Guilt

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley

In the second half of the novel, Frankenstein continued to feel guilty. "I felt as if I had mangled the living flesh of a human being" (Shelley, 124). Victor said this when he returned to his workroom after tearing apart the female creature. This quote can express Victor's guilt in a couple different ways. First, Victor felt guilt about the deaths of his loved ones. His creation killed his family members and later on Clerval. Victor felt responsible for the creature's actions. In the quote above, the dismembered creature could have represented Victor's family in his eyes. "Two I have already destroyed; other victims await their destiny..." (Shelley, 129). He felt that he had personally caused the deaths in his family. Secondly, Victor could have felt guilty towards the way he treated his first creature. His creature was miserable because he was without companionship. By tearing apart the female companion, Victor took away his creation's chance of happiness. Perhaps Victor feels some sense of guilt for the creature's unhappiness because he created the monster. Victor felt responsible for the creature's actions, so what is to say that Victor would not feel responsible for the creature's well being? Also, by tearing apart the female creature, Victor may feel uneasy because he knows that the monster would be enraged and cause more deaths in his family. Overall, Victor seems to regret that he brought life to the creature in the first place.

Side question: Why didn't the creature just make a companion on his own? He seems smart enough to do so, and he said that he had Victor's journal of instructions.