How does Mary Shelley present Victor Frankenstein in 'Frankenstein'?

FORM
Shelley presents Victor Frankenstein as a villain through the use of the Chinese-box form.

• The monster follows from Victor who follows from Robert in the narrative. However, one might suggest the Monster's narrative which is at the core of the novel which might convey his narrative as an embodiment of Pandora's box which is opened by Victor thus allowing horror and turmoil to spill out. 
• Therefore, the audience might see Victor as a bad person as he causes the audience to question his narrative, for the monster justifies his destructive behaviour. 
• Shelley may be presenting the monster as a hero although he is destructive in the novel, an Elizabethan audience may draw parallels between the monster and Satan from 'Paradise Lost' as they both are mistreated by their creators: God and Victor Frankenstein. A large audience began to feel sympathy for the monster and Satan despite their dangerous behaviour.
• The Chinese-box form allows the audience to blame Victor for the monster's genocide as Victor opens up the monster's narrative. A contemporary audience would also vilify Victor Frankenstein as the monster creates a neutral argument by offering his perspective on events. Through offering the blame onto Victor, Shelley may be presenting the consequences of a lack of parents, for she grew up with one parent (William Godwin). One might argue that the monster's loneliness and lack of nurture has led him to act as a feral child (a modern audience might say) which might galvanise sympathy and amplify a derogatory image towards Victor Frankenstein.

STRUCTURE 

Mary Shelley presents Victor Frankenstein as irrational and unfair through the use of the layered narrative.

• This is evident as Victor Frankenstein is given more leave way and opportunity to speak as opposed to the monster, who is filtered by Walton's story and Victor's story.
•  The monster is given less opportunity to speak which allows the Victor to ignore his rebuke although the audience may feel as though it is much more important to hear from him. 
• Victor's greater allowance of speech creates a sense of inequality and unfairness which may induce sympathy for the audience and transfixes them as synonymous to the effect of the 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' layered narrative by Coleridge. One might suggest the layered narrative will remind the audience of the importance of the monster's story (next narrative) just as it is the same with the poem which opposes Victor's idea as he continues to call the monster insults like "daemon". 
• Moreover, Shelley may be addressing the inequality and the lack of freedom of the French Revolution as the French working-class were subject to a lack of freedom, like the monster. The monster is disadvantaged from birth like the working class people. Thus, the audience may feel a sense of sympathy for the monster and may in turn, vilify Victor as irrational and perhaps a supremacist which isolates the audience from feeling as though he is relatable and fair.

LANGUAGE 

Mary Shelley presents Victor Frankenstein as dangerously ambitious through the lexical field of spirituality. Victor Frankenstein is described as a "divine-wanderer" and "engaged, heart and soul" in trying to pursue ambition which suggests his entire form and life is focused on a single vocation as "heart" and "soul" may convey the two natures of human: physical and spiritual. Shelley would have rejected religion for she was a Romantic writer  thus one might suggest that she is conveying Victor as a symbol of the Enlightenment Era where reason could be provided to everything and causation was confidently found. Romanticism and Enlightenment were conflicting ideas during the Elizabethan era. Shelley may be critiquing the idea that reason can be provided as Victor's ambitions cause his death so there is no reason to be scientifically engaged. Belief in Galvanism and science were new and many people like Shelley may have been anxious and oblivious over the long-term effects and ethical arguments. Shelley's causes Victor to die in the end as a consequence of his vocations,. The lexical field allows Shelley to bring belief in religion (dualism) to allow the audience to reconsider Enlightenment beliefs as Victor presents the audience with an ethical issue in science which is: whether science is a threat to mankind. His ambitions are dangerous as Romantic writers such as Shelley preferred being in nature than engaged in the sciences and religion.

You can argue that Victor is rational through lexical field of nature.