The monster strangles a four-year-old boy, says in the final scene: "It is true I am a wretch, I murder the innocent...." or something like that.
Frankenstein's creation is initially an innocent child who is abandoned by his creator and left to wander the world. His initial interactions are intensely traumatic, as he's chased and beaten and tormented entirely due to his appearance. When he finds a blind man who doesn't judge him, he is more than happy to integrate with society. He educates himself, grows mature, and develops a desire for integration with society at large.
But, upon discovering that education isn't enough to integrate with society and losing access to the friend he has, he grows alienated and bitter. Surrendering to the assumption that he will never be accepted in human society, he returns to his maker and demands a companion be created for him. Frankenstein refuses, for fear of creating a race of his Creation, because he can only see the Monster as an ambling collection of human parts and not another human being.
It is only at this point when the Creation falls to despair and becomes a Monster in truth. His increasingly horrific murders are not a consequence of his creation but his continuous alienation and abuse at the hands of fellow humans.
The only reason to think the child-murderer is "the real victim" is his self-pitying monologues, and the way he gets rejected by people, like by that family he chops wood for, because of his ugliness.
The whole arc of the book is about the corruption of innocence. First, by way of Frankenstein himself, who seeks to undo death in hopes of restoring his loved ones, only to fall to increasingly profane acts. But then second, by his Creation, which seeks to discover a life for itself only to be denied time and time again.
Frankenstein's sin of creating life is only fully realized when he refuses to adopt his Creation and treat it as human. The Creation's sin was a consequence of its abuse and neglect, a story of nature versus nurture in which an innocent but ugly creature is transformed into a horror.
Frankenstein's creation is initially an innocent child who is abandoned by his creator and left to wander the world. His initial interactions are intensely traumatic, as he's chased and beaten and tormented entirely due to his appearance. When he finds a blind man who doesn't judge him, he is more than happy to integrate with society. He educates himself, grows mature, and develops a desire for integration with society at large.
But, upon discovering that education isn't enough to integrate with society and losing access to the friend he has, he grows alienated and bitter. Surrendering to the assumption that he will never be accepted in human society, he returns to his maker and demands a companion be created for him. Frankenstein refuses, for fear of creating a race of his Creation, because he can only see the Monster as an ambling collection of human parts and not another human being.
It is only at this point when the Creation falls to despair and becomes a Monster in truth. His increasingly horrific murders are not a consequence of his creation but his continuous alienation and abuse at the hands of fellow humans.
The whole arc of the book is about the corruption of innocence. First, by way of Frankenstein himself, who seeks to undo death in hopes of restoring his loved ones, only to fall to increasingly profane acts. But then second, by his Creation, which seeks to discover a life for itself only to be denied time and time again.
Frankenstein's sin of creating life is only fully realized when he refuses to adopt his Creation and treat it as human. The Creation's sin was a consequence of its abuse and neglect, a story of nature versus nurture in which an innocent but ugly creature is transformed into a horror.
his sin wasn't creating life it was abusing the life he created
More abandoning than abusing.
But his process was about as vulgar and unethical as it could get.