When Frankenstein finally meets the being in the mountains, he is again presented as the evil monster “his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes”. However this time the creature has a chance to speak and does indicate about the pain he has felt. But the reader probably will not feel sympathy for him yet as he doesn’t seem to be overwhelmed by sadness, but still quite strong in himself. It is likely that the reader will still empathise with Frankenstein because since the being was created a malevolent image of him has been created by Mary Shelley. Mary Shelley has used an even selection of both negative and positive words to create a contrast upon how the scene is viewed. This also could be trying to show that there are two sides to everything; Frankenstein is good looking but immoral, the creation is ugly but moral.
When the being becomes the narrator, the reader’s opinion of him will change quite rapidly as they realise what Frankenstein has put him through, and how during his the being’s creation, Frankenstein had lost touch with the morals of society. The being describes the torment and misery of his existence and the deeper yearnings of his soul. Mary Shelley begins the being’s story by getting the reader’s sympathy through showing the physical and emotional pain he feels, “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing”, “I sat down and wept”, “I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge…happy to have found shelter, however miserable from the inclemency of the season and still more from the barbarity of man”. In the phrase “inclemency of season” nature is used by Shelley to reflect the creation’s desolation (pathetic fallacy). The monster also shows that he can experience emotions such as love. “It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch who had never beheld ought beautiful before. The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager was my reverence, while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love” Here it is clearly shown that the being can feel warmth, sympathy and such benevolent feelings; he is not the monster Frankenstein made him out to be. The cottagers become the being’s adopted family without knowing it “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me; when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathised in their joys” The way the being befriends the cottagers and cares for them arouses sympathy with the reader. Also how the being even understands that in order for him to be accepted by the family, which he greatly desires to do, he must first master their language so that they my ‘overlook’ his ‘deformity of figure’ creates sympathy for him. “I imagine that they would be disgusted, until by my gentle demeanour and conciliatory words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love.” When the creature makes friends with the old man, the reader empathises with the happiness the being felt at being accepted “Every minute was precious to me”. The being is full of fear at the same time as he knows that if he fails to win the family’s friendship he is “an outcast in the world forever”. The cottagers return and beat him violently with a stick in an attempt to rid him from their home and the monster doesn’t even fight back because he loves them so much. This makes the reader feel very sad and sympathetic towards the being. Also they will empathise with what he is feeling as the family were presented as a kind and benevolent group, so this change in character would help the reader see how the being feels. It makes it worse that such a kind family reject him.
From this point onwards the being’s character changes. He becomes more like the evil monster which Frankenstein had described. “…despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants.” The being again reflects on his hatred for Frankenstein; “…towards you I felt no sentiment but that of hatred. Unfeeling, heartless creator!” The exclamation mark really stresses the anger the being feels towards the parental-like figure who rejected him. The anger the being feels doesn’t help create much pity for him, whereas if he had shown sadness the reader would feel very sympathetic towards him. It is an important point and reinforces the idea.
The being begins to travel by night, but when he dares to venture further in the daylight, he is reminded of happiness “I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me”, “…dared to be happy. Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks,” This is a great contrast to the being’s earlier emotions, making the being appear to be even more benevolent, and increasing the sympathy felt for him by the reader. This change in the being’s attitude helps the reader understand more why the being’s hatred of man is revived when after saving a girl’s life he is shot and left for dead. However when he kills a young boy because his brother is Frankenstein, all sympathy for the being is lost “I gazed upon my victim, my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph.” The language used here creates a semantic field of ‘the final’. The key words are “swelled”, “exultation” and “triumph”.
When the being requests for Frankenstein to make him a ‘mate’ the reader is torn between who to support. The reader understands why the being wants a companion, but shares Frankenstein’s doubts. “If you consent, neither you nor any other human being, shall see us ever again.” It seems here that the being may be being a bit selfish in one respect as he hates his life so much because of how people react to him because what he is, why does he want to inflict the same pain he is feeling on to someone else? He wishes Frankenstein had never given him life, but he thinks there is nothing wrong with Frankenstein creating someone just to make him happy.
When Frankenstein destroys the being’s ‘mate’ the sympathy from the reader tends to fall with Frankenstein, not the being, “...tears, the first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes,”(Frankenstein) The being appears to be quite evil, and refers to Frankenstein as his slave; “You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!” This appears to show that Frankenstein’s apprehensions about the being were correct.
Again when Elizabeth dies the reader’s sympathies fall to Frankenstein. The being is presented as an evil, malevolent monster; “A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed towards the corpse of my wife” However in theory the being only did back to Frankenstein what Frankenstein did to him. Frankenstein destroyed the being’s mate and his one hope for happiness, so the being killed Frankenstein’s ‘mate’ whom he (Frankenstein) had loved for so long. This shows the being only to be as monstrous as Frankenstein himself. Mary Shelley does this to show how the creation is taking on the personality of is ‘father’ and how people react to him.
After Frankenstein dies Walton refers to him as “glorious spirit” which could be in reference to how Frankenstein reflects on what has happened to him before he dies and offers Walton advice which may have saved him and his crew from death. When Walton finds the being with Frankenstein after his death we see a whole new side to the being; he appears to have reached a new stage in his life where he can think and reflect about what has happened more maturely. The being sums up the story in his reflection, including the pain Frankenstein felt as well as his own; “I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst”, “…my existence and its unspeakable torments”
I believe that Frankenstein and the being were not malevolent enough to be monsters. Frankenstein’s intentions were good; he was just too headstrong and didn’t take time to think it all through before going ahead with the creation of the being. When the being was ‘born’ Frankenstein reacted badly and lost all sense of his responsibilities; this was Frankenstein the monster, he walked away and didn’t have the courage to face up to what was his responsibility. The being appeared to be going through stages in his life through the novel. He was like a baby/young child when learning from the cottagers. When he began to find his hatred he was like a rebellious teenager, and when he reflected on what he’d done and admitted he was wrong, he was the adult. All through his life he was rejected. However to readers of Shelley’s era, Frankenstein would probably appear evil as he was ‘doing the unimaginable’. This may have caused some people to reject the book because of its subject and how it deals with the issue of ‘usurping god’ and how humanity deals with deformities in humans.
Reactions to the being would be a lot different today; society is not tied to religion as strongly as it was then so he probably would be accepted as a largely disfigured human. People would be a lot more reserved in their reactions to him, it is unlikely that anyone would scream in horror and run away at the sight of him but some people still may try and avoid him and he might even be jeered at. All of this however would be a huge improvement on the situation the being faces in the novel. Readers of the novel back then may have felt less sympathy for the being that modern day readers because of the differences in society. I think Mary Shelley used the being to challenge society’s views of people with deformities and has done this to good effect.
