Like Father, Like Son
Victor Frankenstein and the creature he created are a mirror of each others personality for they share the same personalities in Shelley’s book and are truly like father like son. They were both demonic and monstrous in the lives they lived. The creature Victor created is referred to as a demon that is killing and causing havoc everywhere and indeed these acts are demonic. The creature victor created killed without mercy. Victor on the other hand shows his demonic nature by trying to play God by creating a human being for his himself, he wanted to be worshipped by the creature he created just like human beings worship God their creator. The act of defying God by creating a human being itself is considered demonic. Victor is also depicted as demonic by the act of abandoning the creature he created to fend for itself without caring about its welfare. Additionally, Victor before he created the creature had monstrous thoughts of greed, selfishness and did not even care about the welfare of the people around him and what harm the creature he wanted to create could cause. The creature he created was also monstrous by killing the human race without remorse.
They both carried hatred in their hearts. The monster expresses his hatred for his god (Victor) when he says, he hates the day he created him and gave him life and then abandoned him without care and he even curses him, (Shelley, 1818). He hates him for not taking care of him like God does to human race and this hate leads him into revenge by killing and creating havoc everywhere he goes. Victor starts to hate the creature he created when he starts killing the human race and specifically the people he loved. This hatred makes Victor to abandon the creature without taking care of it. Victor hated the creature he created throughout the book and they also both develop hate for each other.
Another similarity they share is they were both filled with revenge. Victor devoted his life to carry out revenge against the monster he created after he started killing people especially the revenge for the death of his best friend. The monster was filled with revenge after he was beaten up and thrown out of the cottage and he decided that he will kill the human race without mercy. He was also filled with revenge against his creator for refusing to create a companion for him and this was the reason why he killed Henry and his wife Elizabeth. They both wanted revenge against each other. The two shared great animosity for each other for the creature is heard declaring everlasting war against his creator for abandoning him and against all species. Victor is also heard calling the creature a scoffing devil that kills and he vows vengeance against him to torture him till death and this makes him spend the rest of his time hunting for the monster in order to kill him. They now both start to hunt each other in revenge.
They two were both calmed by and shared a love for nature. In their sorrows and loneliness, they found comfort in nature. Even after the murder of his best friend and wife, victor still could find calmness in nature by staring at the beautiful glaziers of montanvert and he is heard saying that it gives him joy despite his sorrows. Even though the monster lived a solitude life of isolation, he also found comfort and peace in wandering around nature since he enjoyed it despite the loneliness. In the event after he was beaten up and sent out of the cottage, the monster felt alone, rejected and disheartened but he found peace and was calmed by the fresh air of the day and the pleasant sunshine. They both sought refuge in the wonders of nature whenever they felt alone, disheartened and rejected.
Victor and the creature he created were both murderers except one did it directly and the other indirectly. The creature killed people all over and as for Victor, he did not do the actual act of killing but did things that prompted the creature to kill. Victor’s jealousy for William because he was being given more attention than him made him leave the creature with a note on how to find the family’s location in order to kill them. In this scenario, he was the killer but through the monster he created.
They were recluses and outcasts to the society. Victor after his creation and the harm the monster he created caused, he felt hated and that no one could understand him. The monster also thought that due to its deformed and ugly nature and the harm he had caused to the human race, he was hated and so they both could not fit in the society. They both felt that no human being could ever love them nor understand their nature genuinely without fear. They society could not accept their monstrous characters. They also had monstrous tendencies and alienation from the society. Due to their hostility and being unfriendly to the society through their characters, they got separated from the society for they could not fit in.
Despite Victor and the creature he created having the same personality there is one thing that makes them different, one was created naturally by God and the other was created unnaturally by a human being.
References
Shelley, M. (1818). Frankenstein. London: Harding, Mavor & Jones.
