Point of view is used very effectively in, “Frankenstein,” as Shelley uses it both to develop her characters and to perpetuate the storyline. Throughout the novel we get many points of view whether it be through quotations as exampled by Justine, or through narration as is the case with Viktor, Walton, and the monster. Point of view helps Shelley to build suspense as well because as we read through the novel suspense is built slowly through Walton’s discovery of Viktor, to Viktor’s account, and finally when we reach the monster’s account it seems like a bonus perspective we as readers were not led to believe we would be afforded. This makes the monster’s point of view all the more rich when we are confronted with his eloquence and see that he is far more complex than simply being a monster.
Shelley uses point of view to develop her character’s through her progression and subsequent switching of points of view throughout the novel. Viktor grows tremendously as a character during his account of events, but then as we get the monster’s point of view it enables us as readers to judge his character more objectively and give him a depth beyond what he wishes to convey to us. For example, when Viktor is first confronted by the monster he is confronted with a surprising degree of reason and rhetoric. Immediately, readers are engaged with a sympathy for the monster that Viktor does not share. Whether it be a result of the death of his brother or simply his own narrow-mindedness, Viktor sets himself as an irreconcilable adversary of the monster. Whereas, we as readers are engaged with the opportunity to at least ponder the monster’s story and consider the validity of his pleas and rationale. The inability of Viktor to sympathize with the monster as readers might is what perpetuates the storyline from here on out.
Shelley gives readers the monster’s point of view, which must surprise anyone reading the novel for the first time. Through the monster’s point of view, we see that the monster’s vengeance is perpetuated by Viktor’s inability to truly connect with the monster and it seems the monster’s inability to communicate his needs to Viktor may very well be the result of Viktor’s inability to be receptive to them. In the novel, I don’t feel like Viktor ever truly understood the horror of the monster’s inception, to have been born with no one to connect with, love, or sympathize with. When the monster is first recounting his story to Viktor in Volume 2 Chapter 3, he describes his first days and encounters with nature. In his account there seems to at least be a potential for benevolence in the monster, Viktor never seems to acknowledge this possibility and offers the monster no means or chance of repentance. Without Shelley’s point of view this depth of Viktor’s character and the continuance of the monster’s vengeance would not have been available for the reader.