Human Symbolism In Frankenstein

From his creation to the end of the story, the creature has always been judged based on his appearance. It wasn’t until he built up the courage to talk to the old man, De Lacey, that we truly get to see how kind, gentle, and caring the creature can be. Even the creature himself states that, “I had sagacity enough to discover that the unnatural hideousness of my person was the chief object of horror with those who had formerly beheld me” (Shelley, Ch. 15). The creature hopes that De

After seeing the kindness shown by the family, the monster starts to show signs of kindness himself. He previously would steal part of their food storage to eat at night, but upon realizing that it was hurting the family, he stopped. Also, when he learned that gathering wood took up a large portion of their days, he would take their tools and bring back enough wood in one night to last them for a few days. From then on, the monster sought love. When he approaches Frankenstein he does not punish him for abandoning him, but instead implores him to make him a mate so that he can live in happiness. Though Frankenstein is unsympathetic and unloving toward his creation, we can still see he seeks love in the fact that he created the monster at all. He confesses his

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

While Creature is full of humanity and has a thirst for knowledge, his longing for acceptance in society is met with constant rejection. Through this rejection, it sparks anger into the Creature for his irresponsible creator, Victor Frankenstein. Creature’s anger leads to greater tragedies for Victor. The greater of the tragedies are the murdering of innocent people including Victor’s family that is seen to be the fault of Creature since he is the one who murdered them. If Victor did not abandon the Creature and had taught him murder was not morally correct, Creature would not have committed the heinous acts.When Creature was first theoretically born, he was introduced into the world in a very harsh way. Metaphorically, Creature starts out into the world as a newborn, needing a parent 's guidance and teachings. Victor abandons him immediately with no sense of direction. Creature, after his “birth”, approaches Victor with a hand of longing for compassion. “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they maybe called, were fixed on me...He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out” (Shelley 35). Victor instead of showing acceptance immediately runs away at the sight of him.

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 Creature’s words and final testament set aside the view of him as a monster and fully embrace sympathy and compassion for his misery. His final words before declaring his death, call out the bias in Frankenstein’s telling as he begins to affirm the benevolence in him: “Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal when all human kind sinned against me?” (214). The Creature pleas for understanding and compassion for his own misery caused by humans, he presents his experiences as being no less of an injustice than his deeds against Frankenstein. His words present a view of him that was previously missing of his monstrosity as a reaction to the misery placed on him by his creator and other humans. Hatch notes the fact that the Creature’s “last words [are] addressed to his dead creator” and thus “the monster's solitude is complete” (7). Without any further suffering or misery, the Creature decides to kill himself, and even after the creature leaves the scene, his disappearance is described as “lost in darkness and distance” as a reminder and final call for compassion for the Creature and his

Easily one of the most notable themes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the role of nature versus nurture in developing children, recurs throughout the novel with the two main characters, Frankenstein and his creature, believing in opposite sides of this theme. Favoring nature, Frankenstein maintains that the creature was always evil from the moment of creation, regardless of the creature’s experiences. However, the creature, in his narrative to Frankenstein, argues that “[he] was benevolent and good; misery made [him] a fiend” (106). In adherence with John Locke’s concept of tabula rasa, the creature was born with a blank slate, and only through his experiences does he gain knowledge and personality. Struggling to persevere in the human world, Frankenstein’s creature merely wants humans to welcome him as one of them. The change of the creature from looking “upon crime as a distant evil” because “benevolence and generosity were ever present” in him to seeking revenge on Frankenstein results from a culmination of horrible experiences (103). While it may be hard to see the creature as a trustworthy narrator because of how he has acted and his ulterior motives, he does present physical evidence to support his tale. Facing rejection in different forms, he becomes truly evil, giving up hope of companionship as a result of his trials and lessons. From the moment of his creation, the creature encounters abandonment, violence, isolation, and rejection everywhere he turns.

The creature was more human because it craved love and support from civilians. The creature says, “The more I saw them, the greater became my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures,” which shows that he developed feelings and emotions towards people (Chapter 15, page 5). In the story, the creature finds a family of cottagers, which he watches from a distance. As he watches the family, he develops and understands the emotions of happiness, sadness, caring, and love. The creature’s development of emotions makes him more human because Dr. Frankenstein never seemed to care about anyone other than himself. Today, the creature would have the same emotions and feelings as other

As he begins to understand his misplacement in the world he exclaims, “Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned? […] I tried to dispel [these reflections], but sorrow only increased with knowledge” (123). Just as the attainment of knowledge led to a loss of innocence in Frankenstein, the monster’s naivety was lost as well. Both characters can be likened to Eve and “The Fall” which occurred as she ate the forbidden fruit. After the monster attains knowledge, he symbolizes the death of innocence with the murder of William, blameless himself.

After being abandoned by Dr. Frankenstein, Creature wanted to be accepted by mankind. However, his grotesque appearance was enough for society to isolate him. The physical and psychological characteristics that a society finds difficult to acknowledge as “normal” is what monsters embody. Because people made snap judgements about who Creature was, Creature started thinking of himself as wicked and evil. The circumstances he was placed in incited fury within that turned into physical violence. Creature referred to Dr. Frankenstein as a “cursed creator”, and “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled [his] bosom, and [he] did not strive to control them; but allowing [himself] to be borne away by the stream, [he] bent [his] mind towards injury and death” (Shelly 138 and 140). He became a powerful and threatening force. Creature fed the evil wolf and became more of a monster than just his physical semblance showed. By murdering innocent victims, he only fueled the monstrosity within him causing it to be his paramount

The character is bold and majestic demonstrated when he rejects his duties and responsibilities and goes to the country side where there is peace and nature which contradict widely with his bothered mind. It is clear that nature is significant in Frankenstein’s life. There is sympathy for the creature because there is great significance on the power of nature that people would not complicate life and there would be more sensations and empathy for each other. It is clear that a child’s innocence is corrupted by evil acts due to victimization at some point in their

In addition to being rejected by his creator, Frankenstein’s monster is also treated very violently by humans, leaving him alone and feeling like he did something wrong, even though their reactions are based solely on his appearance. The monster does not want to be thought of as a monster at first, but as he comes to realize from human interactions, no matter what his actions are, people will always judge him by what he cannot control. The monster explains the first interaction he had ever had with

In doing so, Frankenstein condemns the creature to loneliness and persecution. The creature's hatred and violent acts are not an inherent part of his character, as he explains, "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous" (81). If Frankenstein had raised and cared for him, the creature would have experienced compassion, and had someone to support him and be his advocate. Instead, the creature is left to learn about the world on his own, and develop a set of morals based on the way society treats him. Because he grows up outside of, and shunned by, society, he feels very little moral obligation towards other human beings. "...and tell me why should I pity man more than he pities me?" the creature asks Frankenstein. "Shall I respect man when he contemns [sic] me?" (122) The creature is not a monster in his own eyes; he is behaving rationally given the treatment he has received. If he were taught a better way to act, he would almost certainly behave in that way. The monster is not born a monster, his ugliness notwithstanding; he becomes one because society behaves monstrously towards him.

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

Frankenstein deals with much. It has the obvious nightmarish terrors represented in the monster, terrifying in both sight and murderous actions. There however exists a subliminal context of horror within the narrative. The characters within the narrative reveal the moral shortcomings of humanity, and when stripped to its base constructs, amount to little more than what the monster becomes. It shows the psychological frailty of man, and when unhinged the dangers it is capable of.