Who Killed William in 'Frankenstein': Creature Vs Creator

The death of William Frankenstein in the book ​Frankenstein ​by Mary Shelley creates a question of “Who killed William in Frankenstein? The creature or its creator, Victor?” This question is what we are brought here today for. Victor is the creator of the monster and he can be blamed for not being responsible and letting the creature loose, but also possessing the secret to creating life. But, as the story continues throughout, we can clearly see many different varieties of evidence showing the monster is to blame. Despite Victor abandoning the monster since it’s creation, the monster is the one to blame because of it was the one to physically murder William. Not only did the monster kill William, we can also infer that he is responsible for the death of Justine as well. It becomes obvious that Victor is not the one to blame as the monster has a clear conscience and knew what he did was wrong. Now it is your job as the jury to convict this creature for the murder of innocent, helpless victims.

Who Killed William in 'Frankenstein'? Who Can We Blame For That?

Even as many people would blame Victor for never loving the monster or giving it enough attention, when we compare the two, we can see the creature has done much worse. But, Victor is not completely innocent. The defense can claim that Victor was not suppose to create the creature because in the first place, he had found a forbidden secret and dedicated many hours to creating a secret experiment. If you think from Victors side, he was traumatized by the sudden death of his mother and to see something as grotesque as the monster, wouldn’t you be scared as well? On the other side, Victor was irresponsible which is shown when he says, “Unable to endure the aspect of being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep”. Immediately after the creature was brought to life, Victor was traumatized and horrified by its look. He quickly realized this is a mistake and separated himself from family and friends. He obviously regretted his decision immediately while the creature did not regret anything even after his killing of people. But, Victor is a human and all humans make mistakes. The difference between Victors mistake is completely different from the creatures because the creatures was an intentional murder with a plan to cover it up as well. We can see this when the creature says, “The child struggled (referring to William) and loaded me with epithets which carried me despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to ‘silence’ him and in a moment he lay dead at my feet. I gazed on the victim ,and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands”. The fact the monster had killed a child and described it as ‘silencing’ him and ‘clapped’ his hands in ‘triumph’ as if it were a victory is disgusting and I am sure anyone can see that. Right after, he took the portrait from the deceased child’s body and placed it into Justine’s pocket. This covered up his murder showing how intelligent the creature is and how he planned an attack which he evaded the consequences. The defense attorney may try and persuade you to believe it is all Victors fault and I will leave it to you to decide. However, keep in mind the fine line between an accident and an intentional wrongdoing such as the complex murder the creature had committed. The creature is at fault for the murder of William and the execution of Justine.

Although Victor had abandoned the Creature since its creation, the Creature was the one to physically murder William. The Creature committed the murder and even tried to cover his wrongdoings. Not only was the Creature the cause of Williams death, but also the cause of the innocent Justine’s death. With this in mind, we can clearly see the Creature is absolutely a monster and a murderer. He clearly had an understanding of what he had done and what occurred because he had many human traits such as learning to read, write, and speak. The creature educated himself even without any upbringing. Here, the creature says, “But ​Paradise Lost ​excited different and far deeper emotions... but I was wretched, helpless, and alone...the bitter gall of envy rose within me”. He had attained and acquired knowledge on his own proving even without an upbringing, he still knew wrong from right and knew he was different from others. And with this, he became jealous of others because of his bad looks. This proves he is a capable “human being” with a conscience and must follow the laws a human must follow. Even as the Creature was abandoned at birth, Victor still gave him the gift of freedom, a gift that all humans are born with. The Creature abused his rights and murdered an innocent boy in fit of rage and fury when he let revenge take over. Another quote that shows his ignorance is when he said, “I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me;my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery”. A parallel situation would be if there was a drunk driver which crashed into another car and killed the other driver. The drunk driver would be in trouble because he had crashed and killed another person, accident or not. An excuse saying “I was drunk” most definitely would not justified the death of another man. Just as in this case, saying “I was filled with rage and revenge” would not justify the death of a boy. Not only this but the monster does not treat Williams murder as a big deal and says he could have done more than just that. By him saying “I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery” I believe everyone in the jury can see what a sick thing that is to say . But, if he behaves and wants to be accepted as a human, we should treat him as a human and do what’s fit for a murderer of helpless innocent victims. Let’s imagine it from another perspective. If you had a family member that you loved to death and he/she was suddenly ‘silenced’ without a thought or warning by a murderer, how would you feel? A helpless family member killed without a thought and no regrets from the murderer. The fact the Creature had said ‘silenced’ infers he treated the murder as nothing. That is a horrific thought and that is what has come to us today. We must treat him and a capable human being and give him the punishment he deserves before he causes more trouble.

Conclusion

I believe we can all see that the creature is the one to blame more so than Victor. The evidence here shows Victors innocence and the creatures fault. The creature educated himself through his own experiences and by observing how other humans communicated and interacted. Through this, we can see he is a capable “human being” and therefore should be capable of controlling himself and his actions. He has a conscience and knew the crime was morally wrong but never less let his emotions take over. The creature physically strangled the young William and got pleasure from doing so. Not only that but he framed the innocent Justine which caused her execution as well. Both of these murders, direct or indirect, has enough evidence to make the monster fully responsible and Victor innocent. Once again, I bring to you the clear murderer and its creator and hope you will make your decision with these thoughts kept in your mind.