Victor Frankenstein was the creator of the monster in the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. He was an ambitious man who had high hopes and dreams for himself. Even as a child, he was very intelligent, studying the sciences and scientists of the past. But, as ambition caused the downfall of Julius Caesar, it caused the downfall of Victor Frankenstein. As the creator of his monster, he had responsibilities as a mother has towards her child. Out of pride, he ignored his responsibilities.
Even after his ambitious mistake, had he acknowledged his responsibilities, he could have saved himself from destruction. He made significant mistakes out of pride and ambition that brought unhappiness and destruction to himself and his loved ones. Victor was reared in a household where he had the proper environment to learn many things. His father was well-educated and encouraged Victor to further his knowledge. There was, however, one subject that he did not encourage Victor on; it was natural philosophy. Victor’s father told him not to waste his time on such trash.
This remark fueled Victor’s curiosity and he studied further into it. At the age of 13, Victor “entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life; but the latter soon obtained [his] undivided attention” (39). This foreshadowed Victor’s biggest mistake of his life that was to happen later in his life. When he entered the university, Victor started his studies in great detail and intensity. His greatest ambition was this: he wanted to recreate life out of something which life had already parted.
He “described [himself] as always having been imbued with a fervent longing to penetrate the secrets of nature”(39). Although he obviously knew this was morally wrong and almost impossible, Victor’s ambition was too great for anything to have stopped it. He took parts of dead animals and humans out of slaughterhouses and such. Out of this ambition came the birth of the “creature”; this was Frankenstein’s first major mistake. After the monster’s birth, Frankenstein assumed no responsibility for it; in fact, he ignored it completely.