Mary Shelly´s Frankenstein's "Monster" Essays

The creature began to converse freely with the blind father who addressed him with kindness. However, when his two children returned, the daughter fainted and the son "dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick" forcing the creature to "quit the cottage and escape unperceived to my hovel" (115). These acts of cruelty emphasize how often humanity stereotypes individuals. Just because a creature looks monstrous does not mean his intentions match his appearance. After this heartbreaking event, the monster decides to stop seeking love and instead to seek revenge against his creator and attempt to force Victor to create a companion for him. The creature attempts to explain his cruel ways when he exclaims, "There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my

The creature claims that the creation of a equal partner like himself would make him happy. The creature proclaims, "my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being, and become linked to the chain of existance and events, from which I am now excluded" (121). In this speech, the creature tries to provoke sympathy from Doctor Frankenstein. However, because of his previous acts of violence, his request is denied. This agonizes the creature: "Shall each man...find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have a mate and I be alone?" (140). The result of these constant rejections that the creature becomes violent and therefore cannot be blamed for his violence. The creature's desire to be given affection and sympathy can only reside in another being like himself since he has been denied by the world around him.

In opening, the creature is deserving of sympathy despite his violent actions because he is a product of his surroundings and a reflection of the atrocities that have

As the creature skims through a novel he discovers, he notices how upon Earth, mankind has always been blessed with the love of God. With that, he starts to question on why he hasn’t been endowed with this affection and why his creator abandoned him. Likewise, Mary Shelley displays allusion due to the indirect comparison to Paradise Lost. Using an allusion greatly impacts on how miserable the creature was to be left without any guidance whatsoever; however, this could’ve been prevented if someone were to show a little human kindness. Consequently, since the creature grew up lonely and hated, he no longer desired to be apart of their kind and becomes vengeful. A theme to describe this situation is that parents should always be responsible for

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is designed as a gothic horror novel but deals with serious moral issues. Written in 1818, a time when breakthroughs and discoveries in the scientific world were common and often of great importance, the book shows how desire for knowledge entwined with humanity’s ability to quickly reject what seems ugly or that which they don’t understand, can unfold into a tragic tale with several fatal altercations. Whilst playing the role of a negligent God, Victor Frankenstein brings into existence a hideous being, which he rejects at birth, his creation lacking teachings of moral values commits murder.

We, as readers, are equivalent to the priest in the story who warns his fellow villagers that “the devil had the bad habit of making use of carnival tricks […]” (544). Or maybe we side with the old medicine woman “who knew everything about life and death […]” and announced him as an angel (543). My point is that things cannot just be left unexplained and accepted as is. Instead, they must be dissected and have judgment and opinion offered from every angle. The mysterious nature of this creature’s existence is the central problem of the story but the main idea underneath it all is the search for understanding.

One’s natural benevolence is warped by society. The creature, after being rejected once, continues to prove his kind heart when rescuing a child from drowning. Rushing to save the child with urgency, the creature proves his humanity. But once again, his appearance is at fault for others believing he is doing the harm, and he is shot. Rageful now, the creature swears his revenge on mankind. “Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind[….]Shall I respect man when he condemns me?” (Shelley) Society has only shown hate and violence toward him; how else is the creature expected to reciprocate? The creature is not taught love or belonging, he is only taught hate. “ I am malicious because I am miserable” (Shelley). The devastating events in the creature’s life demonstrate the haunting effects of careless parents or creators that fail to care for their creation.

His curiosity for social interaction is energetic and capable as he educated himself through a family living in the woods and reading books he stole from his creator. With the creature’s intention to interact, it is interrupted; visually, the creature is unappealing and treated in a manner that is not kind. The creature explains in one of his experiences of interaction that he will never have the ability to be understood about his looks, "As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman. In spite of my malignity, it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one expressive of disgust and affright” (16.32). The creature was drawn to the eyes of the woman but became conscious of the idea that he cannot belong in a world where people look at him in disgust and fear. This effect on the creature creates an image in his mind that life will never change for him and that people won’t change either. Another example representing the results of his interaction with others is the family

Along the way he sees a young girl who seems to be alone, fall into a stream and appears to be on the verge of drowning. When the monster rescues the girl from the water, the man accompanying her, suspecting him of having attacked her, shoots him. "This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone”(Shelley 156 ). This is an example of how the creature and his intentions are repeatedly

The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley). The Creature has just saved another human life and his reward is a bullet. This negative experience leads him to vow hatred upon mankind and commit murder. The creature knew nothing when he was first created and through his experiences was able to learn english and decide that he disliked mankind and was molded into who

The creature learns that he is wretched, helpless, and alone. He understands that he is similar to Adam. “Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence.” (Shelley, 118)

He longs for a companion who will understand him and who will not mistreat him. The last moments of compassion dies within the creature when his creator destroys the companion he promised to create, and the revenge continues from there. Even though the creature commits awful crimes, he also commits acts of kindness.

Though the Creature is Spawned from science and gore, the Creature possesses goodwill and a peaceful philosophy despite his supernatural birth. Another aspect of the idea of God-inspired morality is that one acquires a knowledge of good and evil by coming to know God and His law. In spite of this supposed necessity, the Creature spends a period of time ignorant of his creator and the means of his creation while remaining moral. Until he finds the “journal of the four months that preceded [his] creation” written by his “accursed creator…[who formed] a monster so hideous that even [he] turned from [it] in disgust” (Shelley 92, 93), he has no knowledge of Victor as his creator. Benevolence and righteousness yet live as dominating forces in the Creature’s decisions. The discovery of the circumstances surrounding his creation educates the Creature on the existence of his creator; the Creature recognizes his maker, but this knowledge does not dictate his understanding of good and evil. The obvious assertion is that morality is not derived from divinity, else the Creature would be a ruthless vagabond fueled solely by rage and voracious

The creature's character changes in a variety of ways throughout the novel, depending on the point of view it is coming from. When the creature himself speaks the reader likely feels sympathy as well as pity, towards him. He is affectionate and gentle at the beginning of his life, filled with curiosity and wonder, but after several painful encounters with humans, he becomes bitter. This ultimately leads to him seeking revenge on his “father” for making him so hideous and basically rendering him permanently lonely because of his ugly appearance. The creature has a unique skill to analyze his surroundings because, though he is not a typical human himself, he appears to have the

The creature’s suffering is, at least initially, the most undeserved. He is brought into the