Why does Victor in Frankenstein chapter 5 create the Creature he finds abhorrent?
The way in which this text is so bound up with the idea of there being limits to our knowledge or achievements as humans is crucial to this answer. Both Frankenstein and Walton are shown to have embarked on quests to delve beyond what, the author suggests, are God-given limits to our understanding and achievements. The frenzy and diligence with which Frankenstein embarks on his quest to create life is therefore matched with his realisation at the profound wrongness of what he has done when he achieves success. Note how Chapter Five describes this:
I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
disgust filled my heart.
The author of this great novel thus uses Frankenstein's gut reaction of disgust to suggest that what he has actually achieved is profoundly wrong in terms of trespassing beyond the limits given to us as humans. The kind of dedication and sacrifice that Frankenstein makes in order to pursue this discovery is also shown to be questionable through the way that he becomes so focused and obsessed on this experiment that he forgets even his own needs, and ignores his family. The abhorrence he feels thus indicates the way that he recognises he has gone too far.
In Frankenstein, why does Victor reject his creation?
In chapter four, of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor tells readers of the painstaking process of collecting the pieces needed to make his "son." His utter excitement can not be seen in any other place than the following excerpt:
A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.
Here, Victor's desire to create life stems upon the blessing his "child" would bestow upon him as its "father."
In chapter five, when the being first comes to life, Victor's feelings change dramatically.
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God!
Victor's rejection of his "child" is based upon the fact that he had toiled night and day, at the cost of his own health and family, to "birth" his "son." Upon seeing his "son" come to life, the pieces which he chose for their beauty became horrifying to him. The pieces, sewn together, did not have the beauty they did when they existed as individual parts.
Horrified by his "son," Victor flees from his flat. Later when he returns with Henry, Victor hopes that the creature is not there. Victor, with these hopes, alienates his "son." His concerns no longer lie in reanimating life. Instead, his concerns revolve around never seeing his "son" again.
Essentially, Victor rejects his "child" because he considers it a catastrophe.
References
Why does Victor Frankenstein reject the creature immediately after it comes to life?
This question poses a very subjective answer. What this means is that any person can justify why Victor (from Shelley's novel Frankenstein) rejected his "child."
Victor realizes his mistake the moment he looks into the eyes of his monster.
How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how to delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?
The instant Victor sees his monster, he realizes that his obsession with re-animating life was not one which he completely thought through. Victor is appalled at the monster.
Perhaps the reason Victor rejects his creation is linked to the inhuman life before him. It is as if Victor has had the ultimate "ah ha" moment.
Victor seems mostly disturbed by the eye looking upon him. What one could assume from this is goes back to the old saying that the "eye is the window to the soul." Victor did not like what he saw when looking at the soul of the monster; or, Victor failed to see a soul when looking into the eye of the monster. Either way, Victor suddenly realized his mistake.