Frankenstein, Pt. III

The conclusion of Mary Shelley's novel is the battle between creator and creature. It is the event where the Frankenstein monster shall show how he has ascended to be like his creator, no, greater than his creator. The Frankenstein monster begins to control his own creator. He stalks his creator where he travels, he infects the mind of his creator. Victor is completely given over to his scientific pursuits. When Elizabeth writes to him, it she questions as to whether he has found another love. Indeed he appears to have found another love. It is the endless battle between himself and his monster. It is his passion for the study of science that he has given himself over to. Elizabeth is quite right to presume he has found another love. Every bit of Victor's soul is consumed with his relationship with the monster. He has no way to escape from the monster.

Victor creates not out of love, but out of fear and his desire to control something. Instead, he has become controlled. He is under his monster's servitude yet he thinks himself free. In full imitation of Lucifer, the monster has declared his own creator to be his slave. And because his creator has failed to create out of love, indeed, the creator has become a slave. It is a warped relationship between creature and creator. The creature has coerced his creator to make for him an Eve, a companion whom he can relate to and love, and here, the creator is conflicted. Is it worth it to create another with the hopes that his creation will adhere to the promises that he has made shall he have his companion? Or would he end up creating two demons? Yet the Creator of All who created out of love imbibed his creation with the gift of free will. To create out of love implies risk for love implies risk. Victor continues to create as one who is attached to the idea of control. It was in the remembrance of the death of his mother that he first created, hoping to reverse the despair of losing a loved one. And it is in the effort to exert control over life that Victor chooses to create again.

Yet not knowing if he can actually control the new life form or if his creature will adhere to the promises made, Victor decides to destroy the project he is working on in front of his own creation. The monster is horrified. The monster has emotions. The monster expresses them in front of Victor. Recognizing that Victor is the creator though, the monster, in a pure Satanic act, goes after those Victor loves most. Misery loves company and so misery attempts to drag down those around Victor. Those whom Victor loves. This is the way the monster inflicts anguish upon Victor. This is a form of Satanic revenge. When Satan rebelled against God, he could not defeat even the Archangel Michael yet fell from Heaven. Seeing that he could not defeat his own Creator, Satan went for the Creator's own creation, distorting it and leading it into death.

The monster vows to be present on Victor's wedding day. Soon, Victor finds his friend Henry Clerval has been murdered by the monster. He finds himself on trial just as Justine has found herself on trial. Yet instead of being blamed for his monster's crime, his father comes to testify on his behalf and the judge sympathizes with him. Victor goes free for what his creation has done yet Justine died. He is given Elizabeth's letter which questions him on who it is he really loves. Victor has been trapped by his scientific explorations. Victor has been playing God. Victor has not been giving any love and he does not seem to desire to be loved. There are those who are willing to love yet refuse to be loved. They are without love. There are those who never give love and they also refuse to receive love. These men are the most unhappy. Victor finds himself among those men. The monster has become representative of Victor. Victor's life is identified by the monster and Victor finds himself identifying his own life with that of the monster more and more.

The monster will eventually be the one responsible for killing and destroying everything near to Victor yet it is Victor who has already held that responsibility. The creature is in many ways a metaphor for Victor. Much like the portrait of Dorian Gray becomes a metaphor for Mr. Gray's deterioration, the monster gradually kills everyone dear to Victor Frankenstein until there is just Victor left. Then, Victor, upon dying, is seen by the monster, and here begins the monster's own repentance. The monster, in many intents and purposes, is a model of who Victor Frankenstein is at his very core. Victor runs from himself and from others and isolates himself from others. Victor has put himself at enmity with himself and others. The monster only materializes what it is Victor has already done inwardly. The monster is an outward manifestation of who Victor is interiorly.