Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Who is the real Monster?

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Something that comes up time and time again when people discuss Mary Shelley's gothic horror novel, Frankenstein, is a discussion about who the true monster is. Is it Frankenstein himself or the creature? More often than not, especially in modern times, people come to the conclusion that Victor Frankenstein is the true monster of the story, and I can't really contest that because they're not wrong. Victor Frankenstein is not a particularly great human being. He abandons his creation immediately after giving it the gift of life and serves as a dead-beat dad character so to speak . When given the chance to stop his creation from going on a murderous rampage simply by making him a wife, he doesn't take it. Not to mention, he did this all to himself and only really takes partial responsibility, searching around every corner for anyone or anything else to put the blame onto. So sure, Frankenstein is a monster. However, I don't think enough people give the creature the credit he deserves. Frankenstein's monster is....well, is a monster. People tend to pity and empathize with him due to the fact that he was abandoned by his creator who is, in a way, like a father. Because of this I think we tend to be too lenient on him when discussing who the "real" monster is. The creature is without a doubt still a monster. Frankenstein also being a monster does not absolve him of this. We can clearly see that the creature is incredibly intelligent for being a reanimated bunch of body parts and who's not particularly "old" as far as how long he's been alive since being created. His level of intelligence from just watching a family from a barn for a while is absolutely insane and he appears just as if not even more intelligent than most humans. Someone of this intelligence can surely be held responsible for their own actions. Yeah, sure, your dad sucks but that doesn't give you the right to murder people. Just because you have an unfortunate past that doesn't give you a get out of jail free card. So when it come's to who the monster is in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? The answer is both. Absolutely and unequivocally both.

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