The True Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley’s novel,”Frankenstein”, she describes a story in which the mad scientist, Victor Frankenstein, devotes himself to researching the secrets of life and death. However, by doing so, he creates a monster which would soon become his demise. But what is considered a monster? According to the Oxford English Dictionary a monster is “A person of repulsively unnatural character, or exhibiting such extreme cruelty or wickedness as to appear inhuman; a monstrous example of evil, a vice, etc.” Frankenstein’s monster is quite human in this aspect, simply reacting as any man would to the abuse he endured. Frankenstein, however, is the true monster due to his unnatural persona, cruelty, and selfish desires. First and foremost, Frankenstein is unnatural in

This shows how Frankenstein is not normal and fits the first characteristic of a monster. In addition, Frankenstein is cruel and abusive towards his own creation. After promising the monster a companion, he “thought with a sensation of madness on [his] promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which [he] was engaged.” (Shelley 121). Here, not only is Frankenstein breaking his one promise to the monster, but he’s denying the monster any opportunity to love and friendship. Frankenstein has done multiple cruel acts to the monster he created, and refuses to look past the monster’s grotesque outside, making Frankenstein the real monster. Finally, Frankenstein had a god complex where he selfishly tried to gain fame by breaking through the boundaries of life and death. This can be seen by his belief that “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me” (Shelley 32). By saying this, Frankenstein is saying that he would essentially rule over his creation and that they would all praise him as their