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 always 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 his egocentric desires

and the ambition that drives him to do unacceptable things that has an effect on others creating

fear and anguish.

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 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 (pg. 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, his narcissist character drives him to become vain

and only care about himself causing others to fear him because he lacks compassion.

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

Victor proves that he has 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. His desires open up his Is,

his desire is to become famous by creating life but he does not think of how his creation would

affect those around him rather he is concerned about his wanting's. In the novel by Mary Shelley
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. His ego is what makes up his

narcissistic character, narcissist is defined as a disorder: A mental disorder in which people

have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy

for others. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem thats vulnerable to

the slightest criticism. 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. Victor does not want to be seen as a failure because that will crush

him as a whole. The fact that he does not own up to his truth and does not allow for himself to

see his mistake would cause us as humans to view him as evil, less as a human and we would

fear the extent that he would go to in order to achieve his desires and protect his ego.

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 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 being a failed

experimentation hurts Victors self-esteem. The creature on the other hand shows that he has

emotions and yearns for 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. The things that his creature

craves for are the things that Victor has at his fingertips but yet he does not appreciate nor does

he care about it because they do not matter to him. Victor Frankensteins passion is keeping him

from showing his moral side and his humanity which leads us to see 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

kind and different. 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 to run
away from it and to no make any attempts to understand them. The creature is signified as being

uncanny but he is uncanny only the townspeople because they are the ones whom categorize him

this way. An article titled The Standard Edition of The Complete Psychological Works of

Sigmund Freud says that The subject of the uncanny is a province of this kind. It is

undoubtedly related to what is frightening-to what aroused dread and horror (pg. 219, paragraph

2) It is because of his physical form that initiates fear among the humans, being uncanny comes

from your appearance. The creature gives Victor Frankenstein an ultimatum either he makes him

a bride or he 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. The fact that the creature kills it is not justifiable but it is understandable. He has

made attempts on his own to learn the language and act and be just like the humans 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. The novel has left it up to the readers to decide whom plays the role of monster

really is whether Victor or his creature. Frankenstein isolates himself from the rest of the society

and he does the same to the creature, the creature 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.

The fact that they cannot come to accept their mistakes which leads to a larger destruction

because the truth always has its way of coming to light. 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.

Webster's definition of a monster is an extremely ugly, wicked, or cruel person.

(Webster's 468) All of the drastic events that occurred such as the fact that the creature's

loneliness leads 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.

6. Freud , Anna. The Standard Edition Of The Complete Psychological Works Of Sigmund
Freud. XVII, 1917.