Joanna Muralles

English 102

Professor Batty

11 November 2017

Immoral Man Made Monster

Monsters typically cause feelings of terror and fear. There are many opinions of what

makes a monster but still the feelings that are evoked when people think of monsters is all the

same, people are always scared. The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley demonstrates two

different versions of a monster. Many would say that the monster in the novel is the creature

created by the scientist because he obtains all the characteristics that make up a monster but

Victor Frankenstein (the scientist) proves that he is actual monster through the actions he does

and does not take.

The Psychoanalytic lens is the tool that proves that the actual monster was in fact Victor.

Psychoanalytic lens focuses on the way the unconscious mind works and how desires triggers the

mind and modifies the personality by pulling it in different directions. This psychoanalytic

theory was founded by a neurologist named Sigmund Freud. Freud said that the desires open up

the doors to superego,ego and Id that is within. The Id is made up mainly of the instinct of

people and is not in touch with the reality by doing so it decreases pain and causes pleasure. The

ego focuses on completing the desires of the Id in a realistic way so that it will not feel any

suffering of guilt it is usually torn between the Id and the superego. The superego attempts to

make the personality feel guilt when they do not follow their morals. Uncanny is another major

factor plays a role in the psychoanalytic lens. Uncanny refers to something being unnatural.
 In the novel Victor demonstrates to lack having a superego but allows for his Id to shine

through. Victor who is a man who has a passion for science, his desires are to become famously

recognized for being a great scientist. The drive and passion that he has to fulfill his desire leads

to the creation of his own monstrous character. The Id is said to be inherited at birth and does not

change over time. Since a child Victor was always infatuated with science it was part of his

personality and it is what made him curious of the world. His reason for creating the creature was

for the betterment of humankind but his real reason was his instinct, his need to satisfy his

wanting of making a mark in history. In chapter four of the novel Victor says A new species

would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their

being to me (47). Victors impulses to obtain a type of power leads him to create the creature

that causes destruction, the power that he wishes for is part of what makes him the real monster.

Victor only wants to be praised, he desires to be recognized and to be seen as a god. Victors Id

shows that he is in fact a narcissist.

The ego follows after the Id it achieves ways to complete the desires in a moralistic way.

Victor proves that he does have an ego, he is very selfish and only thinks of his own desires.

Upon creating the monster Victor was not in a conscious state of mind he was blinded by his

drive of fame and was not able have a foresight on what consequences might come up when he

does follow his experimentation, this is where his ego is pulled by the Id. In the novel by Mary

Shelly chapter 17 the creature tells Frankenstein You must create a female for me with whom I

can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do,

and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede. Frankenstein is

threatened by his creature but he has a choice of taking the creature out of his misery and by

doing so he would protect his family and all of the humans because the creature promises never
to hurt anyone or come back to town. Victor does not do what the creature wishes for proving

that he has no sympathy for the creature also showing that he does not care to think about what

could happen to others. Victor demonstrates selfless acts, his creation only benefitted himself but

when it all begins to fall apart he tends not to take responsibility for the things that his actions

have caused, instead he puts blame on other factors to avoid feeling guilty. Victor does not let

himself accept the fact that he has made a mistake because he knows that by doing so he will

appear as weak and that will damage his image of being this successful scientist.

When it comes to having a super ego Victor Frankenstein falls short. Victor shows no

compassion or empathy towards the creature nor does he have any sort of attachment to the

creature he created. He is very hostile with him and cruel towards his creation. When his

experimentation fails, Victor attempts to forget that it ever happened by shunning the creature

out because the creature is a constant reminder of Victor's guilt and failure. The creature on the

other hand shows that he has emotions and yearns for a some compassion because all he receives

from Victor is mistreatment. He shows signs of not being of any danger, he makes efforts of

trying to fit into the society and he begs Victor to create a wife so that he will not be in solidarity

anymore. Victor refuses to complete the creatures wishes showing that he has no empathy for the

creature. An essay titled The Myth of the Monster in Mary Shelleys Murder Mystery by

Andrew Keese says Despite the connectivity of the characters, they are in many ways

antithetical. One irresponsibly takes life into his own hands and abandons it; the other takes life

into his hands and extinguishes it. One creates; the other destroys. One wants love; the other

denies it. One gets sympathy; the other is handed hate. One is accepted by human society, the

other rejected. Victor Frankensteins passion is keeping him from showing his moral side and

shows that he is very egocentric making him become a monster and while he is behaving this
way his creation is only trying to become more humanized. Victor treats him inhumane proving

that through this behavior his morals are absent, his superego does not take over and instead he is

driven by his Id and ego.

Uncanny is part of the Psychological lens but it applies to the creature rather than to

Victor. Being uncanny is being of an unnatural state. The creature when brought to life was

given scraps of other bodies because of this his physical appearance was one of a kind. His

appearance was unnatural just like the way that he was created, his appearance made many

others feared him. People are often times are scared of the unknown and the unnatural things that

surround us because they are not familiar with it leading them not to try and understand them.

The creature gives Victor Frankenstein an ultimatum either he makes him a bride or would kill,

the creature kills Victors brother because his wishes are not completed. Though the creature

does kill and killing can be a characteristic that makes a monster and initiates fear it is not

justifiable but it is understable. He has made attempts on his own to learn the language and act

and be just like them but still society continues to outcast him causing him to feel frustrated, we

as readers are able to feel sympathy for him. The creature was uncanny but this fact does not

make him monstrous nor as monstrous as Victor. Fred Botting says in Gothic Monstrosity has

left the novel open, its frames broken: All boundaries are left in question, divided between the

positions of Frankenstein and the monster. Frankenstein isolates himself from the rest of the

society and he does the same to the creature, he could be a mirror image of Victor and the way

that Victor views the creature as a monster is the same way that he views himself which might be

the reason why he continues to throw hate towards the creature.

Victor Frankenstein's behavior goes to show that humans have the ability to be monsters.

He demonstrates that often times people's desires overcome their morals but they don't accept the
fact that this can make them monstrous. Sigmund freud's theory helps prove that monstrous

behavior can be developed and is within humans. Purdue owl states Freud believed that our

unconscious was influenced by childhood events. Freud organized these events into

developmental stages involving relationships with parents and drives of desire and pleasure.

The statement made by Freud goes to prove that the need to pleasure the want can lead the

unconscious mind to do unimaginable things. Nobody likes to think that humans can be monsters

because generally they see themselves as the perfect species. They avoid accepting this fact by

ignoring it and victimizing themselves and make others feel little. This is what causes fear the

state of denial that humans maintain themselves in while the monsters are within themselves.

Victor Frankenstein is a perfect example as he is egocentric and fails to really think what his

actions may cause. He fails to see what the results of his actions may be, he also fails to prevent

the destruction to occur he takes no action to stop these things from happening showing that he is

selfish and only cares about himself.

Websters definition of a monster is an extremely ugly, wicked, or cruel person.

(Websters 468) All of the drastic events that occurred such as the fact that the creatures

loneliness lead him to be viewed as a monster from the human's perspective goes to show that

humans don't look at the bigger picture. The creature is made to seem as the monster because he

torments Victor throughout the novel but the reasons that Victor was being tormented was

because of his subconscious mind, he was not at peace with himself because he knew that the

things he did was wrong. I believe that Victor Frankenstein knew that he was evil but denied

himself the truth for his own beneficial reasons, he portrays characteristics of being a monster

but fails to see them.

 Works Cited

1. Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins, Libby Chernouski, Elizabeth Boyle. Welcome to the Purdue

OWL. Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism, 3 June 2013,

owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/04/.

2.Botting, Fred. Gothic. 1996. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print.

3. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus : the 1818 Text. Oxford ; New York

:Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

4.Keese, A. (2011). The Myth of the Monster in Mary Shelley's Murder Mystery,

Frankenstein. Journal of South Texas English Studies, 2(2), 1

5. Webster, Noah. Monster. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2016th ed.