The first impression of the monster is from Victor as he is bringing it to life in chapter 5. He sets the scene using pathetic fallacy. A “dreary night of November” gives a dark image of the scene, which gives the impression that something bad is about to happen. Also, the weather is used to give a hint to the terrors of the story. “The rain pattered dismally” sets a dark, depressive mood for the story. Before he brings it to life, Victor feels good about his creation, but that soon changes. When the creature opens its “dull, yellow eye” Victor realises that he has made a mistake. He cries “Beautiful! Great God!” because he realises that the monster he has created is hideous, and not the beauty he had hoped to create. He describes the monster as having a “shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” These are features that one would think of as ugly, giving a bad impression of the monster. Victor talks about feeling disgust towards the monster, even though he is its creator. He makes the reader think of the monster as stupid by saying, “he muttered some inarticulate sounds.” Victor is saying that the monster cannot speak properly and is just making nonsensical noises. He also gives the impression that the monster is evil by describing at as a “demoniacal corpse.” Victor is trying to tell the reader that it is capable of doing evil things, so they expect it to actually do evil deeds. So far the reader feels unsure about the monster, but in this chapter the monster is portrayed as an evil character. Victor shows many Byronic qualities including arrogance and intelligence; he creates a being to prove his intelligence, but creates a ‘monster’.
In chapter 11 the monster is narrating, so we will undoubtedly get a very different view of it. The monster states that it felt “confused” by a “multiplicity of sensations.” He says it took a long tome to figure out how to “distinguish between the operations of my various senses.” This explains why he was unable to speak in his earlier encounter with Dr Frankenstein; already he seems a lot more intelligible than he did when being described by Victor. The monster also describes how he was “tormented by hunger and thirst.” Making the reader feel sorry for him, as he is suffering and he hasn’t actually done anything wrong yet. The monster goes on to describe how he felt “cold,” “helpless,” “frightened” and “miserable.” These are all negative feelings that would make a reader pity the monster.
It becomes apparent in chapter 15 that the monster can read, which makes him seem even more intellectual. He talks about some of the books he has read in an extremely intelligent way. He says that he “sympathised and partly understood” the character he read about. This makes him seem more human, as sympathising with others is a very human quality. He also started asking questions about his own being. “Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come?” He wants to know who he is, where he comes from and why he is there, but he was “unable to solve” these puzzles. This is why the monster sets out to find his creator, Victor.
The monster confronts his creator in chapter 17, as Victor narrates. Dr Frankenstein is trying to create a bad image of the monster again. He refers to it as “the being” and “the fiend,” Victor doesn’t look at him as human or an equal. The monster orders Victor to “create a female” so he is not lonely. The monster wants a companion, someone that can really sympathise with him. Victor refuses to meet the demands of his creation, as he feels that another one of these beings would make things worse. It was probably a mistake for him to say, “you may torture me, but I will never consent,” as the monster will take up this offer. The monster tries to convince Dr Frankenstein that he is “in the wrong.” He tries to get Victor’s sympathy by saying, “I am malicious because I am miserable.” However, he then goes on to threaten his creator by saying, “I will work at your destruction” and “desolate your heart.” At this point the monster seems quite evil, but the reader can understand why the monster has resorted to threats of violence. The monster also starts to show Byronic qualities, as he comes across as educated, mysterious and extremely sinister.
Chapter 23 talks of the murder of Elizabeth, Victor’s wife, on their wedding night. Victor hears a “dreadful scream” and finds her “lifeless and inanimate, thrown across the bed.” Victor is so distraught by this that he “fell senseless on the ground.” Once recovered Victor sees the monster standing at the window, “he seemed to jeer, as with his fiendish finger he pointed towards the corpse.” The reader’s feelings towards the monster are changed dramatically by this; not only has the monster murdered Victor’s wife, he stood and the window grinning and pointing at his handy work. The monster now seems very evil indeed.
In Chapter 24 Dr Frankenstein chases the monster towards the North Pole and finds Captain Robert Walton’s ship. Frankenstein tells Walton of the Monster, giving his view of it. As Walton has so far only heard Victor’s account of events, he would think of the monster as evil and “hellish.” Victor asks Walton to “satisfy [Victor’s] vengeance” by killing the monster. The reader will probably want Walton to complete this task as the monster has become exceedingly evil.
Dr Frankenstein dies on board the ship and the monster arrives; Walton narrates this part and this is the first time the reader hears his view of the monster. Walton describes the monster’s face as “horrible,” so he evidently thinks of him as ugly. But, regardless of any opinion he has of the monster he has his “duties” to kill the monster. Before Walton has chance to kill him, the monster shows “remorse” for his crimes and “sprang from the cabin window.” Before doing so, he speaks of wishing to die, and the reader suddenly feels sorry for him again, even if he does deserve it.
The use of these three narrators is a very good way for readers to get a balanced view of the characters in the story, and it also makes it far more interesting to read. Another way that Shelley made this story interesting is the epistolary style; she uses letters and diaries to tell the story, which means the story is told from the characters’ point of view. I think the views of the characters are good because you get different views of each character, so I feel that I know them better. Each Narrator has his own opinion of the monster, which gives the reader a varied and balanced view of it. Dr Frankenstein’s opinion changes throughout the book. At first, he describes it as “beautiful”, but later he refers to it as “hellish” and a “fiend”. The monster makes the reader feel sympathetic towards him by describing himself as “helpless”. Walton gives a rather negative view of the monster, using the word “horrible”, although he does also state that it has a sense of “remorse.” Overall, the reader gets a very balanced view of the monster and can therefore find their own opinions of it.
