Justine is made to suffer for William’s death, which the monster did. Victor and his family are also made to suffer and this shows just how capable the monster is for destruction. The way that Mary Shelly describes the suffering of Victor’s family makes you think about just how evil the monster really is.
In chapter 10 Victor speaks to his creation for the first time and our initial view of the monster is radically changed after knowing what the monster has to say and how he feels. We now feel sympathy for the monster not Victor. The monster is now shown as a young, harmless child. The monster sees Victor as a god because he created him and himself as Adam. At this point what the monster says makes victor feel guilty.
What the monster has said makes the audience feel sympathy but Victor doubts him. Victor thinks that the monster might just be a persuasive talker that is hiding his evil intentions.
In chapter 11 and 12 the monster is portrayed as harmless, child-like and vulnerable in these chapters. This is shown when the monster starts to narrate, when he does this we get put in his shoes and see what he sees and get involved with what he feels.
In these chapters we find out about how he taught himself without any parents to guide him. In these chapters we also read about the first time the monster sees himself in a pool and knows that it is Victor who is responsible for his ugliness. Every one else in the society around him all hate him for being ugly and do not give him a chance to show what he really is, a good and sensitive person who needs a friend.
In chapters 13, 15 and 16 we learn about how the monster gets his knowledge. We get to know about how the monster learns about birth and families which then makes him question on how the was born and why he’s in the position. By knowing this, the reader starts to feel sorry for him. The monster reads 3 books about war, history and abuse of power, by reading that he is shocked about how kind and then so cruel humans can be towards each other.
When the monster first comes out and meets blind, old De Lacey he gets seen for his kindness not his looks but this is all then destroyed when Felix comes and chases him away because of how he looks. This a cruel blow to be beaten by him as he had become emotionally attached in their lives. The monster put all his hopes on the De Laceys and their leaving ruins his plans.
Shelly has cleverly made Victor the focus of our anger in chapter 16 even though here the monster murders William Frankenstein. When the monster meets William, William is prejudice towards the monster by saying ‘you ugly wretch’ and ‘you monster’. Even as William gets killed we feel pity for the monster because of what William and the rest of the society has treated him.
In chapter 17 the monster speaks with Victor and states his situation. He uses many different ways of pervasion with Victor like threats and bribes. He then promises to live away from mankind if Victor grants his wish for a female companion like himself. Victor is first doubtful then manages to get persuaded because he knows that the monster first started life out good.
Chapter 20 is a dramatic turning point for Victor and the monster. This is because Victor destroys the female companion he created because of its violent power it would have. When the monster returns he howls in anger because Victor had destroyed his female companion. By doing that we feel sorry for the monster and he then makes threats to Victor about how he would be there on his wedding night.
Chapter 23 is when Victor and Elizabeth are now married. There is a big storm outside which creates tension and Victor is very nervous.
The monster returns and murders Elizabeth, which is very shocking. This shows a parallel between when Victor destroyed the monsters female companion with what the monster has just done. At this point the reader now feels pity towards Victor and not the monster.
We see here that the monster wants to make Victor suffer the same way he has suffered; yet this hasn’t solved any thing. These actions really do turn him into a devilish monster.
In the novel Frankenstein the monster is first introduced as a helpless, kind child, then as the story develops the monster has many bad experiments with society, which then makes him turn evil and kill innocent people just to get revenge.
Shelly’s narrative technique puts the reader into the shoes of the character and makes us feel just how they do. All the techniques that Shelly uses make the reader feel sympathy for the abandoned creature.
By Shahid Ali Parvez 11.5
