The Defense of Frankenstein’s Creature

The Defense of Frankenstein’s Creature

Victor Frankenstein, a character in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, decided that he wanted to bring life into this world; a life that would eventually go on to killing the creator himself. The Creature can be seen as either innocent or guilty. The popular opinion of the Creature seems to be that he is guilty considering how he has burned down a house, set up Justine for murder and murdered three others. However, after taking a close look at the text, it can be seen that Frankenstein’s creature is not guilty. He was brought into this world with a child-like innocence, never progressed past the emotional state of a child and was rejected throughout his whole life causing him to do the things he did.

Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor’s Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor “escaped and rushed downstairs.” (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat down and wept.” (106) The Creature knew nothing when he was born. He could not distinguish rite from wrong. The only thing that he could feel was pain from being rejected by his own creator. Victor was the first to force the Creature’s child-like innocence away from him. Even after being educated by the DeLacey family his child-like innocence shines through. He was reading books while he stumbled upon a story of bloodshed and he “could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow… (He) turned away (from them) with disgust and loathing.” (122) He was innocent in not being able to perceive why one would want to kill another and the thought of it sickened him.

Although the Creature was educated by the DeLacey family, he never learned anything about emotions; he never progressed passed the emotional state of a child. After being ‘virtually educated’ by the DeLacey family, he found that he cared deeply for them. When he finally got the courage to share his love with the family, he was immediately rejected. After speaking with the creature, the grandfather exclaims “Good god! Who are you?” (137). As the rest of the family enters the cottage “Agatha fainted, and Safie…rushed out of the cottage…Felix darted forward,…dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick.” (137). Although the family beet him and broke his heart, he did not fight back. He stated that he “could have torn him limb from limb…. But my heart sunk within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained.” (137) The Creature never learned what it is to be loved back. The rejection from his ‘virtual’ family tore him into pieces and created him to be