Frankenstein
Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein begins at the end of the actual story and the whole book proves to be a retrospective of past events. As the main character Dr. Frankenstein recalls the tradgedy that has befallen him he harps unendingly on his horror at the events that have transpired. This would be expected of any person who had had close friends and family murdered, but most striking in Frankenstein's particular circumstance is a staunch denial of his responsibility. As he struggles to come to terms with the hellish life he leads, he fails to realize some, if not all, of the blame rests with him himself. In this mindset he is never able to progress or move beyond his initial mistake. Shelley uses Frankenstein's inner torture to demonstrate that feelings of true guilt, which is to say contriteness, require taking a responsibility so that one may ultimately achieve peace of mind. While Frankenstein often refers to his guilt, he is actually referring only to simple regret and fails to take any responsibility, which compounds his problems throughout the book. This denial of culpability is shown by Frankenstein never telling anyone about his creation. As Shelly writes, "[the monster] might have spoken, but I did not hear; one h
During his process of externalizing the blame, and convincing himself to be a victim of circumstance, Frankenstein also deludes himself that his situation is completely out of his control. Frankenstein's denial, not only of culpability, but that the monster exists compounds his troubles time and time again. and was stretched out seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs. As a result, he is consumed in self-pity which only accelerates his downward spiral. The book ends with Frankenstein pursuing the monster to the ends of the earth. Upon realizing this, he quite literally, runs away from his problem, hoping that it will not find him crouching alone in the darkness. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night. Frankenstein will continue this pattern of behavior throughout the book despite its obvious futility. Throughout the novel, Frankenstein maintains the delusion that he has no control over his situation which keeps him paralyzed in self pity and unable to find any peace. " At the end, realizing someone has to be blamed, Victor tries to dump responsibility on the rest of humanity. While it is true that people might not believe him at first, the importance of that statement is the "astounding horror. 73" While he sees these terrors as direct results of his creations, he fails to see his creations as direct results of his character faults. " Victor is doing his best to forget the problem so he keeps silent to restrict the monster's existence to his consciousness alone. Since Frankenstein offers nothing past regret, he offers no chance for redemption True guilt is recognizing ones wrongs, being contrite and wanting to grow from the wrongs. He cannot face the judgement of humanity, and so he suffers further anguish as his most beloved of acquantences are murdered.
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