Creature or Monster? How does Shelley(TM)s presentation of the Creature and Frankenstein create sympathy or horror at different stages of the novel? Who is the real monster?

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Kate Berry 10MPC                                                15th July 2003

Creature or Monster? How does Shelley’s presentation of the Creature and Frankenstein create sympathy or horror at different stages of the novel? Who is the real monster?

        The novel “Frankenstein” was written by Mary Shelley as a teenager during the 19th century. It was set in Germany in the 18th century, as this was a time of exploration and discovery with scientists and astrologists challenging the accepted order of things and breaking through new boundaries with their discoveries. Many were beginning to question the existence of God, the creator of life and the universe, too. This was in keeping with Shelley’s novel because it is a story about a young man who discovered the secret of life, which is the equivalent of doing what only God can do, how to create it and the problems his discovery led to.

        This man was called Viktor Frankenstein. He came from a wealthy family who were both loving and supportive. He falls in love with Elizabeth, his adopted sister, and all is well until his mother dies of Scarlet Fever. This tears him apart as they were very close and influences him and his future greatly. He determines to become a doctor to find the secret of life so no one need ever die again. This leads him to Ingolstadt University where he is further influenced when he finds out that one of the professors there has also experimented with creating life. He uncovers the truth and ignoring all warnings, begins making his creature from the parts of dead bodies. His unhealthy obsession leads him to neglect his family, friends and studies while he works day and night in a hidden attic. It is this unnatural obsession that gives the novel its first spark of horror.

        Frankenstein is shocked, horrified and disgusted by the creature that he had slaved over, for nearly two years. He had expected it to be a thing of beauty and in some ways it was,        

“His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his fine features as beautiful…skin barely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath…lustrous black…pearly whiteness…” These descriptions describe the creature as Frankenstein had imagined it to be, beautiful flowing hair, strong muscles and the whitest teeth, a being of perfection. However, as soon as the creature opened it’s eye Frankenstein realised the horror of what he had done,

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“These luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast…watery eyes, that seemed almost the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set…shrivelled complexion…straight black lips.” This description now makes the creature seem more like an old corpse that should still be in it’s grave, a zombie that has escaped and come back to live on Earth once more.

Frankenstein is also no longer seeing the miracle of science which he had strived to create, deprived himself of rest and health for, cut himself away from those that he had once loved and who loved him for, ...

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