Examples Of Blindness In Frankenstein

What do you imagine when asked what a monster looks like? Perhaps you see “an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening.” (Oxford University Press) That is the stereotypical view of monsters in media, something false and horrible, our nightmares come to life. However, some would instead envision actual people, such as those that are cruel or evil.

His fear inducing appearance adds to his state of isolation, so much so that even his own creator “found himself filled with horror and fear at the hideous thing he created.”(Nardo 51). His abruptly ended friendship with the blind man only worsens his painful desolation since he now understands what a true friendship is like. The monster longs for a companion and begs to Victor “You must create a female for me with whom I can live” (Shelley 144) and pleads with him for a mate of the opposite sex. When this demand is not met, the monster fills with rage toward Victor, and he vows revenge upon

The disappointment is not only irrational, but also shows his further jaded ideal of perfection in the fact that he considers ugliness a weakness. If that were true, ugliness would be the creature's only weakness, as the story goes on to tell of the selfless acts of kindness the creature administers. Victor describes his supposed miserable failure as a deformed monster when he says "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only form a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips" (56; ch.5; vol.1). Later, Victor sees the creature after a long period of his aimless roaming, and he "trembled with rage and horror" (95; ch. 3; vol .2). Victor wished to engage in mortal combat because he had a faint premonition the creature might have possibly killed his son. The senseless idea was formed simply because of the creature's physical features, and that he may have been in the vicinity. Even though the monster was shunned, hated, labeled prematurely as a killer, and cursed by his very own maker, he sees the goodness of the human heart and desires to learn more about the human race. As the supposed monster journeys onward, he is delighted and allured by the moon and sun, and other peaceful,

The monster is victimized because he does nothing to warrant the unfair treatment he gets considering he really does nothing wrong. First of all, the monster is not at fault for how he looks. Victor himself even says that what he had been working on for two whole years turned out as a catastrophe. When Victor brings his creation to life, he says, “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” Pg 48. Victor works so hard and so long on his creation and he plans for it to be a beautiful creature and he messes up and instead ends up with something that scares everyone who sees it. The monster is mistreated because of how he looks which is not, in any way shape or form, his fault.

He is oblivious to the fact that his appearance is horrific and has no knowledge of the concept of evil because he has had no exposure to society (Edwards). The monster does not know that civilized man views his ugly exterior as representative of evil within, so he is baffled when the occupant of a hut he stumbles upon produces a terrified shriek and runs away (Shelley, 105). The monster later comes to know good and evil; virtue and vice; due to the fact that he possesses the faculty of "perfectibility – man's inexhaustible ability to improve himself (…) and be shaped by his environment" (Edwards). This quality of adaptability allows for enlightenment to occur, but is ultimately the source of all of man's misery.

The monster tried to make friends and meet people but as soon as he would try and talk to someone they would run away and be scared of him. One of the main reasons that the monster caused terror is that he was misunderstood by people. He was actually a kind monster but nobody would get past his looks (He actually conducted himself nicely). They decided based on his appearance that he was murderous and intimidating. For example, in the novel, the monster was talking to the blind man then, “ The cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick” (Shelley 161). The blind old man could not tell that the monster was ugly and intimidating so he had no problem with him, the other cottagers saw him and they immediately got scared of him and beat him with a stick. He spent his life alone, with nobody to talk to and he became envious of other people. That is why he killed people, not because he is mean, but because he had no way to control his anger

Walton is the other character who Anne Mellor shows us didn’t judge the monster based on his outward appearance. As Victor was dying, Walton was at his bedside and the monster came by. Walton didn’t see the monster as bad at first, but he was still so hideous to look at that Walton says he “shut his eyes involuntarily”. It is hard to imagine a creature so hideous that one could not look upon his face. Walton didn’t shun the creature because of his ugliness though and even “called on him to stay”. Victor’s dying request for Walton was to go on and try to kill the creature. Walton, however as Anne Mellor points out didn’t try to kill the

Though the conclusions arrived at here are of the same theoretical place as the philosophical minds had deliberated before, the explanations had by Burke and Shaw circumvented parallel processes of thought, to more rely upon their similar conclusions, both rooted in historical precedent. With Frankenstein, however, Shelley stays committed to its endgame in practicing metaphorical weight and symbolic meaning, not only for setting the classical arguments incorporated here, in definite terms. This isn’t even in creating some microcosm of a singularized case in which man had sought to defy the natural barriers, and replicate the things he saw, and experienced. Instead, interactions between characters and unfolding conflicts set upon them, are to represent both these spheres converging. They are depicted less as staunch absolutes, but more so met with being altered, and changing the perceptions drawn up all along. Conferred later in an accounted byproduct of a more recent mindset, this nonetheless stands for lessons at the underpinnings of how we have grown as a society in general, which Shelley would seem to remind us of. As opposed to some alleged “Modern Prometheus,” Victor’s pursuit comes up barely mythicized, and as Bate says, “is a healthy disorientation… to realize that the Western man may not after all be the master of all things” (Bate 480). Likewise, the creature takes on a role within the self-fulfilling prophecy, subject to the maltreatment of human benefactors, and,

Throughout the novel, the monster wants love and friendship but he does not get this because of his physical appearance. Society does not accept him and he is rejected by everyone who looks upon him. ' I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked and one of the women fainted.'

As I struggled to grab on to a thesis for this essay, it finally occurred to me that my empathy for the monster really was fundamental in my reading of this text. In further examining why I would feel this way, and by comments made in class on this subject, I soon realized that I had a parallel to the monster’s experience right in front of me – literally. My brother, borne with a severe cleft pallet and lip he has endured twenty-three years of surgeries and therapies to repair the structure of his face. The first surgeries focused primarily on function of his basic needs: eating, breathing, speaking etc. without emphasis on how he looked. However, these past few years, as he approached his early twenties, the surgeries have focused primarily on his appearance. Like the monster, he experiences many prejudices based on his appearance. He is frequently looked upon suspiciously in stores while shopping and has been approached by security on occasion. Strangers tend to shy away from him and often look away and do not respond if he directly address’ them. He

The monster is in need of help from his creator, for he is new to the world and does not know anything about living yet, but instead, he has nobody and is forced to figure life out by himself. Readers understand the monster’s emotion because he says “I sat down and wept”. By understanding his emotion, it will cause readers to feel sympathy for him. This also proves one of the larger themes of the novel, that people should treat others with empathy, because as his creator, Frankenstein should have been able to understand and share his feelings, for he was often alone and left to teach and fend for himself during his studies. Frankenstein’s reject to his creation is what caused the monster to feel so alone, and ultimately, what led to both of their destructions.

The novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a cult classic that was and still is very popular. Many films and knock-off comics have been made of the novel, because of this fact. But, even though we know the story of Frankenstein by heart at this point, can we learn something from it. Lessons have existed since the beginning of man. Lessons have been taught through the Bible, through children stories, and through adult novels. So, what is the lesson Mary Shelley wants her audience to learn? The issue that Shelley is trying to teach us to avoid is ignorance of our mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, it’s a fundamental trait of every human. So, if nobody’s perfect then own up to your mistakes instead of disowning them and only further damage

I have chosen to base my essay off Chapter 17 in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and He's Blind For a Reason chapter in Thomas C, Foster's How To Read Literature Like a Professional. The generalization as to why I picked to compare these two structures of art is because for me it is easy to see that these authors are clearing verbalizing two totally different themes; however I can apply what Mr. Foster says in his book to what Mary Shelley is describing in her book. I can even bring into play the lesson I have self-possessed and utilize it into my own personal life.

people think of them as scary, ugly, large creatures that will dedicate their time to hunt

In most people’s minds as of today, there is no question to who the monster is in Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein. It is the creature that Viktor Frankenstein created, that murders innocent people. However, when looking beyond the appearance of the creature, it is evident that he did not begin as a monster. Mary Shelley analyzes fundamental and crucial issues in her novel in terms of being able to use science and knowledge for the good of people and not for the satisfaction of personal ambitions without even being able to take responsibility for that. It is also the novel of social rejection based on external looks and inability to accept. It was the extreme misconceptions of humans that resulted in the extreme isolation of Frankenstein’s