The Real Monster In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

What is a monster, really? Is it really a Creature that has three eyes instead of two, with pus seeping out of every crevice in his face and an abnormally large form? Or is it someone with a mind so corrupt it rivals that of Satan? Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story within a story that centers on the tale of a man with an immense thirst of knowledge and a fetish to imitate the Creator. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a lot like the Greek mythological tale of the Greek God, Prometheus, and his brother, Epimetheus, who were assigned the task of creating man. The story captivates the theme of monstrosity. Mary Shelley wrote the novel in a form so the reader’s opinions never stray far from sympathy for the monster and apathy for Victor

Victor had agreed to the creature’s proposition of creating a female monster to be his companion. However, after much thought and consideration in chapter 20 of Frankenstein, Victor abruptly changes his mind and tears the incomplete female monster apart. Victor feels compelled to cease his progress because of the multiple, potentially horrific outcomes. For example, Victor worries that he might create a monster even more horrific and terrifying then the first. When reflecting on the possibility of creating a female monster Victor states, “she might become ten thousand times more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own sake, in murder and wretchedness” (page 180). Victor has seen the terror the first monster had unleashed and the horrible

Frankenstein’s creation was lost in the world with no one who could have understood him . It felt sorrowful and unfulfilled emotions as seen in this quote. Betrayal by Victor leaves a large impact the monster carried, which, turned into a monster full of hate and dissatisfaction. Victor’s creation was not a monster , but new born baby in a grown horrific body that was not to be called his own . It becomes a monster both mentally and physically, who will be feared by all . Victor not giving him the love he needed gets the monster enraged, which leads the monster to cause series of events that affects Victor unforgivably. .

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

After the death of Frankenstein, the Creature is met face-to-face with Walton, and here the Creature meets his final challenge of communicating and addressing a human who might have compassion for him. Upon seeing and hearing from the Creature, Walton experiences similar reactions as Frankenstein upon first communicating with the Creature. His physical appearance once again stains with utter disgust any attempt at showing benevolence: “Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome, yet appalling hideousness. I shut my eyes involuntarily” (Shelley 211). Once this reaction takes place, the Creature’s words do cause a small time of wavering of compassion for Walton, although ultimately he does reject the Creature once

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.

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 is a classic horror novel, but with a twist of many other genres. Written by Mary Shelley, it was a novel which mixed many exciting elements, such as horror, drama and romance. The story follows a young doctor named Victor Frankenstein, who has an obsession to reincarnate the dead, but his attempts at this fail horribly, and Victor finds himself in deep peril, as the monster stalks him throughout the world. I aim to investigate the issue, however, of who is the true monster in Frankenstein. The monster or Frankenstein himself?

In Mary Shelley´s Gothic novel, Frankenstein, the Monster once claimed, “The fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” Frankenstein, since the 1910 film adaptation, has known a series of several adaptations that changed drastically, not only the plot but one of the main characters, the Monster, from stealing its creator´s name to being portrayed as a cold villain. Though, in the original storyline, the biggest threat to society is the creator itself, the one pretending to play as God, Victor Frankenstein. This essay will discuss the nature of the main characters of the novel and conclude who is the “real monster” in the end.

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

The creature relates to Dorian as they both act unruly and engage in acts that Society refuses to agree with. Both are responsible for multiple deaths, and are responsible for ruining other's lives until they both commit suicide. They even commit murder. The creature achieves this while learning who he is and Dorian attains it by virtue of his own choice. The creature is trying to discover himself and Dorian bases his life off of the pursuit of forever youth and beauty. Both destroy everything in their paths to reach their ideal life. Physically, the creature relates more to Dorian’s portrait than Dorian himself. Dorian possesses hubris attitudes and also Hedonism developing from his excessive confidence in is physical appearance, while the

People today would undoubtedly say that they know who the real monster in Frankenstein would be. It is the creature that Victor Frankenstein has created, that killed everyone that he loved dearly. But, looking beyond the outer appearance of the monster, it seems evident that what he began as was not a monster. It was society’s quick assumption of a monster based on appearance, resulting in extreme isolation of the creature, that caused him to become a monster. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious scientist who thirsts for knowledge, is actually the real monster in this horror novel by Mary Shelley, because he possesses many of the characteristics that define what a monster is.

Frankenstein’s loved ones, his wife Elizabeth Lavenza and his son Wolf, soon die one by one by the monster’s hands as the monster seeks revenge for the mere creation of his life, and even Victor dies himself soon after. These are the occurrences that shaped the tragedy of the story because of the monster’s fooling coexistence in silence among human beings that, however, was not so peaceful in reality as Victor suspected it would be when he let the monster flee prior to its creation, giving no importance to any possible outcomes of his creation. The monster feels abandoned, even casted out in a way because no other person sees a living being within him that deserves compassion and respect due to his appearance. Walton’s final letter describes the monster’s words as Victor lays on his death bed with the monster gazing by his side, “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.” (Ch.24).

There is a dominating narrative that all men are created equal and are guaranteed inalienable human rights; however, history suggests time and time again that those rights are easily infringed upon. Throughout history, there is a human universal of groups persecuted by their society and the people who are supposed to protect them. In the 19th century Romantic Era, a time where nature and beauty were valued, those who were lacking of beauty were ostracized for trying to participate in a society that rejected them. In Frankenstein, even Victor could not accept the creature he made with his own two hands. On the other end of the spectrum, those graced with beauty were seen as nothing more but their looks.

Most Americans have some idea of who Frankenstein is, as a result of the many Frankenstein movies. Contrary to popular belief Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a scientist, not a monster. The "monster" is not the inarticulate, rage-driven criminal depicted in the 1994 film version of the novel. Shelley’s original Frankenstein was misrepresented by this Kenneth branagh film, most likely to send a different message to the movie audience than Shelley’s novel shows to its readers. The conflicting messages of technologies deserve being dependent on its creator (address by Shelley) and poetic justice, or triumph over evil (showed by the movie) is best represented by the