In volume III we were taken through this dark emotional journey with Victor Frankenstein. He goes on this journey traveling to different parts of the world with his friend whom he tells his father is to relieve his mind and find tranquility so that when he gets back he can fulfill his father’s wish and get married to Elizabeth. Under any other circumstance he would have enjoyed this trip but the actual purpose for this trip was not for self-fulfillment but to get the creature away from his loved ones while he completes his promise to the creature by creating his female partner. While he was doing his research and putting the finishing touches to his creation, Frankenstein started thinking about what the consequences would be if he completed this task. The possibility of more murder and mayhem upon the earth because of Frankenstein’s creation did not sit well with him. After realizing all of this he destroyed his creation all the while not noticing that the monster was watching him.
After the monster confronts him of what he has done Victor Frankenstein finally stands up to his enemy and tells him he is not going to make him a female partner. The creature does not understand why Victor would want to see him suffer his whole life without having a love partner. The monster leaves Victor with the promise of coming back on his wedding day. When the creature made this promise Victor interpreted it as the monster was going to kill him that day but little did he know he was planning to kill his soon to be wife.
As promised the monster did show up at his wedding and killed Elizabeth. Shortly after finding out the news about Elizabeth Victor’s father passes away. The guilt Victor feels is overcome by hatred and the want for revenge. Victor’s creation destroyed his life by killing all of the people he cared about.
In Volume III we get to see another side of Victor that is selfless. In Volume I he was more worried about himself and feeling very isolated. In Volume III he was worried about the safety of his loved ones. He was on the verge of creating another monster due to his fear of the monster which can be seen as a very selfish act because he will be putting plenty of people in danger. Afterwards, he acknowledges this and corrects it by destroying his work and standing up to the creature. I believe that he felt he would be the one that dies at the end so that brought him a sense of tranquility because he felt the creature was not going to harm his loved ones.
Questions:
- If you were in Victor’s position would you destroy the creature?
- Do you feel that Victor went through so much that he was actually looking forward to the monster killing him on his wedding day?