TThe definition of point of view is the narrator's position in relation to the story being told. Point of view is important to the readers for developing the story because when you use 3rd person point of view, it gives the whole picture of a situation and when you use 1st person point of view, it gives a better understanding of the character through the character’s own eyes. –Joseph Becker
EEven though the entire book is in first person, a large portion of it is in the form of storytelling. This sets the view back, so that instead of seeing the story exactly as it happens, the reader gets to understand the speaker’s narrative as well. SStorytelling is especially important for the creature because not only does it give the creature’s view of the world around it, but also we get a better understanding of its personality. ““Listen to my tale: when you have heard that, abandon or commiserate me, as you shall judge that I deserve” (Shelley 90).
TThe point of view in Frankenstein is shown throughout the book with the use and format of letters. TThe letters that were written were from Elizabeth Lavenza (Victor’s cousin), Alphonse Frankenstein (Victor’s father), Henry Clerval (Victor’s friend), Robert Walton (The man who saved Victor), and Victor Frankenstein himself. IIn the book, the first person point of view is seen through Victor Frankenstein. Through his point of view, the reader can understand how his character came to be and how he develops as the story progresses. EEventually, the reader will see Victor’s views change as Victor begins to gain a firm grip on the reality he had created, realizing his mistake--his grotesque and inhuman creation.
TThe first person point of view shifts to the creature’s, whose idea of life changes from one of jealousy and hope to total hatred. The point of view in the novel interlocks itself to establish an impression of not only the age and intellect of that time period, but also the way of man and how the sins of man can affect people.
TThe first main point of view of the story starts with the introduction of Robert Walton. The story begins with the first letter of Robert Walton to his sister, Margaret Saville. During the letters of Robert Walton, Robert tells of his circumstances and how he is working hard. Even though he may be struggling, his spirits are still high. ““I am about to proceed on a long and difficult voyage, the emergencies of which will demand all my fortitude: I am required not only to raise the spirits of others, but sometimes to sustain my own, when theirs are failing” (Shelley 3). IIn the second and third letters, Robert Walton once again, relates his adventures, describing to his sister the desire to have a friend. He describes his feelings of loneliness and isolation; he feels too different to find any comfort with his shipmates and too educated to find someone who he can share his dreams with. ““…and I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as a romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavor to regulate my mind. Well these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the wide ocean, nor even her in Archangel, among merchants and seamen” (Shelley 4-5). AAs the letters progressed, in the third letter, Robert tells his sister that he has confidence that he shall be successful on his voyage. ““But success shall crown my endeavors. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracing a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph” (Shelley 7).
TThe fourth letter tells of Robert’s point of view of when he meets Victor Frankenstein. In this letter, Robert explains how they were stuck in the ice when they saw a sled with a large person passing by. He tells of how the next day, he meets a man near death who was looking for the large person the night before. With the meeting of Victor, the main point of view of the story begins as Victor tells his part of the story. ““’Once, however, the lieutenant asked why he had come so far upon the ice in so strange a vehicle?’ His countenance instantly assumed an aspect of the deepest gloom; and he replied, ‘To see one who fled from me.’ ‘And did the man whom you pursued travel in the same fashion?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then I fancy we have seen him, for the day before we picked you up, ew saw some dogs drawing a sledge, with a man in it, across the ice’” (Shelley 10). RRover Walton also serves to be the ending point of view of the story. He writes his last letters to his sister describing Victor’s last days and his crew having slowly been killed off by the cold and ice. His point of view allows the reader to see his view on Victor, and how after Victor’s death, the creature came to mourn for his creator. When Robert walks in, we as readers get to see his point of view as he sees the creature. ““Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness. I shut my eyes involuntarily, and endeavored to recollect what were my duties with regard to this destroyer. I called on him to stay” (Shelley 163).
IIn the novel, Frankenstein, Victor’s point of view is used for most of the story because he is not only the protagonist, but the one who suffers from his own creation, the creature. TThis highlights Shelley’s point that science has the ability to cause mankind to suffer. FFor the most part of the story, nobody knows that Victor was the one who brought all of this misery upon himself, so in order to express the misery he felt, the best way to show this was from his point of view. If Mary Shelley had put the story in 3rd person, the story would have become less personal. ““…my own spirit let loose from the grave, and forced to destroy all that was dear to me” (Shelley 69).
MMary Shelley highlights Victor’s inner battle with his morals through his point of view. By showing the battles fought inside Victor’s head, Shelley uses his inner conflicts to shows Victor’s personality. ““A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine; but I was absent when it was committed…” (Shelley 73). VVictor’s moral choices are never in a negative direction, throughout the novel, he makes choices that the average person would make, even though they often have extraordinary consequences. ““I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable” (Shelley 149).
TThe creature’s point of view is one of the main three important points of view throughout Frankenstein. His point of view is vital to the story, and without it, we would not be able to understand the creature’s side of the story. We would only believe what the modern versions of the creature show him as-- nothing more then a shell that murders without any remorse or emotion. ""My protectors had departed and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time, the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death" (Shelley 118). IIn this quote, Mary Shelly expresses his point of view as a being who is just as human as we are. Throughout the novel, we can clearly see his development of emotion, and the reasons for his descent into darkness. ""This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone" (Shelley 121).
WWhen people saw Frankenstein’s monster, they either fled or tried to kill him. Even the people he had helped and saved persecuted him, these people also include the kind and gentle people the creature had observed. Their acts of evil brought forth the vengeance and hatred within the creature, which essentially caused the creature to resent mankind. WWith his hopes crushed, the creature formulated a plan, and he employs his story (his point of view), to persuade Victor Frankenstein to create a female companion for him. Although initially, Victor Frankenstein agrees, he later refuses to accept the creature and in doing so, causes the creature to commit acts of evil. SShelley’s plot for the story would have been very shallow if not for the creature’s story. We may have even instantly assumed the monster was inherently heinous, as is depicted in many Frankenstein movies.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Dictionary.com