Creature Symbolism

“As I read, however, I applied much personally to my own feelings and condition, I found myself similar yet at the same time strangely unlike to the beings concerning whom I read and to whose conversation I was a listener. I sympathized with and partly understood them, but I was unformed in mind; I was dependent on none and related to none. ‘The path of my departure was free,’ and there was none to lament my annihilation. My person was hideous and my stature gigantic. What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination? These questions continually recurred, but I was unable to solve them.” (Shelley 109)

The Creature symbolizes the war between passion and responsibility with the effects of society. Victor abandons his responsibility for his passion, the creature, this begins when Victor goes away to ingolstadt to increase his knowledge in the field of anatomy and gets lost in his project of piecing together a non-living creature. When he finishes with his Creature victor states “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body” (Shelley 43). “-For this i had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation” (Shelley 43). Victor says he has deprived himself of sleep thus causing his health to decrease, this is an example of victor abandoning responsibility for for his passion “by being connected with the favourite projects and passions of the times Victors health declined rapidly ( Baldick).” When Victor begins his creation in ingolstadt, he locks himself away from his social life. Inside his apartment he is away from family and any social ties, causing his mental health to decline rapidly. Victor abandons his passion, the Creature, when he thinks through the eyes of society causing his responsibility for the Creature to fall to next to nothing. Victors first impression of his creation is, “Now that i had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.”(Shelley 43). Victor judges his creation based off of its appearance instead of its thoughts much like society has always done. Victor doesn't give the Creature a chance and instead abandons it, leaving it to its own devices. Here in the story the Creature is depleted of all its rights simply because of its appearance, this throws shade on society simply because society shapes who we are as

Percy Shelley was a writer during the Romantic Era, often known for his lyric poetry. In lyric poetry, the mood is often musical and emotional, often represented in rhythm and rhyme (Portnoy). The writer of a lyric poem uses words that express his state of mind, his perceptions, or his feelings. Shelley composes lyric poetry that makes use of the language, imagery, and metaphors to represent a symbolic meaning of the object he is addressing in each poem (Portnoy). Shelley often uses concrete images in his poetry to convey an abstract idea. Shelley uses natural objects to represent a symbolic meaning throughout Mont Blanc, Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, and Ode to the West Wind.

The creature from Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" displays many different human qualities. Some of these qualities include: the creature's ability to learn, his capability to feel pain, his desire to be accepted, and his need for affection and sympathy. The need for affection and sympathy is something which the creature is unable to attain. This unrequited desire to be accepted causes the creature to be the victim of the novel. The creature is never given affection by human society because of his physical deformities, Dr. Frankenstein's denial to create him a mate, and the creature's violent behaviour.

The monster notices that humans are afraid of him because of his appearance, he feels embarrassed of himself, as humans do when they don’t seem to be accepted. He admires the De Lacey Family that lives in the cottage, he also learns from them, and hopes to have companion as they do. The monster is like humans, as mentioned, in the way that he wants someone to listen and care about him. He is discovering the world and his capacities, he seeks knowledge and understand plenty aspects of life by learning how to speak and read. “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys” (Shelley 47). The monster developed feelings and emotions as humans. The creature is different from humans also, since he never got to grow up as a normal human, and

When the creature notices what he is capable of doing, he begins to enjoy the power he has over regular people, “I gazed on my victim and my heart swelled with exultation,” (Shelley, 144). The creature, at first, does not want to commit crimes or hurt people, he is only looking for friendship, but if he gets upset or someone insults him, he will lose control and will do anything to make them feel the same way, even if that means inflicting physical pain on others. As the story goes on, he begins to realize and know the difference between right and wrong, which can make the readers not feel bad for him because he notices what he is doing and it is considered immoral.

In Frankenstein the creature wanted to be loved by Victor, but his master betrays him and pushed the monster down the path of revenge until he has nothing left. The creature came into the world happy and innocent, but as time went on he realized that humankind and his master had betrayed him. He wanted help people like De Lacy by cutting wood for them and getting food,u but he introduces himself to them, they made it so “[his] heart sunk within me as the with bitter sickness, and I refrained”(97). Human kind and not only his master betrayed him, but this anger manifested as anger towards the Frankenstein family. The creature felt everyone was trying to betray him and go against him so he turned him evil and made the creature want to seek

As a result of Victor's neglect and rejection of the creature, society also denies the creature acceptance which creates a life of loneliness for it. The creature, after being rejected by Victor, is left helpless, wanders into a forest, and experiences what hunger and pain are for the first time in life. The creature longs for acceptance, especially from Victor, but is denied. For example, the creature first learns of its rejection from society when it enters the house of an old man that is cooking; it as at the sight of the creature that the man "shrieked loudly" (90) and runs out of his hut. From that moment the creature realizes it is deformed and unlike anyone else. While the creature is roaming through the woods one day it comes upon a cottage. The creature notes the inhabitants of the cottage, the DeLacey family, as being beautiful in comparison to its

The Creature was so innately pure when he first moved in near the De Lacey’s house that he could not possibly conceive man 's idea of doing evil. The Creature could not believe that man, as amazing as it is, could feel something as disgusting as revenge. He believed that there was no way that someone could be driven to such an extent that they would feel the need to kill someone else.

An object portrayed in a story can have different interpretations from our own knowledge. Symbolism is prevalent in all stories and the author places them to give the reader an underlying deeper meaning. They contribute to the themes and main ideas while adding context to the story. In Kelly Link’s book, Pretty Monsters is a symbol that persisted in every story, however the symbol displayed itself in many different aspects. The moral of the symbol addressed that not everything presented in front of someone is how they actually seem, which deceives the reader. In the story, The Cinderella Game, it presented a contradicting and chilling twist to the title because of the character Darcy. While identifying Darcy, she seems to be a spoiled child

Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi, he uses animals to represent a person off the the ship that sunk. What the author is trying to represent is that each person has a significance in a specific religion that Pi is trying to practice. Maybe the real reason why Pi is stuck with those specific animals is because each play a part in a religion and some state that Pi is Richard Parker . Also he has to face each religion in order to survive in the ocean. Also the significance of the ocean is actually Pi’s mindset how he sees the world.

The Creature represents men before and after societal influence. When the Creature first enters the world he is left to fend for himself, but he is gentle. He is curious, soft, forgiving, and almost loving. For example, when sighting a young girl being overtaken by a river current the Creature jumps in to save her (Shelley 134.) The saving of the young girl shows that the he is in fact able to feel kindness and sympathy when it comes to humans.

When the creature is residing in the countryside in a hidden shelter outside the De Lacey family cottage, he reveals even more of his qualities that further vindicate him from his later guilt. Upon discovering that the family is poverty-stricken, he not only withholds his own desire for simply-accessed sustenance, but also begins to assist in various tasks around the cottage to ease the workload of the residents. “‘I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain upon the cottagers, I abstained’” (Shelley, 99). This exhibits the Creature’s ability to notice and understand the implications of his actions, and not only cease them, but to further, make amends. “‘I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist in their labours. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day collecting wood for the family fire; and, during the night, I often took his tools the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days’” (Shelley 99). It becomes

In the image, the separated parts of the snake represent the colonies that have united against the British. Plus the caption, “Join, or Die.” Means that colonies or colonists have a choice between selecting to be a part of the British or the colonies. Benjamin Franklin created the poster to instigate the thought of revolution in the colonists, since the the colonies began revolts against the British. Also, the symbolism of the snake represents when a famous British doctor described the colonist populating quickly like rattle snakes.