Victor Frankenstein’s Cowardices and Failure as a Creator

When we achieved a milestone in any field, we should stand by our achievement for whether it is for the greater good or lesser evil. There should not be any reason to take the blame out on anything but ourself. Yet in the case of Victor Frankenstein, we see the true horror not from the creature Frankenstein has created, but from its creator. While it is valid to say one can play God if he/she desire to, there are responsibilities that come with playing God that one can not abstain from. The responsibilities are to raise the being to be in the image of its creator and to protect it. Victor Frankenstein was a moral man, he was brought up with the understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Nothing point out Frankenstein’s hypocrisy more than the statement of his parents “ owed towards the being to which they given life” and “it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties” (29). Victor Frankenstein’s cowardice is reflected by his actions toward the monster. Given the creature’s hideous appearance, Frankenstein fails to recognize the creature as a sentient being nor raise it morally. Upon its resurrection, Frankenstein runs out and abandons the infantile creature to fend for itself in the cold rainy night. His usage of words to describe his creation is far from flattering, wretches—daemon. By degrading his creature with these harsh words, the image of being the creator for Frankenstein is nothing more than an illusion of an immoral man who fails to uphold his beliefs and responsibilities. His status is further degraded when he failed to have the courage to justify Justine’s innocence, knowing that his creation murdered William. Frankenstein spoke of how the death of William and Justine’s trial as “ remorse, horror, and despair,” yet he could have prevented all of these events if he chose to be the moral creator (79). As a man of science and knowledge, his cowardices prove him to be a lesser man than any beggar on the street.