Question about Frankenstein.. intersting question.. help please!?

Question

n the book Frankenstein, is the monster responsible for the deaths of the characters? why or why not? Explain and/or bullet ideas. thanks a lot. i have a debate on this topic and i need to know some supplementary info.

Answer 1

First off, don't make the mistake of calling Victor a doctor if you want to put the blame on the CREATOR instead of the CREATURE (Victor was a college student, not a doctor).

Is the creature responsible?
PRO
1. He physically wrapped his hands around the throats of his victims. If a person shoots another, can the gun-wielder blame the killing on a parent who never taught him this was bad?
2. The Creature tells Victor in the hut on the glacier that if Victor refused to show him compassion (by making a female), then the Creature would cause Victor pain. This shows he DID understand right from wrong and emotional responses to them.
3. While it's true that Victor's response of horror and disgust caused the Creature to be emotionally impaired, the Creature showed that he knew restraint. An example is the boyfriend by the river who shoots the Creature after the Creature saves the guy's girlfriend from drowning. If he was truly "not in control" of his actions, he would have killed that guy too. He also did not hunt down Felix or Safie.
4. He specifically chooses his targets to hurt Victor. William, Elizabeth and Henry, specifically, were targeted because they were close to Victor.
5. He killed Victor, in a sense, by taking him to where only he (the Creature) could survive. He knew his taunts would make Vicor follow him to where Victor could not hope to survive.
6. The Creature himself tells Robert at the end that he was going to burn himself because of what he had done.


CON
1. There is at least one death that could be blamed on Victor instead; specifically: Justine. The Creature "framed" her by leaving William's locket on her, but Victor could have stood up for her in court and, if not stopped the execution, at least staid it until an inquiry were done.
2. Victor could also be blamed for deaths if you consider the Creature to not be human. If you consider him a tool, then yes, Victor's actions caused the "tool" to perform the actions. Specifically, Victor not admitting what he had done (warning the world that the Creature existed) would ultimately lead to the many deaths.
3. Victor could be blamed the same way society is blamed for individual's actions. Legal precident has been set by the infamous "coffee burn incident" with McDonald's that people are not LEGALLY held responsible for their own actions. Going strictly by the legal precident, then no, the Creature did not know that people do not kill each other in anger (at least in the beginning), and society would be LEGALLY responsible for their own deaths. I'd imagine that the Creature would then have to always wear a t-shirt that said "Warning. Contents may be emotionally unstable."
4. You could argue that the Creature acted in self-defense (but this would be weak), since Victor not only threatened him with death, but he physically tried to attack him.
5. Victor chose to follow the Creature to the North, so Victor is responsible for his own death.
6. If you believe in Capital Punishment, then you can make a case that Elizabeth's death was not the fault of the Creature, but more an "eye-for-an eye" punishment for Victor destroying the female Creature in Scotland.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

On the "yes he is responsible" side :
1. He is a sentient being and therefore should be responsible for his actions
2. He is capable of rational thought
3. Some of the killings appear to pre-meditated

On the "no he is not responsible" side :
1. Being created, the monster has not had the tuition to allow him to make proper decisions
2. His creator has provided him with the brain of a killer
3. We are lead to believe that the death of the girl is accidental

Answer 3

Frankenstiens monster had no sense of right or wrong so how could he be responsible for the deaths. It is the Dr. that created him who is responsible. He knew, or should have known the repercussions of making such a creature with no sense of right or wrong he should have known what could happen if he brought this creature to life.

Answer 4

The book specifically says that the monster, because of his odd birth, had in him a love for life. It gave him physical pain to hate anything with life in it. So, by killing people, it hurt it, so it wasn't natural. This means that he had a conscious thought about doing it.

Answer 5

Well Dr. Frankenstein created him.. so I'd say that he's responsible. He should have taken precautionary principles.

Answer 6

oh.tht just means tht we r responsibile for our own actions whet. good or bad. we can't run away/avoid them.