The Role Of Justice In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Justice is an idea made clear to all humans from the very beginning of our lives. We learn the laws of nature and the consequences of breaking them. Although justice is simply a concept developed by man, it has its core in the laws of nature. Perhaps the most fundamental of the natural laws is creation, the law broken by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Creator, the role Victor attempts to play, can only be enacted legitimately by one being. And when Victor breaks the natural law the unnatural life of the Creature comes into being, one that would bring nothing but misery and despair to Victor and his creation. It is easy to simply put the blame on the Creature for the list of deaths he caused; however to judge the Creature would be like judging an animal or toddler. The Creature did not learn the laws of nature, as one should. He was a child in the body of a monster. His constant rejection led to resentment, weak emotional strength and ultimately the deaths of five people.

He came into the world with the innocence and emotional power of a child. His abandonment forced him to ponder his own life and creation on his own. Memories of Victor, ““Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room…” (Shelley 58) flooded his brain. Unlike natural creation by God, followed by nurture and love, Victor was cold and evasive. Victor took no responsibility for the unnatural being he pushed forth upon the world. The creation was alone and depressed describing himself as a, ““poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept,” (Shelley 106). The Creature was born without anything, forced to learn on his own it would be impossible for him to separate right from wrong. All he knew was that even his creator, the one who love him unconditionally, did