In the Gothic work of literature, Dr. Victor Frankenstein has a responsibility. Although he blatantly disregards this duty by abandoning the creation, he left his monster to wander this Earth as a lonely, repulsive being. Frankenstein’s monster recognizes this disregard in responsibility and addresses his concern to Dr. Frankenstein by provoking him to feel pity on the being and create him a wife. Dr. Frankenstein accepts his fate, yet before the second horrid creature was given the spark of insanity and life, he mutilates the lifeless form, dooming his family and friends to a shortened life. Not only did Dr. Frankenstein relinquish all of his responsibility to the creature by this act, he became responsible for everybody that dies as a result of Dr. Frankenstein’s incompetence. Since Dr. Frankenstein was responsible for the creation of the dastardly beast, he is responsible for every aspect of life that was destroyed by the daemon.

In regards to the comparisons between Victor and the Monster their behaviors and actions make them out to be opposites of one another. Most specifically, this applies to the interaction and need for human contact. Victor finds himself most stable mentally when he is alone working on the obsession that occupies his mind at the moment. When events of a normal human life plague his delicate psyche he is driven to the point of extreme illness. This is directly contrasted by the Monster and his longing for acceptance. Once the Monster had a chance to observe the real world and have the human experiences of learning about the things around from the feeling of loneliness overpowers him. He yearns for companionship, and this is something that Victor does not desire. This clash of behavior in social circumstances differentiates Victor and the Monster in one of the most important ways in the text.

I do not believe that Victor procrastinated in his creation of the female representation of the monster. To procrastinate is to busy one’s self with other tasks and duties, unrelated to the object or goal which they should be completing. Victor was not idle in his thought process. Instead he was anxious and uneasy and he struggled with serious internal conflicts. Whether or not he should create another monster as horrid and vile as the original, was a difficult decision. Murder and destruction of innocent people and property would be at further risk if the plan was a success. Although he had made a promise to his preliminary creation, that he would in fact make a companion to be his confidant, he could not sit well with his decision. The time, effort, and moral ethics it took for him to complete the task would be of great magnitude. Victor was not procrastinating so much as he was conflicted and suffering with the mission he swore to complete.

After Victor spoke with the monster he reluctantly accepted to making a mate for the monster. Victor feels remorseful towards the monster because of the treatment to him by society. Victor leaves for Geneva and meets with his father. He asks him to get married to Elizabeth but he puts that off for a vacation (which seems like procrastination to his father). When Henry and Victor arrive to England they tour around it and really enjoy the landscape however Victor is constantly being reminded of his pact with the monster. After about a year of not working on it he gets started, only to destroy it in a fit of anger, believing that making a mate with create a spawn of a demon race. Since he procrastinated, his enjoyment of England was at a lesser degree than what it could have been.

Passive women characters exist in both "Frankenstein" and other Gothic works, like "The Castle of Otranto". The female characters contribute to the story, but don’t serve to actually drive the story or the plot. For example, in Shelly’s “Frankenstein”, Elizabeth is said to be worried sick about Victor, but she never takes it upon herself to actually send a letter directly to him. Instead, she learns of his misadventures through Henry. In "The Castle of Otranto", Hippolita and her daughter only exist in the story to be characters which the events of the story affect. They have no affect on the plot, because they are ancillary characters.

Victor, as the creator, has a responsibility and a duty towards the creature. He should have took care of the monster in the beginning instead of running away from his duties. If Victor had not ran away from the monster to try to forget what he has created and took care of him instead, then he would not be in this predicament nor would the creature be so violent towards humans.

Both Frankenstein and his monster have issues controlling the strong emotions that they both possess. The most obvious instance of this would be the result of the Monsters anger at both Frankenstein and the rejection of the Delaceys. He kills an innocent child because of his own childlike inability to control his own emotions for long enough to think about what he is doing. Victor while he doesn’t directly kills anyone from his emotions still doesn’t possess the strength to understand that his obsessive behavior is essentially just as dangerous to others as physically hurting them. In the same way Victor also displays is inability to control anything that he feels in a healthy manner by shutting the rest of the world out in a selfish way.

Henry Clerval and Dr. Frankenstein embarked upon a journey around the world. Although it seemed as a joyous expenditure on Henry’s part, Victor dreaded the vast travelling due to his creation demanding something of him. For nearly five or so months, Victor procrastinated his promise to the daemon who was awaiting his female companion. After ample time, Victor created a second monster, however mutilating the counterpart, Frankenstein’s monster vows to destroy every aspect of his life, which was worse of a punishment because Dr. Frankenstein wasted so much time on his empty promise to the monster that he will complete the task he speaks of. This part of the novel was a digression in the plot, not really pertaining to anything important other than compiling Victor’s stock of chemicals and buying his friends and family more time to live.

In his criticism of Frankenstein, the monster argues that his creation was "wanton", or deliberate and without moral provocation. In other words, besides his own intellectual gratification, Victor had no reason to create the monster. He did it merely to see if he could, without consideration of the consequences of his actions. Thus, the monster's creation was selfish.

And yet, the monster asks Victor to repeat his selfish action by creating a female. He has logical reasoning behind it, in contrast to Victor, but still, his reasons are selfish. He wants acceptance and companionship, but he does not take into consideration the havoc that a new monster could potentially wreak on the world. Furthermore, the monster is willing to threaten and kill in order to attain a companion, showing that his motives are far from selfless. The exaggerated lengths to which the monster is willing to go also suggest that the monster is the exaggerated form of a human (including having a selfish nature).

Victor procrastinates the creation of the second monster because of the fact that he does not want to go through with the guilt and horror as he did before with the first creature. Even though he knows that the first monster is watching and following him, he still hesitates a bit before beginning the process. When he is almost complete though, he begins to ponder what would happen in the future if the second creature hold more malice and anger towards man or towards the first creature. Overcome with fear, he destroys his work which leaves the first monster even more distraught and angry than before.

Victor decides to create a second monster in order to dissolve the ties with him and his original generation. I don’t think this was an act of selfishness because Victor consented to give the monster peace. Victor understood the hate the monster felt and was sorrowful. Originally, I think Victor felt obligated to help the monster since he was the only one in the entire world who knew and understood his existence. Near the end when Victor destroys the second creature (unbeknownst to Victor) I think that was a complete act of unselfishness. Victor stopped the possibility of a “demon race” from spawning by what he did and saving people from the duo’s wrath against humanity.

Victor, by chapter 19, finds himself once again designing an abomination for reanimation - however, the intent now is far darker than before. Whereas originally, Dr. Frankenstein had been a powerful youth grappling with the laws of nature, breaking the limits of the natural world simply for discovery and adventure's sake (and to prove to himself that he, indeed, could - for his own vanity, of course) he is now a haunted figure driven far into Scotland, a grieving shadow of the man he once was; now constructing a blaspheme under a new taskmaster. The monster, now convinced of his eternal sentence of exile, terrifies Victor into building this new monster - if only to preserve his life, the life of his surviving family, and his own sanity.

The new monster, bereft of any beneficial or proud intent, is instead a tribute to Victor's new sentiment; a fearful one, always regretting and bearing the sin of two deaths for his violation of the natural order, where he can only dream and admire his companion Henry's vivacity that he once shined with before his path twisted into unknown territory. The new Victor, a creature of fear, creates a new monster out of personal terror, as opposed to the first monster, a creature of boasting and beneficial intent.

Victor's new motivations break down very simply as opposed to the complicated relation to the latest creature: a basic fear for his life and sanity, tempted by his lust for peace from his mistakes and empty salvation from his sins against the defined rules of nature, drives him to seek the happy life he had before the monster by sending it away forever, leaving him to some semblance of normalcy. He has the virtue of also sparing the lives of the rest of his family, yet this is less of a selfless quest and more of him correcting his own terrible mistake, which, has already taken two innocent lives, now resting upon his troubled shoulders.

Victor Frankenstein did act selfishly when he discovered he decided to create a being. He wanted to discover something new and scientifically intriguing that would change the world. He did not think of the moral consequences of making a new being on his medical slab in his laboratory. The act of making a human being was incentive enough to start the production of a monster. Although his desire to make this creature was to help the scientific community, he did most of it out of his own selfish desire.

Victor is a classic example of a character's lack of responsibility being a driving force in the plot. Once Victor is sure that the Monster is responsible for the murder of his brother, William, Victor feels a sense of guilt, but does nothing to rectify the situation. He allows Justine to accept the cruel fate of the guillotine without confessing that he is directly responsible for the source of the problem. This lack of responsibility mirrors Victor's immaturity in his human relationships. Victor's issues with responsibility lead to all the negative connotations of the story.

Victor's creation of the female monster was not so much procrastination as it was an internal decision. He contemplated the gravity of his actions more than he ever had before. I think that contemplation of "what if the female monster will not go to South America," and "what if this creates even more problems for me" shows a substantial growth in the mental development of Victor. Victor has gone throughout the whole text having his actions based on obsessions, and now it would appear as though his process of depicting a given circumstance has become more realistic and grounded.

Upon the creation of the monster, Victor had a responsibility for taking care of it. He should have 1) killed it 2) care for it. Victor did neither, he simply ran away from it, almost like a young child running away from a problem he didn't want to face. Later Victor had a responsibility to at least help the monster within society. The monster only ever wanted to love and be loved but it could never be. Victor made a promise and created a responsibility to make a mate for the monster which he also failed to complete. What led to the deaths of Elizabeth and Henry was a series of poor choices within responsibility. Victor neglected his task at first and only partially made it, only to destroy it because of hate.

The monster faced various interactions with the human race that all resulted in hatred and physical abuse upon him, inevitably giving him no hope that he will ever socialize with their kind. Through reading novels, like Paradise Lost, and observing the DeLacey family the monster has learned that the concept of having a companion is a necessity. Therefore, the monster proposes to Victor Frankenstein to create a companion of the opposite sex to together spend their life in solitude. A foremost reason to strengthen his proposal was that since Frankenstein created him, it was his duty and responsibility to help him be happy. Then the monster went on to an appeal that he promised not to harm any human being `if Frankenstein consented to his request. Frankenstein already had lost his brother and another dear friend to the malicious acts of his creation so consequently after much persuasion he did consent. As he traveled around Europe the responsibility that now was bestowed upon him continued to creep into his thoughts and finally started his reluctant work.

Victor and the monster have some similar characteristics and different aspects. The monster has never been loved by anyone or anything. Victor, however, was loved by Elizabeth and his family. He maintained a strong friendship with Henry and fitted in to society with other humans. The monster made a valiant effort to make a friendship with others, but humans have been shown to judge too quickly. No chance was given for the monster in his defense. Regarding similarities, they both have and will suffer. Both are nemesis sworn by revenge and hate. Victor hates this work of which he has embarked on. The monster felt a sense of hope for the creation of another, but the monster was hesitant of his promise. For all the pain the monster suffered after his creation, does he return to Victor later when the monster murders those close to him.

The intentions of Victor and this new "contract" he made with the monster is to me selfish in both of them. The monster is selfish in that he wants Victor to create this species like himself for his own use of companionship. He does not think that maybe she might be different and not feel the way that he does about humans. The monster is self obsessed with having his own love and is willing to risk endangerment on himself for it. Victor is selfish in that he does this to send him away. He cannot bring himself to rid this monster because he has formulated a connection with him. Two years of his health and wellness were spent on this creation and he selfishly cannot deny him a companion because of his painful obsession.

Weather in this story seems to be the monster's fuel. Every emotion or situation he encounters deals with the weather. The monster becomes "restored to some degree of tranquility" when "the pleasant sunshine" is upon him. All of his sufferings seem to dissipate when he describes the weather and in this it acts on his feelings in a positive way. The "sun shone on the red leaves" the day that the monster felt the urgency to express his secretly devoted feelings to the DeLacey's. Then when he is on his travels he endures "rain and snow" and feels "[cursed] on the cause of [his being]." While on his travels "the day...was one of the first of spring" had "cheered" for its loveliness. On this day he encountered the girl which resulted with a "ball through [his] shoulder. So we can see how the weather can be cheerful but how it correlates to the monster and the depressing situations he emerges to.

While it is easy to call Victor selfish for creating a horrible monster that kills and is dangerous the fact that he wasn’t originally aware that this would be the case should be considered. Initially, Victor’s intentions of making the monster weren’t really selfish. He wanted to make a difference in the science community like those he read about as opposed to doing nothing to test his scientific knowledge. Had the experiment gone well and led to some amazing scientific discovery that he could have shared people would call him a genius that helped the world but because the outcome was bad he gets considered selfish for his doings. The decisions he makes after the monster was born could be considered selfish but not his initial creation of the monster.

The responsibility of Victor was so great that because he failed to uphold it people where murdered. Victor's responsibility was to take care of his creation, Victor was supposed to teach the monster how to act normal and to follow the rules. Victor's personality was awkward and obsessive, Victor never had to take on big responsibilities when he was younger. When Victor was younger he secluded himself to a group of friends and his family, and when he finally secluded himself he went crazy over this one project and when the project was finally done he over reacted because he had been sheltered as a child.

One connection that could be made between the monster and weather is that it seems like every time the weather is good and he’s in a good mood something bad happens to the monster. The day that he decided to approach old man De Lacey the weather was good and he was completely rejected by the family. The day after had “pleasant sunshine” that was said to brighten his mood for him only to find that the family packed up and moved. Again there is wonderful weather on the first day of spring in which he saves a girls life and then gets attacked for doing so. The last event that the monster himself described was his encounter with William. It was said that there was a nice breeze and good weather but the monster kills the innocent child because of his family. It just seems that when good weather is mixed with the monster it happens to be a bad omen.

Frankenstein's monster has good reason for his inability to control his emotions. After he was rejected by the De Lacey’s, the family that he loved and admired for their inner beauty and their ability to accept those people who society rejected, he was unable to feel anything more than desperate, miserable and broken. The De Lacey’s were exiled from their native country for being honest and good people when refusing to allow an unjustified execution commence. The monster empathized with their situation. There was no onset evil burned within his heart in the duration of his creation. Through this family he learned about life, language, geography, loyalty, hardship; he lived as they had lived. This created an intense desire for him to love and receive love in return. But his appearance was so abhorred that he was incapable of such affection, as perceived through the eyes of man. His rage and bitter hatred for humans is understandable in this situation, after he had been so morally degraded and dejected from everyone; not one person would give him the time of day to explain his unfortunate life story. Even the family he was confident he could persuade otherwise, feared him, beat him, and abandoned him.

Ignoring the monster was very reckless and childish of him; just because he was out of sight doesn't mean he should have been out of mind. I think that as the creator it is Frankenstein's responsibility to look after the needs of his monster. He shouldn't have had a problem with fulfilling it's request for a female companion. Social interaction is a necessity for almost all life.

Victor and his creation share a unique symbiosis, albeit one bearing a negative connotation; The creation of the monster began a new chapter in Victor's life, flipping his personality and entire existence - indeed, his new purpose in life is an attempt to remove the sin of the creature and the murders he bears the guilt of in the creature's genesis from his tortured soul. Victor's life has become the monster itself, from his purpose to his day-to-day thoughts.

The monster, too, is anguished - he realizes his mere existence is a blight, and has to cope with being aware of an existence which breaks the laws of nature, and that he will never be accepted in any capacity for his appearance & condition. Both of them are tortured creatures, and the existence of the other is the only reason they persist, out of a morbid curiosity and hope for absolution.

Frankenstein's monster is a being of emotion - he was old in body, but in mental capacity the creature was relatively young, barely blossoming into the capacity of adult rationality, and all of his mental conditioning derived from the intensely emotional books and even experiences he has had, albeit limited, are tragic events. As such, the sorrowful behemoth is controlled by his powerful emotions, lacking the rational capacity to control himself or the worldly knowledge to understand anything past his own rejection and rage against his creator.

Ironically enough, Victor was also a being of emotions, albeit far more aware and knowledgeable by far - it is not far gone to say Victor's passionate overwhelming of his pride and greed of discovery over the laws of nature and his own rationality, that the monster's own condition personifies his terrible mistake in ego.

As the creator of the monster, Victor takes on responsibility for his creation, albeit a selfish creation. It is a selfish creation because he only thinks of advancing in his goal of creating something, without regard for the monster, or its forced self-discovery through trial and error. The responsibility Victor takes on as the creator of the monster is one of an absent parental figure. He creates a monster, and leaves it to defend for itself, because he is too afraid to take care of it.

There is seemingly a role reversal between Frankentein and his monster. Victor beings to think rationally and question the consequences of his actions when he is asked by the monster to create a companion for him, contradictory to his previous lack of common sense. The monster seems to act as Victor did, by being completely consumed by his want for a female companion. The monster lacked the common sense, much like Victor did previously, to question the consequences of what would become of this second creation.

The various contrasts between Victor and the monster, including their opposite personalities (introvert Victor and social Monster) and their ability to control their emotions (Victor's childlike impulsiveness and the monster's oddly mature sense of logic), in conjunction with their common penchant for selfishness, may suggest something about human nature. Maybe Shelley was saying that no matter what a person's individual personality is, there is no person who is incapable of being selfish. Maybe she was saying we are all innately selfish, i.e. by nature, a person looks out primarily for his or her own interests.

Victor and the monster are two separate, but complimentary characters. While Victor feels most comfortable in seclusion, the monster continuously seeks out company. The weather associations with both also contrast one another. Victor seems to enjoy the gloomly and dark weather while his monster thrives in light. Looking at this facts, it appears that Frankenstein may have put a major piece of his own humanity into the monster, symbolically of course. The monster exhibits more humane characteristics and greater understanding of the world than him. This understanding that the monster develops very quickly also highlights Victor's childlike behavior.

In a way, Victor's creation of the monster exhibits his desire to be more like God. At one point, Victor says, "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me." Of course, Victor learns his creation was a mistake and he shuns the monster. Perhaps because he has accomplished his goals, and his desire to be like God is complete.

Victor is similar to Goethe's Faust character who went on a quest for knowledge that took a turn for the worst. Faust made a deal with Lucifer for his soul in exchange for supernatural powers. After the deal is made, Faust doubts his decision. He ultimately is persuaded by the Good Angel to repent and return to God. Unfortunately, Victor does not have the benefit of divine intervention. Victor instead created a demon without the knowledge of it's superhuman strength and other powers. He did not completely think through the process of the consequences of making a human of an eight foot stature compiled of body parts from different dead human beings. Nobody convinced Victor to turn to God and away from his creation, rather he abandoned his creation and as a result dealt with the issues that befell him because of his dastardly deed.