How Does Shelley Create Sympathy In Frankenstein

to make the elixir of life in order to create life. He tries to play

Holding true to the romantic style, Shelley’s characters display strong emotions when experiencing or confronting the sublimity of an untamed nature and its picturesque qualities. This theme is complexly utilized in blurring the differences between human and monster. The demonstrated emotional

Frankenstein, a novel first published in the year 1818, stands as the most talked about work of Mary Shelley’s literary career. She was just nineteen years old when she penned this novel, and throughout her lifetime she could not produce any other work that surpasses this novel in terms of creativity and vision. In this novel, Shelley found an outlet for her own intense sense of victimization, and her desperate struggle for love. Traumatized by her failed childbirth incidents, troubled childhood, and scandalous courtship, many of Shelley’s life experiences can be seen reflected in the novel. When discussing the character and development of the monster, Shelley launches an extensive discussion on the

   Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, sheds light on the importance of appearance through the tale of an unwanted creation that is never given a chance by society. Ironically, the supposed beast was initially much more compassionate and thoughtful than his creator, until his romantic and innocent view of the human race was diminished by the cruelty and injustice he unduly bore. Not only does the creature suffer the prejudice of an appearance-based society, but other situations and characters in the novel force the reader to reflect their own hasty judgment. The semi- gothic novel includes several instances of societal prejudice that include the isolation and outcast of Frankenstein's creation,

Throughout Shelley’s work, the creature struggles to conform to society, alone from his first moments - abandoned by his creator - he is given no proper upbringing, and abhorred by society. He grows up in hiding and fear, his only interactions with others ending in violence. Hence, seems only natural that his desperate need to conform would lead to violence. The need to “belong” is an essential “human” desire, however this sense of belonging his completely dependent on one’s upbringing.

Mary Shelley’s ability to create such multidimensional characters in Frankenstein proves that writing is a powerful tool that has the ability to provoke vastly different opinions amongst readers. Even though each individual reading the story is reading the exact same words, their interpretation of those words often leads to opposing views in regards to the fate of the characters. The creature, in particular, has been a popular topic of discussion when conducting a close read of the novel due to his arguable versatility as a victim and villain. The concept of the villain has evolved over the years, however its basis still rests upon the simple fact that as a character in the story, their actions are a result of malicious intentions

Mary Shelley’s view of human connections is portrayed through the monster’s actions. The monster is abandoned by his creator and isolated from the rest of society due to his appearance. The

In Mary Shelley's gothic novel Frankenstein, Shelley introduces a Creature who represents many symbols throughout the story. Such as the war between passion and responsibility, the effects of a corrupt society, and the Creature is a symbol of nature vs. nurture . through this Creature we see mainly the effects of society on an abandoned, innocent being and how it matures in the story fending for itself against society as a whole.

This rejection parallels the struggle of playing the female role: women have low societal value based on their female physical appearance. Judged solely based on their physical appearance, they are given a minor role to play due to being seen as inferior to men. Shelley uses the creature as a representation of women, as he is rejected based on his appearances despite being compassionate and kind. The creature is content with having a minor role in his story, even willing to be a servant to the cottagers, but he is rejected — this ignites bitterness and loneliness in him. The stories make him feel as though he has “‘sunk into [...] the lowest dejection’” (155), by enabling him to feel worthless. His resulting resentment towards humanity further emphasizes the destructiveness of stories: they make him believe that the world is a story and he must find a role to play, but the role he desires comes with social consequences.

In declaring the “everlasting war against the species” Shelley confirms that the Creature does not correlate with humans because of the feared rejection of the differences him and other species. Shelley’s interpretation of human nature is one of complexity of social and personal interaction, and the look of impenetrable crime and awareness of a monstrosity viewed by its transgressors.

Finally, the creature tells us about one of the seminal experiences in any child's life - the destruction of the ideal of the just world. The creature has a childish idealism in his belief that he will be accepted by the cottagers: "I persuaded myself that when they should become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues they would compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity" (Shelley 125). But the cottagers are instead deeply afraid of the creature when they finally behold it. It is at this moment that the creature progresses out of childhood and into what we might see as a protracted adolescence. This adolescence is characterized by an awareness of the unfairness of the world, which shows a cognitive development past the idealism of the child. The creature is not yet adult, however, because it displays a certain egotism characteristic of those not yet fully mature.

The “Frankenstein” society only upholds and esteem those who are of “high and unsullied descent united with riches” (Shelley 386), these privileges commanding reverence and respect. Here, Shelley articulates a distinct class hierarchy prevalent within society, wherein disadvantaged figures like the creature, who does not possess sufficient wealth or honourable descend, will be condescendingly dismissed or even loathed upon. The creature who is perpetually the less powerful (given that it has neither family nor riches) will forever remain “a blot upon the earth” (Shelley 386), the stain as an analogy which reiterates its unwanted and undesirable position. Further accentuating such class inequalities is the juxtaposition of the monster’s status with that of Victor and his family. Termed a “savage inhabitant of some undiscovered island” (Shelley 280), the monster is alluded to be a wild and obscure figure whose acute lack of stable power and identity shapes it into a strange and terrifying Other dwelling within an incomprehensible realm, a manifestation “representing the dispossessed” (Vlasopolos 130). In contrast, Victor’s family, who originates from the aristocratic upper class, belongs within society and is highly-regarded. The superiority enjoyed by their status is exemplified from how they are already well-established as a family whose ancestors “had been for many years counsellors and syndics” (Shelley 289), their father gloriously securing much “honour and reputation” (Shelley 289) in numerous public domains. The creature who is part of the inferior class is comparatively neglected and remains the outcast, relegated to the isolated sphere of the Other. The collective contempt demonstrated towards the creature builds and affirms its distinct status as the Other, whose victimisation then works to expose class inequalities hidden behind the façade of

Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature

     Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s

In comparing the monster to a baby girl, one’s compassion naturally is for the innocent child. However, Shelley’s creature was very much like a child, a blank canvas either nurtured or left to the wilds of nature. Is it science and the desire of mankind to control nature that is the driving factor?