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Essay on 'Sympathy for Victor Frankenstein'
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Essay on 'Sympathy for Victor Frankenstein'
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Victor Frankenstein deserving of sympathy?Victor Frankenstein is a character many readers of Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ have mixed feelings about. The tale of
frequent loss that perverts his life is similar to that expressed by Mary Shelley herself who was no stranger to loss. In
fact, the dream that sparked the monstrous creature was caused by the loss of one of her children via miscarriage.
The traits of Victor are quite annoying to many readers, yet he has moments of virtue and compassion which when
mixed together make him a grey character. Together it is impetuously difficult to pinpoint whether we the reader
feel that he is deserving of our sympathy.
Firstly, we do believe Victor is somewhat deserving our sympathy as his childhood although comfortable is marked
by loss; “the sound of a voice so familiar that the ear can be hushed, never more to be heard.” This personal, stark
loss that is evident of this quote is felt greatly by the reader by Shelley’s ingenious structuring of the novel. The
beginning of Victor’s story is told by an embedded narrative that gives us an in-depth and personal look into Victor’s
trials on earth. The rapport that is created between Victor and the reader adds a personal impact to the loss of
Caroline, Victor’s mother showing that he deserves some sympathy. Our sympathy is made even more poignant
when we consider Shelley’s own loss of her own mother at a very early stage. Considering the gender specific tasks
of women, it is interesting inside the contexts of the Regency society how the absence of a loving maternal figure
effects a young child. Shelley was no doubt heavily moulded by her mother’s ideals but on a deeper emotional level
Shelley led a troubled life. Victor himself is a troubled man, who upon his mother’s death he almost instantly begins
to devalue the importance of emotions and their effect on the human psyche growing our sympathy for his
character. “Grief is an indulgence” to Victor and even this statement provokes the sentiment that Victor is deserving
of our sympathy. In the society of the Regency era a women’s role was to attend to the emotional and domestic
issues of the family. Victor loses this emotional temperament that comes from a mother and this lack of humanity
that many would argue loses sympathy for him personally creates a feeling pathos and sympathy for him. It is not
personal or maniacal machination that leads to his emotional immaturity or even disregard for emotion entirely, it is
the loss of the emotional warmth and guide that existed within Caroline’s character that leads me to see Victor as
deserving of sympathy.
Furthermore, many say Victor cannot be seen as a character deserving of our sympathy due to his creation of the
Creature, and as a consequence an employ that haunts him for most of his life. However, as readers we cannot
forget the original intentions of Victor that convince me he is deserving of some sympathy; “what glory would attend
the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame.” Victor is ardently seeking a noble cause of curing all
illness, an employ that is not villainous. He is not selfishly trying to cure himself or a loved one, he is genuinely trying
to better mankind. This view of Victor being a charitable character is a juxtaposition to the fame seeking Victor we
see later in the text. Victor’s mind would be playing on the motif of life and death due to the death of his mother (or
so the narratives sequence of events alludes to) and so Victor’s trip down a darker path is not unreasonable due to it
exiting from trauma and grief, showing that he is deserving of our sympathy. The Creature also notes these traits of
Victor in the closing epistle of the book, “generous and self-devoted being!”. The use of epistolary form adds the
typical gothic trope of realism through the letters that act as ‘evidence’ for the story. This adds a layer of certainty
and credibility to the opinions of the creature expressed within them. This is enforced by the characterisation of the
creature who is seen to detest his creator throughout his secondary embedded narrative. Hence, the conclusion the
creature comes to in the closing of the novel is made evermore potent by his previous distaste of his creator forms a
juxtaposed emphasis on his final respect demonstrating the softer generosity of Victor Frankenstein that provokes
the sense that he is deserving of sympathy.
In addition, Victor does accept some responsibility (despite not acting on it) and hence the judgement he receives
from many readers evokes a sense of sympathy; “I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt, which hurried me
away to a hell of intense tortures, no language can describe.” Throughout the text Shelley alludes to Christian ideas
and beliefs that mainly stray out of John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ (one of the texts the creature reads while hiding in
the De Lacey residence). The pain Victor believes he is due shows a true, rare moment of compassion in his character
as he acknowledges blame in his narrative showing that he is deserving of some sympathy. The use of Victor’s
personal narrative voice effects morose and sympathetic feelings towards his character. We see his humanity
through his likeness to us as readers as despite being hyperbolic and verbose, he is relatable in more acute ways to
readers. The emotional rapport this creates helps build a sense in the mind of the reader e=that Victor is indeed
deserving of sympathy. The idea of Victor claiming responsibility is reinforced in the quote, “I, not in deed, but in
effect, was the true murderer.” The continuation of blame creates a cosmological parallel of cause and effect as
described by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Cosmological argument. The act of Victor accepting responsibility creates
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