Mary had known about Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s theory that children were born with innocence and purity, and also John Locke, who put forward the idea, tabula rasa, where children learnt from those around them and through their own sensations that they experience. Even Mary’s father, Godwin, believed that a recluse could not ever be moral, and that only when things like possession, marriage, and selfishness were abolished could there ever be happiness in our society. When the idea came to her in a dream, it was with the knowledge of all of this, and her very own traumatic personal experiences that she had already encountered in life, that Mary Shelley was able to mould her story into a tale about Frankenstein and his creature.
The result was a very shocking and epic horror story that was able to bring to our attention the state of our society and just how ethical it really is. When Frankenstein completes his ‘experiment’, it is clear to the reader just how ashamed of the creature he really is, and how much he regrets “the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life”. It is possible to say then, that as the creator, Victor could be the father and the creation is his son. However as the father, Frankenstein fails to offer the solace and reassurance that his son reaches out for, as he does not manage to see past the exterior being of his creation. The “ugly” and “hideous” creature repulses him so much that he flees, leaving the monster by himself and confused about his new surroundings and sensations that he is left to experience for the first time alone.
The extent of Victor’s shame and hate of the creature is apparent when he even neglects to give him a name, instead preferring to refer to him as “wretch”, “daemon”, “demoniacal corpse”, “fiend” or “monster”. Indeed the creature had been created with various body parts of corpses and it certainly had a hideous exterior, but just how monstrous is he? Frankenstein had the intentions of creating the perfect being by selecting beautiful features from his flowing “lustrous black” hair to his “teeth of a pearly whiteness”, however “these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes”. It is because of this horrid appearance that Frankenstein chooses to run when the creature appears at his bedside with one hand outstretched, while he “muttered some inarticulate sounds”. Although Victor himself created the monster, he does not offer the life that every father should offer his son, instead opting to dismiss the creature from his life almost immediately, with no chance to prove himself.
It is only in the middle section of the book from chapter 11 that we are able to hear the creature’s own side of the story and his very own tale of what he had experienced in his life away from Victor. The beginning of his life could be compared to that of a newborn baby, when “with considerable difficulty” of remembering, the creature tells of the “strange multiplicity of senses” that came over him. Mary Shelley manages to gain sympathy for the creature here, as he does not have a parent to guide and care for him as he learns the basic functions of his body, like when he tries to walk but finds himself falling once again. Although the creature has not learned to distinguish feelings and sensations at this moment in time, he already knew that he was in a desperate situation, “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch… I sat down and wept”.
As the creature goes on to make more discoveries about his own being and that of the world around him, his curiosity and amazement at nature shows just how innocent this ‘monster’ really is. When the creature tells he was “delighted when I first discovered the pleasant songs of the birds”, his sensitivity and warmth is obvious. This is further proved when he discovers the de Laceys’, who he watches over from a safe distance and forms an affectionate bond between them, which is unfortunately unreciprocated. Nevertheless his love for his newfound ‘friends’ shows a gracious and benevolent side to the creature, which contrasts greatly to Frankenstein’s claim that he is an “evil devil”, “the gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me”.
Not only does the monster show how sensitive he really is, it is also clear that he has great intelligence in the way that he speaks and his views on life and mankind. The creature uses intellectual and complicated words when speaking, and compared to Frankenstein in their confrontation on the ice, his speech is a lot more assured and confident. As one that has been rejected from humans so cruelly, the creature knows now just how morally wrong and prejudiced society is, and he recognises that it is because of his appearance, for even he feels “mortification” when he views himself in his reflection. The fact that the creature has learned how to distinguish between so called ‘beauty’ from ‘ugliness’ shows the effects that the prejudiced humans has had on him – he is beginning to think in the same way as the “barbarous villagers”.
His horrific appearance and his awareness of the fact that the de Laceys’ would be terrified of him does not dishearten his faith, and he still has a “future gilded by bright rays of hope” to look forward to when he makes plans to reveal himself to the cottagers. Although he has already learnt that humans in general have a huge flaw in which they immorally judge fellow human beings, his belief and hope in the cottagers is so strong that he still “imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanour and concilliating words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love”. This shows the good intentions of the creature and that all he really wants is love and companionship, again proving that he is not the mindless, evil devil that Frankenstein makes him out to be.
However the cottagers disappoint the creature and Mary Shelley creates sympathy here when they, too, fail to listen to the words of the creature without passing judgement upon him, instead choosing to attack. The creature then feels feelings of “rage and revenge” and all hope in humans is lost after he suffers from the rejection of his loved ones. He releases his anger onto the uninhabited cottage when he felt the need to “spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin”. It is already becoming clear that the endless rejection after rejection from Frankenstein, the villagers and the de Laceys’ is causing the creature to take shape into the monster that he is so often accused of being. He recognises this when he says “I am malicious because I am miserable… If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”, and so he does. He declares an “everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me”, as he blames everything that is wrong in his life on Frankenstein.
