Who Is Victor Frankenstein A Romantic Hero

Frankenstein can be seen as a cautionary tale about the dangers and consequences of the unbounded pursuit of what you desire most, and a reminder to consider the impact that obsessive decisions might have on others. By doing so, Mary Shelley thus critiques the Romantic hero, a figure that is characterized by desire, who in this novel is Victor Frankenstein, the main character. Further, she provides the audience with her own conception of what the Romantic Hero should be like, and behave.

In all Romantic literature, there is a figure called the Romantic/Byronic hero that is present. The Romantic hero is typically an isolated figure, who is very mysterious, and rebellious. Also, they often disappear from the story at different sections. Said

Victor Frankenstein can be compared to a Romantic hero since he is driven by a non-ending desire for power and knowledge and will go to great lengths to achieve his goal. His unethical actions can be seen throughout the play during his pursuit of animating a dead body. For instance, he steals bodies from a graveyard in order to conduct his experiments, something that is beyond disrespectful and wrong towards the families of the deceased people from whose graves he stole. Furthermore, he ceases to care for his mental and physical health due to his fixation with completing his creation, putting the pursuit of knowledge above himself. The power of ambition takes over Victor's mind, and he acknowledges it by saying: "For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation" (Shelley) Furthermore, at a point in his obsession, he even attempts to defy nature by playing a God figure and says: "I was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn." (Shelley) Most notably, he resembles the main trait of the Romantic hero, isolation. Victor cuts communication with his family for over two years when he is working on his creation, leaving his family worried about his well-being and longing for any sort of interaction from him. This also resembles Robert Walton,

First, Victor's actions have consequences on not only him, but his whole family. All of his loved ones are murdered one by one, and he even brings Elizabeth onto her own deathbed, even after being warned by the monster that he would kill them on their wedding night. However, the monster is not fully to be blamed for the deaths of Victor's family. Victor should only blame himself for not knowing when to stop and cease to defy natural boundaries in his obsession with his desire. Even worse, he neglected his monster and abandoned it right after he was created. The monster initially "had begun life with benevolent intentions" (Shelley), however, after being abandoned by his creator and left to explore the world by itself, he found out about the cruel nature of humans towards something different from the usual. Consequently, the Monster who was initially kind and gentle became a violent and destructive being because of the rejection and isolation he faced from society. Aside from that, Mary Shelley uses the characters of Elizabeth, Clerval, and Victor to exemplify a balance between what the Romantic hero should and should not do. Elizabeth admires nature and what she sees around her, however, she would never have any intention of going beyond