#like yea man this really stinks but you cant keep killing people cause u feel sorry for yourself

[looking-for-wisdom]

To expand on my Frankenstein read though, here’s my two cents: framing Frankenstein as the villain isn’t new— it’s the story Mary Shelly originally presented, but I think was contorted in modern media and was overlooked. Now people are going back to the original idea and while I may not agree with many of the arguments made I don’t think it’s a bad way to look at the book. It can be argued that Victor was neglectful of his creation and by his and humanities hand the monster was turned cruel. There are like, a solid ten chapters from the creatures perspective that support that point.

I think it’s much more interesting, though, to realize Victor wasn’t evil. He was flawed, ambitious to a fault and prejudiced. He was also a kid when he created the creature, still in school, and on all accounts he was afraid of what he’d done. The question the novel presents is exactly this: what makes a monster? For me, I tried to sympathize with the creature and in some moments did, but in the end I feel it comes down to the fact that, yes, his circumstances were miserable and humanity was cruel. Yet he knowingly killed in cold blood innocent people in an attempt to get back at his creator who, despite the creatures encounters, had not made him out of sadistic intent. He’d been young and obsessed with his work, and yes, he’d rejected the being he gave life. He had also just been hit with the incredible weight of the forces he had tampered with and fell ill to a point from which he never truely recovered before hearing the same creature had showed up at his childhood home and murdered his brother.

I can’t say Victor would have willingly given the creature another chance had he not killed William— Victor is disgusted by his creation— but there may have been more room for discussion. But I also can’t condemn the dude for being like yeah sorry but you can’t literally murder a child and then expect me to help you out. The creature’s treatment by humans was horrible, but from the point of view of our main character the point of no return was reached before he really made a decision to leave the monster to its isolation. He made a lot of mistakes but in the end the situation presented was one with no good outcomes. While the monster has every right to hate humanity on the other hand, he could have stopped at any moment. Victor inarguably fucked up one life beyond return, but after that it was this dude calling the shots. If he truely believed in morality the way he claimed he would have realized that despite his inexcusable treatment, the crimes he commuted made him nothing more than the monster people feared. Circumstances are often unfair and people are cruel, yet the lives he took were not those who had shown him such disdain. For me, it came down to this. Victor made plenty of mistakes but he didn’t anticipate any of it nor did he ever stop trying to fix it. The monster was not treated well, and yet if that’s an excuse to kill people who had nothing to do with it then I guess I should start stabbing random people cause women get catcalled and that’s not ok. Society is a dumpster fire but your murder spree ain’t helping.