Negative Effects Of Cruelty In Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, acts of cruelty serve as the driving force behind many tragedies within the novel. Set in 18th century Switzerland, Victor Frankenstein embarks on a horrifying journey to satisfy his growing desire to create life. However, Victor and his creation are overcome by their selfish agendas and growing hatred of one another, creating seemingly endless misfortune for their selves. The enemies' constant misunderstandings of each other ultimately turn an innocent victim into an inconsiderate and hate-filled monster.

"It was dark when I awoke; I felt cold also, and half-frightened as it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate" (Shelley 68) For the monster it is the constant rejection and its abandonment by Frankenstein at birth that leads it to loneliness and extreme anxiety. "In all probability, the creature was reaching out, as a small child does to their mother, but his ugly appearance only frightened Victor into running away" (Coulter) The main reason for its rejection is the monster’s outward appearance. The rejection by humans in general and specifically by its creator only increases the monsters feelings of loneliness, emotional abandonment, and, as a result, anger.

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.

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.

In his refusal of his creature twice in less than twenty- four hours, it only can solidify and foreshadow the trials to come. Frankenstein then, in a wonderful show of character proceeds to hunt the creature and allow for hatred to consume him. “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have precipitated him to their base” (Shelley 9.6). In a predictable turn of events, the creature lets his hatred to blind him as well. “Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy--to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim” (Shelley 16.30). The creature goes from being a seemingly innocent and child- like character to a cold-blooded killer in a matter of chapters. This transition can be marked by his disownment by Frankenstein, or his father for all intents and purposes. Frankenstein’s refusal to accept his failure poses new threats (Betty T Bennett). Now, Prometheus and his relationship with his creations are on the totally opposite end of the scale. Prometheus loves his creations and they love him. “As their

Frankenstein continues to prove his label as a monster in the novel when he makes the sudden decision to abandons his own creation solely because of his physical appearance. The very moment the monster opens his eyes, to Frankenstein, “the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room” (Shelley, pg. 59). With no thought to what could happen mentally to his creation due to his abandonment, along with the lack of concern for what could happen to the people in his society letting a monster run loose with no guidance or love from it’s own creator, proves how much of a monster Frankenstein is. He leaves his creation to suffer the scrutiny of the judgemental society he lives in, explaining the root of his anger and the mental state the creature is in when he chooses to get

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 first manifestations of his erratic truths are seen when he proclaims to Frankenstein “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death.” (118) and sets the cottage of his former “friends” on fire. The monster did not have much contact with humans, and therefore, had very little experience with the emotions he felt for the De Laceys. Their refusal hurt him, so he cultivated a loathing for the family and acted maliciously. This can also be seen as the beginning of the monster’s transformation - as his experiences make him more resentful, his ideals, goals and actions become more monstrous. The conflagration is what frees the monster from the vice of his first wish for emotional fulfillment. His inability to satisfy his needs combined with the satisfaction he gains from cruel behaviour causes the monster to believe that he is a wretched beast. The truth he saw in his own nature - the kind, innocent being - is blended together with the hideous and terrifying fiend others see him as, so a new sort of fabrication is created. By using this element, Shelley depicts how an individual is forced to alter the truth that they associated with their own life when they realize the imperfect nature of their ideals. This may cause an individual to indulge in unkind behavior in an attempt to reconcile the relation between their ideals and worldview. Without the family’s denial, the monster’s idea of perfection would have remained stagnant. After that experience, he starts to believe that the prejudiced view of the humans who fear him and the abandonment he faced is enough reason to retaliate against mankind. This

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.

He then reacts, saying “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust.” Who knows why the monster didn’t scare Frankenstein before he was alive, but he sure scared the health out of him once he brought the monster to life. This led the monster to abandon his creator and fret over not being accepted even by the man who crated and brought him to life which some could flat out say that was the start of the monster’s hatred for men in the end.

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’s and society’s rejection of the monster, however, drove him to an uneven passionate pursuit for a companion. He forced Frankenstein to create a female monster, and he provided motivation by killing Frankenstein’s loved ones and threatening to kill more of them. The monster recalls in this final scene of Shelley’s novel how his desire drove him to evil. “. . . do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse?--He . . . suffered not more in the consummation of the deed;--oh! Not the ten-thousandth portion of the anguish that was mine during the lingering detail of its execution. A frightful selfishness hurried me on. . . .” (153) At that point in the novel, the monster has changed from good in nature to evil in nature. His own desires are more important to him than the well-being of others and he is willing to commit murder in order ensure the fulfillment of his desire.

relationships, what the ramifications are in one’s own life of not having the potential to forge