley uses Victor’s refusal to take responsibility for the Creature to mimic how we, as a society, never seem to acknowledge our mistakes for what they are. We search for a way to place blame onto others, as to keep ourselves from looking foolish. Victor believed that “[his] tale was not one to announce publicly” (Shelley, 78) in order to keep himself from receiving blame and criticism, even though Justine was being tried for his creature’s wrongdoings. Victor was correct that “[the Creature reproaches him] with [his] behavior” (97), but he fails to realize that it is rightly so. The Creature would never have been so obscene if it weren’t for Victor’s abandoning him. Still, Victor places all blame onto his creation, because when you’re an “innocent and helpless creature bestowed [from] Heaven” (29), you can do no wrong. It is much later that Victor truly begins to take responsibility for the deaths of “William, Justine, and Henry” he …show more content…
The Creature would have only kidnapped poor William if it weren’t for the boy flaunting that his papa “is M. Frankenstein” (141), and after his death the Creature feels little remorse, moving to frame Justine. We are lead to believe that the Creature would have never done these acts, if it weren’t for his rage at Victor’s abandoning him, “misery made [him] a fiend” (98). All of the other murders still lead back to Victor, and Shelley uses these instances to teach us that there is always a hidden motive or a circumstance that pushes people-- or creatures-- to commit acts of crime. The Creature just wishes to “revenge [his] injuries” (144) that Victor caused