Victor Frankenstein, the now infamous mad scientist, creator of reanimation, and star of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, is often imagined as a man in his late forties, using decades worth of knowledge and expertise to create his iconic monster. The real Victor Frankenstein, however, is merely a college student- a young, naive, and freshly independent college student. The idea of such a young man creating life and subsequently causing multiple murders because of it seems like a unique idea for a story, yet a college student committing a murder is the same plot of two other novels: Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and Donna Tartt's The Secret History. All three of these books deal with a similar story involving a college student committing (or indirectly causing, in Frankenstein's case) a murder of someone they know personally. The murderer proceeds to fall ill, isolate themselves, undergo serious mental torment over the guilt, feel the urge to confess, and even contemplate suicide. Shelley's Victor Frankenstein, Dostoyevsky's Raskolnikov, and Tartt's band of college students all follow this formula, which begs the question, "Why choose college kids?"
College students are good choice in protagonist if you want the character to be relatable, forgivable, and understandable- at least, as much as a murderer can be. College students are easier to relate to and sympathize with, making mistakes because of their naivety. They’re easier to forgive. An older man committing a murder can be blamed for having lived a long, experienced life, and still resulting to murder. His actions will not be taken as a mistake or an accident. A lifetime of intelligence and wisdom should be enough to prevent resulting to murder, right? So, when the culprit is an older fellow, the audience is much less likely to feel sorrow and sympathy for him. An ignorant student, however, is still young and can be lead astray. It's easier to excuse, to scrounge for sympathy.
They have just been released into a big world full of overwhelming knowledge, a simultaneous excess and lack of time, and the feeling that this is the most important time of their life. A younger murderer allows for the author to explore the emotional trauma in a more dramatic way, since they're short 18-24 years of life can hardly compare to the 50+ of an older man or woman. Being younger makes any current event appear more important and imposing than it would to anyone else. Everything feels bigger when you’re life so far has been short and routine. In their small expanse of life, the murder feels like a catalyst of destruction. Their future has been twisted into a calamity because of this one event. People feel for them because it’s always a tragedy to see a young person’s life go up in flames. Of course, people feel more for the victim, but if there is any sympathy to be had for the perpetrator, then a younger one is the way to go.
Picking college students as the culprits in the murderous tales of Frankenstein, The Secret History, and Crime and Punishment allows for the author to both explore more dramatically the crushing emotional effects of committing a crime as well as gain sympathy from the readers. Of course, no murder can be excused, but if you're looking to add an ounce of humanity to your culprit, making them younger is a start.They have just been released into a big world full of overwhelming knowledge, a simultaneous excess and lack of time, and the feeling that this is the most important time of their life. A younger murderer allows for the author to explore the emotional trauma in a more dramatic way, since they're short 18-24 years of life can hardly compare to the 50+ of an older man or woman. Being younger makes any current event appear more important and imposing than it would to anyone else. Everything feels bigger when you’re life so far has been short and routine. In their small expanse of life, the murder feels like a catalyst of destruction. Their future has been twisted into a calamity because of this one event. People feel for them because it’s always a tragedy to see a young person’s life go up in flames. Of course, people feel more for the victim, but if there is any sympathy to be had for the perpetrator, then a younger one is the way to go.
The thing that interesting about College years being the perfect timing for a story is that it's a skilled native person. They are interested in learning and exploring but, in some ways lack the knowledge that professionals understand.
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