To what extent can the reader sympathise with the creature in Frankenstein?

creature Victor sees it as a ‘catastrophe’ to have ‘miserably given life’ and instantly flees. Shelley emphasises the feeling of rejection the creature felt by his intertextual reference to Adam in Paradise Lost, saying  ‘I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine?’, it demonstrates to the reader how the abandonment of Victor has not only hurt the creature but  left him confused which provokes the readers sympathies.Throughout the novel the creature is cast as an outsider and it is his physical appearance that becomes the main barrier for him. Nobody attempts to look beneath the surface of his appearance and as a result he receives brutal treatment from others, such as ‘violent gesticulations’ and being ‘struck violently with a stick’ by Felix for example. This suggests to the reader the monstrosity of society and there prejudice in terms of appearance, forwarding our sympathies more with the creature. Despite the horrific language used to describe the creature, such as ‘wretch’ and ‘miserable deformity’, the reader is able to look past the language as we do not visually see the creature giving the reader a chance to listen to the creature’s eloquence and pitiable story. However this further heightens our sympathies as the creature believes that his knowledge will help him to be accepted however nobody is able to look past his appearance.The frame narrative provides the reader with three points of view; by first hearing Frankenstein’s point of view the reader initially feels negatively towards the creature, however after hearing the creature’s own point of view it becomes obvious that Frankenstein is exaggerating and pity is created for the creature by hearing his story. Also by closing the narrative with the creature, it ends the novel with the reader’s sympathies at a climax for him. The creature does however become filled with feelings of revenge and hatred which he directs into violent behaviour, ‘I bent my mind towards injury and death’ which makes the reader see him as the monstrous character we expect. Not only does he murder William and Elizabeth, but schemingly frames Justine. He becomes truly demonic and fills his heart with ‘hellish triumph’ as he realises he can make Victor desolate by hurting the ones around him. This malevolent behaviour is worsened by the fact the creature knows what he is doing is wrong and suggests himself as Satan by even echoing his words from Paradise Lost: ‘evil thenceforth became my good’ which the reader finds difficult to sympathise with. Even from the beginning of the novel, the reader sees the creature as a monster due to the somewhat exaggerated narrative from Victor that we hear first. Victor gives a bias account of his story, giving the creature with horrific descriptions such as ‘the filthy daemon’ and ‘the devil’ which leads the reader to have already formed their opinion of him before hearing his story making us less likely to sympathise. To conclude I believe that ultimately the readers sympathies to lay with the creature. Although it is not his fault how he looks, he tries to make up for his physical appearance by learning the way of man and humanizing himself. All the characters in the novel are unwilling to try to understand or accept him which is more upsetting for the reader as we see he is capable of emotion but destined to exist on the outside of humanity. Although he does turn to malicious behaviour, it can to some extent be justified and understood by the reader, ultimately leaving out sympathies with the creature rather than Victor.