Victor Frankenstein begins his narration talking about his family and childhood in Geneva.

He also elaborates on how he gained an adopted sister as a child, which of whom he grew up with and became absolutely close with. He has two childhood friends, Henry Clerval and his sister Elizabeth. Victor Frankenstein spends his teenage years reading about natural philosophy. He is fascinated by the mysteries of the natural world. He is scheduled to go away to college to the University at Ingolstadt, but before he leaves his mother dies and her death wish is for Frankenstein and Elizabeth to get married. Despite her death Frankenstein still leaves for school. He leaves around the time his family and him are still grieving. Victor Frankenstein seems normal before he goes away to school. While at school Frankenstein meets a modern day natural philosopher who told him, his past readings were outdated and worthless. The philosopher suggests Victor begins his studies all over again, he then shifts over his studies to science. Frankenstein then begins to study science and how to create life. He wants to discover the secret of life, Victor says, treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold the world deepest mysteries of creation (p.33). He became easily interested and engaged in it quickly. During his studies he secludes himself from others. He spends months experimenting with dead body parts. He then creates a monster, whom he blames for killing the people close to him. This monster is in fact a figment of his imagination. Victor Frankenstein has created has created this imaginary monster because he is mentally ill, has reasons to kill his family and friends, and needs someone to place the blame on. Victor Frankenstein is mentally ill. He suffers from two illnesses. These illnesses include Dissociative Identity Disorder and Schizophrenia. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dissociative Identity Disorder is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control the

individuals behavior at different times. It includes the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality traits. The person is unable to remember some things that happened while the other personality was in control (NAMI). This would explain why Victor Frankenstein cannot remember exactly how he kills these people, but he knows he did. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a persons thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity and a person can experience visual hallucinations. It is thought to stem from trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. Victor displays all of these symptoms. He has two personalities throughout the book. Victor is both himself and the monster, having dissociative identity disorder makes him believe the monster is a different person. Being alone for a long period of time made Victor think about his past, family, and future, and all of his feelings about these memories started to gather up and Victor began to want to stay alone. Not having a social life for two years can take it toll on a persons mental state, Frankenstein states For this I have deprived myself of rest and health (p.42). Frankenstein then created a friend in his mind who turned out to be a monster. Although this is imaginary monster is scary Victor believes the monster will help him solve his problems. When in reality Victor Frankensteins second personality has developed. Also, this disorder can be seen as a coping mechanism, where the person isolates themselves from a traumatic experience. Victor Frankensteins traumatic experience was the death of his mother. Frankensteins mothers death was the reason he thought of wanting to create life. This then leads him dissociate himself from everyone while trying to work on this experiment of creating life. According to the A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, think

logically,. It also causes hallucinations and social isolation. This disorder is another reason Frankenstein withdraws himself from society for a long period of time. Having Schizophrenia, Victor is challenged to figure out what experiences are real, which in fact are not the ones involving the monster. Victor is actually hallucinating when he accounts of seeing the monster. He describes the monster at first as being good lucking with horrible eyes, Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous Black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes (p.42). Then he portrayed the monster as being this hideous creature. If the monster were real his description would have been the same, whereas since the monster is a figment he can change the monsters appearance in his mind. Frankenstein is hallucinating every time he says he has seen this monster. No one else except Captain Walton has seen this monster that should be very distinguishable based on how big he is and his features Victor has described. Schizophrenia can also make a person believe people are plotting to harm them, which is why Victor thinks his imaginary monster is plotting to kill him. After Victors and Elizabeths wedding Victor can only think about this made up monster coming to kill him. Victor Frankenstein has many reasons to kill the people close to him. He kills his brother William because he feels it will post pone his marriage to Elizabeth. This does in fact work post pone the marriage a little while for Frankenstein. He also kills William because he is jealous of him. Frankenstein is jealous of William because his brother has no incest pressure, he is their fathers favorite, and his family members show more affection for William. Frankenstein is being pressured to marry Elizabeth who is like a sister to him. Also, when Elizabeth writes a letter to Frankenstein she describes how handsome he has become and she expresses the fact that

he already has two little wives, which make Victor envy him because he has none and is being pressured to marry his sister. Even after Williams death the family describes him as this heart warming person. Victor father states, That sweet child, whose smiles delighted and warmed my heart, who was so gentle, yet so gay!, Henry stated, Dear lovely child, and Elizabeth cried, He was our darling and our pride! (p.55, p.57, p.61) Victor did not necessarily kill Justine, but he could have prevented her from being executed. He could have admitted to killing his brother William, but was afraid of people thinking he was mentally ill if he were to blame it on a monster. Letting her die was also away to avoid the truth about Williams death coming to the light. Also, since he is actually responsible for Williams death, he does not want her to have to suffer in jail for his actions. Frankenstein killed Elizabeth because he does not want to marry her. She is like his sister and the thought of marrying her is very traumatizing. He has spent his childhood growing up with her. Also, Victor is upset with Elizabeth because his mother died of Scarlet fever, which she caught from her. If his mother did not care for Elizabeth while she was sick she would still be alive. Another reason Victor Frankenstein creates this imaginary monster is because he needs someone to place the blame of his wrong doing on. The monster is the bad half of Frankenstein. Being mentally ill actually makes Victor think this monster is real because he believes he is not capable of doing such things. Throughout the book Victor portrays himself as nice and caring. He plays the victim of his own actions. The monster is actually a cover up for Victors bad behavior. Using the monster as an excuse, Frankenstein knows he did in fact commit these murders. He has confessed to the murders on numerous occasions, Victor states, I beheld those I

loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts (p.71).