During chapters 16 and 17, the story changes from the narrative perspective of the monster, relating his experiences and expressing his feelings and points of view, to the perspective of Victor. This change, cleverly manoeuvred by Mary Shelley, creates the perfect opportunity for both sides of the argument to be put forward. This means the author can perfectly tailor the monster’s side of the story so that it incites sympathy and pity, as well as using Victor’s raw emotions to, in some cases, strengthen the monster’s arguments- such as when Frankenstein says that he felt that there was “…some justice in his [the monster’s] argument” and that the monsters tale “…proved him to be a creature of fine sensations…” On top of this, Mary Shelley uses chapter seventeen to convey Victor’s changing emotions, from rage to sympathy, in a hope the reader will feel the same pity for the monster, and travel with Victor’s dramatic change of emotions.
Mary Shelley makes the monster relate his various experiences to Victor, in his effort to persuade his creator to make a companion for him. To begin with, he recounts how, when the De Laceys left him alone after fearfully driving him out of their lives, his “…protectors had departed, and had broken the only link that held me to the world.” This incites sympathy in both the reader and Victor, for it is a terrible thing to be discarded as an object of horror without seemingly just cause, and left alone in the world. In this notion Shelley brings up her own opinion on how it is wrong to be judged not on your actions but on you appearance. Victor also feels guilty as he himself drove away the monster, like the De Laceys, with a cold heart. By relating back to events that have already occurred in the book, Mary Shelley also reminds the readers of any feelings of sympathy or pity they felt whilst reading of that particular event.
The monster also relates his feelings after being shot in the shoulder by a man, as a result of rescuing a young girl from drowning. The monster tells of the “miserable pain” of the wound he suffered for the sake of his kindness, and how he felt anguish at the “injustice and ingratitude” he had received. This incites sympathy as it shows that the monster is not just a criminal, but indeed a victim as well, rewarded for his benevolence by cruelty on the part of those around him. It also conveys the monster has being not evil or naturally full of malice, but simply misunderstood, which further increases the amount empathy shown towards him.
The murder of William is also shown in a different light as the monster recalls how William, as he was seized, called the monster an “ugly wretch… an ogre”. The monster tells of his intentions to befriend and educate the child, until he was shunned and rebuffed by William, and heard of the child’s connection with Victor. This shows that the murder was not completely in cold blood and unprovoked, and gives an alternative perspective from the assumptions the reader, and Victor, may have formed earlier- again demonstrating the benefits of the way Shelley changed the perspective of the book from Victor to the monster, back to Victor again.
Mary Shelley uses personification, figurative language, metaphors and personification on several occasions during the two chapters. The first sentence of chapter sixteen is an anguished cry on the part of the monster- “Cursed, cursed creator!” This sentence is cleverly emphasised, as Mary Shelley uses both alliteration and repetition at the same time to highlight the monster’s cry. By underling the word creator, Shelley also ensures we start to see Victor as the perpetrator, instead of the monster.
Another clever use of a device which increases the success of the monster’s persuasive arguments, and places emphasis on the fact that the monster sees himself as an ugly, deformed creature- “…a beast that had broken the toils”. This metaphor shows that the monster feels terrible about himself.
The monster describes the flames that enveloped the De Lacey’s cottage as “forked and destroying tongues…” This personification emphasizes the destructive nature of the fire, as well as unconsciously illustrating the monster’s rage.
All of these techniques help highlight the monster’s arguments, make them more interesting, and so generally increase the amount of sympathy felt towards the monster by Frankenstein as well as the reader.
The author also makes the monster put forward plenty of strong arguments for his case for the creation of a companion; a lot of them push a sense of guilt and responsibility onto Victor’s shoulders, such as the fact that the monster questions “Why did I live?”- posing a simple rhetoric question as to why he was created in the first place, the monster illustrates the fact that he feels he has no point in life; he has suicidal tendencies. He also demonstrates that he feels that he is the victim of a predicament that he did not solicit. This triggers Victor’s guilt as he feels he holds responsibility for the creature’s sorrow, being his creator, and also makes the reader, as well as Frankenstein, feel intense sympathy towards the monster. This short, to the point rhetoric question is a very effective persuasive device, instantly conveying the monster’s feelings and ensuring the reader sympathises with him, as well as pondering carefully Victor’s motives when creating the monster.
The fact that Mary Shelley also emphasises the monster’s feelings of loneliness and rejection during the chapters sixteen and seventeen also incites sympathy. The monster claims that there “...was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist [him]”- that no-one on earth would help or feel sympathy towards him. This automatically makes the reader feel pity for the monster, and incites a feeling of guilt in Victor, who feels responsible for the monster’s feelings, as the creator. This feeling of responsibility pushes Frankenstein further towards consenting to creating a companion.
Shelley also ensures that the monster creates a perfect peaceful vision of the future, if Victor would create the companion. The monster proclaims that “if you [Frankenstein] consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again…”, persuading Frankenstein that if he makes the companion, everything will be perfect and there will be no more trouble or grief. The monster backs up his powerful prediction of the future by stating that Frankenstein could deny the request “only in the wantonness of power and cruelty...” effectively forcing Victor into agreeing with the monster, and making his creator appear selfish.
However, Victor has no guarantee that his creation can be trusted, and voices that he is unsure that the monster “who longs for the love and sympathy of man” will be able to keep to his word, and effectively exile himself from the human world. Victor has no evidence that the monster is trustworthy.
By reminding the reader of the monster’s human qualities, and the fact that he is, essentially, the same as any other being on earth- sharing the same desires and needs as any other human- Mary Shelley creates sympathy for him. This is especially true in the way that the monster shows a basic need for the friendship, love and benevolence that he has been starved of thus far. The monster shows his human nature on several occasions, displaying clear signs of grief, remorse, fear and joy at certain times. The monster “…trembled violently, apprehending some great misfortune…” just before he finds out he realises the De Laceys have left their cottage to get away from him- this illustrates how the monster’s human feeling of fear, and how aghast and disappointed he feels at the judgement of his personality by his appearance, not by his actions.
Conversely, there are demonic references during chapters sixteen and seventeen that definitely work against the monster. For example, the fact that the monster threatens to “work at your [Victor’s] destruction…so that you curse the hour of your birth” shows clearly the monster’s more ruthless and devilish side. In creating the character of the monster, Mary Shelley was probably influenced greatly by ‘Paradise Lost’- a romantic epic poem about Satan seen from an alternative view, by John Milton. The poem makes out Satan to be as a hero fighting against a tyrannical god. Being part of the Romantic Movement herself, Mary Shelley used the idea of a wronged devil to create her monster.
On the other hand, the author emphasises the fact that the monster relates strongly to the beauty nature, in order to incite sympathy from the reader and Frankenstein. The monster recalls how “the pleasant sunshine and the pure air of day restored me to some degree of tranquillity…”, so enforcing the fact that he appreciates and feels deeply connected to nature, and is keen to live in peace and harmony with all he sees within the world, including other humans. By highlighting the monster’s peaceful qualities, Shelley ensures the readers empathise even more with Victor’s creation.
Furthermore, throughout chapters sixteen and seventeen Mary Shelley gives evidence of the high level of intelligence of the monster, proving once more that he is no simple beast, relying solely on instinct; but more a clever human being with very real thoughts, feelings and considerations. This would increase the level of sympathy felt towards the monster, driving Frankenstein and the reader to regard the monster as more of an equal human being, distraught and lonely, than an unfeeling and illiterate creature. The monsters intelligence is shown through his advanced and seemingly well-learned level of speech, using such words as “perceptions”, “endeavoured” and “alleviated” that no course beast would utter. His conceptions and ideas also prove his intelligence, as he argues his point using advanced reasons and persuasive techniques.
During the book, the monster looks to his creator to solve his problems, despite the fact he has been rebuffed, and has sinned against Frankenstein in murdering William. This connects the monster to mankind in that men often look to God for sympathy and help, even when they have acted in a wrong way- this link to the reader incites sympathy, as they feel in ways similar to the monster, and so can empathise with him far easier.
This idea is also connected to the fact that, being an intellectual, well educated lady of strong views and convictions, the book Frankenstein, with its themes of alienation, science and creation, was written partly as a comment on society, and to express Shelley’s highly defined opinions. Many aspects of Frankenstein are clearly influenced by Shelley’s ideas and opinions, and her love and admiration for other people. There is also evidence of the influence of mythology in the book. The way that she creates the image of the monster, looking to his creator for help and guidance, but then turning against Victor, shows that the story of Prometheus influenced her in particular. Frankenstein looks to Victor as his God, as Prometheus looked to Zeus as his God in the Greek legends. Prometheus rose up against the God Zeus and waged war upon him- the fact that this is linked to the book Frankenstein is clearly shown through the subtitle of the work: “The Modern Prometheus”.
On top of this, by relating to Prometheus and the Gods in her work, Shelley once again demonstrates her romanticist mind-set. During the book, both Frankenstein and his creation go against what is the norm in their society through their actions and their opinions. Romantics often valued the rejection of authority and social norms; Mary and her husband Percy were, themselves, quite unconventional: they eloped together in 1814, despite the fact that Percy, a political radical, free thinker and poet, was already married to his first wife, Harriet. They lived an unconventional lifestyle, despite the fact that both of them were highly ranked in the social order of the day. Mary and Percy’s rejection of the norm is obviously reflected in Frankenstein.
Victor’s responsibilities for the monster are highlighted by Mary Shelley in chapters sixteen and seventeen, turning the tide of opinion against Victor, and making out the monster’s actions to be a direct result of his poor treatment at the hands of his creator, who “cast [him] abroad for the scorn and horror of mankind.” The monster emphasises the point when he points out that “…my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph…” meaning that in reality Victor is no better than his creation in many aspects. As the monster’s creator, Victor feels that in a way he is responsible for his creations negative emotions and his violent attitude, and so a sense of guilt is invoked.
The book was influenced greatly in its themes of loneliness and the results of being rejected and alone, by Mary’s own mother’s work, ‘The Vindication of the Rights of Women’. This book explored how children need to be raised in a loving environment, and how people who are treated wrongly go on to commit terrible wrongs themselves. This relates to the fact that Frankenstein’s monster was rejected by everyone he met, and so went on to commit murder and ruin Frankenstein life through a series of actions. The monster sums this up by simply stating “I am malicious because I am miserable.”
This theme of men being moulded into who they are by how they are treated, was one Mary Shelley was evidently interested in. Her works were influenced greatly by those of Rousseau. This influential romantic philosopher had many ideas on how man is influenced by society. One of his main convictions was that men are born naturally good, but are changed by socialization. Mary Shelley’s father, William Godwin- and another of her greatest influences- also shared the same opinion. Rousseau wrote the Social Contract- a work that explores society and tries to find a more ideal social and political state set-up. This social contract influenced Shelley greatly, as well as the leaders of the French revolution. The revolution itself also had a part to play in the shaping the character of the monster, as Shelley observed that one of the reasons the French revolted, rebelled and, in many people’s opinions, ‘behaved badly’, was because they had, themselves, been treated poorly by the monarchy.
Therefore, Mary Shelley emphasises Victor’s ill treatment of the monster to underline the point that if a man is treated badly, he will in turn behave badly- in many ways, this is Shelley’s way of commenting on society and the way people acted at the time. After so enthusiastically building the monster, Frankenstein shuns and disregards his completed creation, and during a previous chapter calls his creation a “…a vile insect…a wretched devil!” This generates a high level of sympathy for the monster from the reader, as it seems that Frankenstein may be the person in the wrong and the cause of his own despair, not, in fact, his creation. The idea of Frankenstein rejecting his creation is much like the idea of parents rejecting their children: Shelley believed very strongly that children must be brought up in a loving family if they are to grow up to be civil, good citizens. She evidently wanted to convey this point in her work, and so wove the idea into the story of Frankenstein.
On the other hand, there are several points displayed in chapters sixteen and seventeen that strongly disagree with the idea of a companion for the monster. The fact that the monster committed extremely violent murders, and is generally inclined towards violence, is a huge argument against a companion, as it poses the question does the monster really deserve a companion after he has committed such terrible deeds? The monster recounts how his “heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph” after he had murdered William- these feelings of joy and gloating over another’s death is certainly a reason not to sympathise with the monster.
Victor expresses his own doubt when he says “Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world!” This means he feels that if he creates a companion, the two of them may continue to cause chaos and commit various other murders, together.
To conclude, I believe that, despite the counter arguments, Mary Shelley successfully incites a strong sense of sympathy for the monster throughout the course of chapters sixteen and seventeen. The effective use of emotive language, and the inclusion of some very strong arguments for the monster’s cause, such as the fact that he feels rejected and alone, wins over the reader’s sympathy. I believe the biggest factor in creating a sense of sympathy for the monster is the fact that he has been “spurned and deserted” by everyone, including his own creator. This because a majority of people can empathise with this feeling of rejection, and so feel connected to the monster in a small way.
However, all Shelley’s techniques and arguments worked to achieve the pity I undoubtedly felt for the monster nearing the end of chapter seventeen. Later on in the book, however, Victor pays the price for ignoring his feelings of guilt and responsibility, as he eventually refuses to create the companion, and suffers the consequences…
