Throughout Frankenstein, the creature was not looked at as human because of some of his features. He had different features than most humans did. He was very strong, and frightened others by his physical appearance. The creature contains the body parts of other humans. The creature has feelings for others. He has an understanding that he is not like the rest, so he does his best to blend in. He does his best to communicate with other humans. The creature also wants another creature so he is not lonely. Although he was different, he is still considered to be a human being.
What does it mean to be human? In the society that we live in today there is a wide variety of definitions that sometimes the truth becomes blurry and it takes an epiphany to change our perceptions. Being able to feel pain, sorrow, happiness, joy, sympathy, and love. These are the traits that we should all be striving for. As humans, we should all be striving to become better people. We as humans want to grow as individuals. We focus a large amount on ourselves to become better people. We enjoy seeing ourselves succeed in life. It is a great accomplishment when you have witnessed yourself accomplish something. When goals are reached, we praise ourselves. Humans enjoy feeling good about themselves, and growing as humans helps us with this great feeling because we have reached our goal. Just being alive doesn’t mean we are truly living. This is what separates the humans from creatures. This is the case in
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.
First, I will be discussing why Frankenstein's creature is human because he feels complex emotion's. Some of the emotions that I and referring to are jealousy, agony, remorse, love, and ambition. One piece of evidence that shows he has some of these traits are on page 190 paragraph 2 where he states " Do you think that I was then dead to agony and remorse? Thing ye that the groan of Clerval were music to my ears?". This quote shows that the creature I feels remorse and agony while also showing that he isn't emotionless and that the killing of Clerval was not fun for him and he only did it because he was angry at Victor. Another piece of evidence I have to support my claim can be seen on page 115 paragraph 2 were the creature states "You must create a family for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being". This quote shows that the creature wants love for more
Even if Little Frank is human his creature doesn't think so. I believe this too, since he made it he should know. For example, "On his deathbed, Victor tells the ship's captain, "'In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a rational creature, and was bound towards him'" (Grimly 188)."This shows that Victor does admit to creating a creature and not a human. Victor tends to believe his creation is "... a rational creature ... " that he has created and brought into this world we live in today. I am sure, that the creator of this "creature" is the person who is bound to know all about his creation. No one knows more about Little Frank than his creature. In this case I say creature, because Little Frank was made by a human being. Not the ways
One of the main characters in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is a nameless creature created in laboratory by Victor Frankenstein and abandoned by Victor right after its birth. The creature was left alone to learn by himself, to find food, to figure out how the world works. The creature is one of a kind, but he is alone and lonely. While isolated by his appearance he becomes driven by revenge, the creature is feared by everyone it meet, he is abandoned and hated even by its creator. And this loneliness and need for companionship, which he can never have, is the reason for the change from monster by appearance to monster by action.
Mary Shelly was born in 1797 and died in 1851; she was the second wife
Frankenstein follows Victor Frankenstein’s triumph as he reanimates a dead body, and then details his guilt for creating such a thing. When the creation realizes how he came to be, and is rejected by mankind, he seeks revenge on his creator’s loved ones. In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays Victor Frankenstein as the true monster of the story through the use of literary devices revealing the characteristics that Frankensteins and monsters share, and shows how Frankenstein’s irresponsibility leads to his monstrous labeling.
To get a sense of what it is to be human, at least in the evolutionary world, we need only to compare our modern selves to our ancestors such as the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals were our closest hominin relative and died out thousands of years ago. Like us, they walked on two legs, hunted , made fire and tools, and lived in shelters (caves). They were more advanced than many of us imagine they were thanks to the way they are portrayed in the media. They had brains similar in size to ours, they stood fully upright (not hunched over), and had a surprisingly complex culture. When asked what it means to be human, you can compare many different aspects of our lives, such as biology, culture, and even religious beliefs. We obviously have
The monster notices that humans are afraid of him because of his appearance, he feels embarrassed of himself, as humans do when they don’t seem to be accepted. He admires the De Lacey Family that lives in the cottage, he also learns from them, and hopes to have companion as they do. The monster is like humans, as mentioned, in the way that he wants someone to listen and care about him. He is discovering the world and his capacities, he seeks knowledge and understand plenty aspects of life by learning how to speak and read. “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys” (Shelley 47). The monster developed feelings and emotions as humans. The creature is different from humans also, since he never got to grow up as a normal human, and
Frankenstein works on a project to create a living creature. The moment arrives, and Frankenstein is anxious, but not worried about the outcomes of his experiments. Instead. Frankenstein anticipated the creation of a living being as he says that he might infuse a spark to bring the dead thing to lay at his feet (Shelley 40). Evidently, Frankenstein believes that the living being he is about to bring to life is not entirely human as he calls it a lifeless thing, s description that could be termed as cold. The creature being made is in a sense not a person, but a slave that Frankenstein intended to control, and that is he wanted the lifeless thing to lie at his feet. The physique of the creature is evidently below the human being’s body. . Frankenstein notes that the creature moves inexplicably and its bodily functions are rather weird if compared to the human body movement and function. The implications of his creation come back to haunt him days later. The creature’s odd movement and bodily functions result to its doing things that are not acceptable to the human being’s community. “At length, I perceived a small hut…This was a new sight to me, and I examined the structure; with great
To be human is to be able think and learn without any restraints. To have an opinion all to one's self even if it my clash with someone else's. To be human is to have emotion. One must be able to smile, cry, laugh or shout without living in fear of the consequence. One must
A tormented existence can only result in one’s demise. Forming healthy relationships is a staple of human life. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Creature was fated to become a product of his environment. Perhaps one of the greatest influences in one’s life is how one is raised. The Creature is wrongly treated due to his frightening facade. In this novel, it can be made obvious that it is not what is on the inside that counts.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly begins her singular famous novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus with an epigraph taken from John Milton’s Paradise Lost on the title page: “Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me?” With this quotation, she first establishes a connection between the characters of her own novel and the characters in Milton’s work and, through its parallels, the Scriptures also. At different times, the characters of the Creature and his creator draw a direct correspondence to the characters of the classic creation narrative, yet turn what was beautiful into what, in Frankenstein, is an abomination – a doppelganger effect on the divine narrative. The characters of Victor Frankenstein and his Creature take turns playing the roles of Adam, the first man, and Satan, the rebellious fallen angel, as represented in the Miltonian epic. In doing so, though Milton paints the creation narrative with a certain literary interpretation, a theological statement is thus securely issued within the context of Mary Shelley’s magnificent prose. What, then, ensues in Frankenstein is a theological journey of creator and creation
On the contrary, he characterizes the creature having “...dull yellow eyes...”; the negative use of the word “dull”, proves the fact that, to Victor, the creature is still dead. There is also his use of sarcasm, as if he is noticing his feelings changing; he stated that:
The creature can be considered human because he has feelings. The creature wanted to love someone and to be loved by someone. He want Frankenstein to create a mate for him equally as ugly and damage as he was so that they would have each other to love and not fear. The creature thought that if she were beautiful and perfectly made that she would fear him instead of love him. He even said himself that he was alone.
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.