Mary Shelly’s Romantic novel Frankenstein was a momentous accomplishment in the area of writing. Not only was the author only twenty-one when Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus was published in 1818, but the author was a woman. She became a very profitable author even though she only wrote one book, Frankenstein, which is said to be the first science-fiction novel.
Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of the novel, can be seen as a man who is mostly good, or a man who is mostly evil. Victor Frankenstein was a man who was passionately and sincerely in love with science and the quest for knowledge, a man who had one deep aspiration, and a man who got in over his head. Because Victor Frankenstein was so zealous about science and what it could do, and because he was so entranced by the thought of creating human life, he eventually does finds the secret of life and artificially births’ the Creature. His plunge into the maniac-like state that consumed him was slow, and gradual, each day he became more and more distant from society. Because Frankenstein spent years of planning and hoping to find the secret of life, he never thought that he actually might be frightened when he saw the creature for the first time. But, this is exactly what happened.
Even though he knew what he was trying to do, when it happened, and he actually saw the creature standing there in front of him–he was terrified. So, acting on impulse, and fearing he might get hurt from this monstrous creature, he ran away from it. When Frankenstein was sure that the Creature killed William, he still didn’t tell anyone because he knew it would be no use; no one would ever believe him. He knew that his admitting to creating the monster would be to no avail and thought that no good could come out of it. The biggest support for Frankenstein being mostly good is illustrated in the novel when he decides to not finish making the female companion to the Creature.
He was being extremely selfish throughout the book until this point, but this time, he actually thought about someone else besides himself. He thought about the consequences that could arise and the people that it could hurt if he followed through with his promise in making another creature. He did this for the good of humanity. Victor Frankenstein obviously made some bad decisions.
In accomplishing a great feat like creating a human life comes great responsibilities, and most of those times he didn’t follow through. However, he was mostly good. He was acting as most people would in that situation, he is only human–people are fallible.
