We are introduced to Victor through his letters at the beginning of the novel, in which he tells the reader of his childhood and his family life. It is clear that he has love for his mother, who dies just as he is going away to school, however he does not entirely connect with her on any intellectual level.
He then goes on to talk about his introduction to science and his growing infatuation for the subject. This is where we first see the emergence of M. Waldman as "a true friend." Seeing as how Victor quickly surpasses the masters, it can be said that he is not looking for an equal, but someone who will "express the most heartfelt exultation in [his] progress" (Ch.4) He does not necessarily need him to understand the work that he is actually doing so much as how excellent and important his findings are.
Frankenstein's description of, "one of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted [his] attention was the structure of the human frame, and, indeed, any animal endued with life," is particularly foreshadowing of the events to come. In the same passage he talks about how the "fine form of man was degraded and wasted," which is another moment that implies how he might feel about the monster he has yet to create (Ch.4).
Frankenstein's reaction to he man he makes later on in the book shows how he is very much Waldman's opposite. He takes no pleasure in the development of the creature, nor does he make any attempt to understand it. He simply flees at the sight of "the wretch -- the miserable monster whom [he] had created.". This is an interesting outcome considering the project was aimed at manipulating the human body, which he found so fascinating and beautiful.
He looks into, "his eyes, if eyes they may be called," and this moment he faces his other, which he never intended, or wants, to see (Ch. 5). This is a pseudo Mirror Stage moment in Shelley's novel that gives the reader their first glimpse into Frankenstein's true nature. Here we have an unreliable account of our protagonist, because he has been the one telling his own story. The ugliness that is seen in the monster acts as a physical manifestation of what he has been holding within himself.
The action of running away from the monster serves as a representation of Frankenstein's repression of his own id. The monster within him has now been unleashed into the world and even after being forced to face the creature, Frankenstein still wishes to pretend as though it does not exist. As Professor Moglen likes to remind us: the greater the repression, the greater the eventual explosion is bound to be. Thus is the case as the monster continues to roam about the world, and eventually seeks its revenge on Frankenstein.
In his vengeance, the monster kills several of Victor's loved ones, but what serves as a concrete action of "otherness" is the murder of his father. Victor, who for all intents and purposes is the monster's father, was never active or present after it was "born." The monster takes from Frankenstein exactly what was deprived of him. Now, they are both orphaned.
Frankenstein continues to repress the monster that he has let out into the world and the matching id still within him rages on as he keeps the secret of his science project to himself. In the end, he reveals this secret and it is not he who works out his own unconscious, but rather it is left to Walton to unravel the story of Frankenstein's id: his monster.
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