“the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. I took refuge in the courtyard be- 60 Frankenstein longing to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life.”
Video time: Entire video
This quote from Frankenstein comes from the part of the book where Victor realizes what he has created and how abnormal he is and decides to abandon him. The video commentary that I have found gives a character analysis of Victor and they speak about this moment in the book.
The video mentions how scientists speak of their creations as if they were there children, meaning they take pride in them and love them because they’re a part of them. The creations took so much of the scientist’s effort and devotion to be made that it would be difficult not to love them in this way. However, here is Victor who not only doesn’t love his creation, but he abandons him altogether. For this, the commentators in the video call him arrogant.
This video presents the idea that there is a parent child relationship between Victor and the monster and in a way there is. Therefore, Victor’s abandonment of him parallels with how a real person would feel if they were left to be alone with no one to care for them or love them. It would be tragic and without receiving love, the monster would have no way of giving love and as this is a basic need of humans – he would be depressed and would lose his mind. So although it is easy to call Victor’s creation a monster because to us, he looks scary and he kills many people, is he really one? Can he be blamed for his actions? The answer is no. The real person to be blamed is Victor because as the video mentions, he is arrogant and in the wrong. Victor describes his creation with such judgmental words and treats him so poorly because to him, the creation is undeserving of his love because of the way he looks. This is not how a parent or a creator should value the worth of what they have created.