Trace the similarities between Victor and the monster. Consider their respective relationships with nature, desires for family, and any other important parallels you find. Do Victor and the monster become more similar as the novel goes on? How does their relationship with each other develop?
In the novel ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) by Mary Shelley we see two important characters Mr. Victor Frankenstein and the monster created by him pitted against each other. The inner turmoil of Victor is reflected in the psyche of the monster. The monster is a composite of body parts accumulated together to make a mirror image of Victor himself. The process of creating the monster with body parts from the dead can be compared with that of cloning in which donor embryos and eggs are involved in the making. By creating the monster, Victor invited the possibility of leading a double life through his own being and the monster. The physical attributes and social behavior of both Victor and the monster may be far apart but their souls are connected. Their thoughts, their personality and their ambition make them a single unit. Both the characters share similarity in their taking refuge in nature in times of grief, their craving for familial bonds and their hatred and animosity for each other.
Both Victor and the monster treat nature as a refuge or a gateway to escape from all their problems. Their ways to find warmth and comfort in nature tie them into strong bond. The monster's grotesque appearance makes him a social outcast and he runs into the lap of nature which “was enough to maintain his spirits, even through the persecution” (Mary Shelley, p 115). Upon the sad demise of his younger brother William and his pal Justine, Victor too uses nature to find harmony in life in times of suffering. In a bid to escape his morbid surrounding and mounting grief he takes a retreat into the mountains of Chamounix. The time spent in the tranquility of Alps gives him mental peace and his grief "augmented and rendered sublime by the mighty Alps, whose white and shining pyramids and domes towered above all, as belonging to another earth, the habitations of another race of beings" (Mary Shelley, p 90).
Both the monster and Victor are tied by their longing for familial bonds. Victors seeks the companionship of Elizabeth, his childhood friend and love. She constitutes his entire world by bringing him “softened feelings of love and joy” (Mary Shelley, p 167). He does want nothing more than to be with his love. Same way the monster also desires for companionship. After he acquires knowledge of the world, he too longs for acceptance, compassion and love from the De Laceys. He observes them daily, helps them by chopping firewood and harvesting crops and broods on how to approach them. The denial of the familial bonds don't make them mournful, rather they turn vindictive and seek vengeance against the cause.
The last straw of similarity between the two lies in their animosity for each other. Victor is initially afraid of the monster. In spite of the monster being his creation, Victor is scared of him and abandons him forever. Upon receiving the news of William's death, Victor becomes spiteful and vows vengeance. The monster was initially indifferent to his creator but upon being rejected by the human society, he announced "everlasting war against the species, and more all, against him who had formed me and sent forth to this insupportable misery” (Mary Shelley, p 116). His aversion for his creator does not ebb even after Victor decides to create a counterpart. Their hostility towards ultimate resulted in the vicious vengeance through the annihilation of their desired families in the final chapters. The shared hatred and animosity for each other is the strongest similarity between them.
In the conclusion, though the physical traits and social behavior of both the monster and Victor are different, they share similarities in terms of their desire for familial bonds, love for nature and animosity for each other. After all the struggles they go through, at the end they are left alone in each other's company. Their extraordinary similarity turns them into a single entity in which they are just the mirror image of each other. The monster symbolizes the crooked side of Victor. Mary Shelly very beautifully draws the connection between creature and the creator through their shared similarities.
Work Cited
Shelley, Mary. (1818). Frankenstein, e-artnow (January 19, 2013)
Storment, Suzanna. (2002). Frankenstein: The Man and the Monster, Retrieved on 1st June 2013 from <http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/frank.comment3.html>
Similarities between Frankenstein and Monster, Retrieved on 1st June 2013 from <http://www.mightystudents.com/essay/Trace.similarities.Victor.20946>
