The pursuit of knowledge is generally thought to be a good thing. However, when anything is taken to the extreme it is never good. In Frankenstein, Victor crosses a line that he should have left alone. I think one of the themes of this book is: just because you might have the ability to do something, doesn’t mean you should do it. Victor played god and was punished. everybody who he had ever loved or cared about was taken away from him. If he had not created the monster in the first place, his life would probably have continued on happily with his life.
In the novel, Victor has a thirst for knowledge. He is obsessed with the reanimation of life. He learns how to bring the dead back and goes about collecting body parts. At first he thinks his monster is beautiful. It has yellow skin stretched over muscles, it had black hair, and pearly white teeth. The monster had watery eyes, a shriveled complexion and black lips. Once it is alive though Victor was scared of it, hence abandoned it, thus creating his problems. The monster, at its inception, was a gentle creature. After being abandoned by Victor the monster realized that because of his hideous appearance nobody could love him. He became increasingly violent and vengeful. He killed Victor’s brother, his wife, his father by proxy, and eventually causes the death of Victor himself, sort of.
All of this happens because Victor was curious about reanimation. Victor and his monster are both incredibly lonely. Victor is stuck in his mind, a mind filled with scientific facts and academia, and the monster is trapped by his appearance. Even when the monster is doing good, he gets beaten and driven out of town because of his grotesque looks. Both of them realize that they are alone in the world, perhaps only having each other. The monster tries to get Victor to make a bride for him, and Victor does in fact get married. However, Victor destroys the monster’s bride and in turn the monster destroys Elizabeth, Victor’s bride. Victor finally dies on Walton’s ship after telling him his life’s story. Victor had become the monster, he is consumed with revenge. After Victor’s death the monster weeps for his creator, which I think shows that the creature is a man to be pitied. He goes off to the ice caps to die. Finally the whole business is over. Both man and monster are dead.
In general, I think the monster is a more pitiable character than Victor. Victor had a choice in what he was doing. He didn’t have to create the monster at all. The Monster on the other hand, had no choice. It was not his actions which compelled him to life, it was Victor’s actions. He was condemned by society because of his outer appearance, not his true nature. At first he was a gentle creature, loving of nature and humanity. However, after being abandoned by Victor, in essence his father, and being driven out of town by scared people, he became less and less human and more the monster that he looked. Victor brought on his own troubles. He was one of those people that is perhaps too smart for their own good. By creating his monster, Victor lost everything, all the people he cared about, but also his humanity. He became the monster that he created.