The creation of the monster is made to make the readers or viewers feel sympathetic towards the this ‘monstrous thing’ that has been created in a laboratory of which the idea may be considered extremely immoral, and Frankenstein would have been accused of ‘playing god’. The process in which the ‘monster’ is created is also extremely immoral and against the law, the ‘monster’ was constructed out of the dead remains of convicts and murderers, which was seen as just raw materials used to create life. This idea already makes the reader feel for the monster because even though he is not yet alive you feel empathetic towards the situation that this ‘person’ will be in once he is shocked into life.
When the ‘monster’ is created you are presented with a very dramatic scene, where all this electricity and machinery is being used to create life. But when the monster is ‘born’ the mood changes and the dramatic atmosphere dies down as the ‘monster’ is just like a newborn baby who cannot walk, talk or any other basic human functions a person of that age would be able to do. This lack of basic human abilities (which is shown by the long and detailed scene in the film and the descriptive imagery in the book) cause the reader to instantly feel sympathetic towards the monster and the situation he has been put in.
Once the ‘monster’ is created Dr Frankenstein realises what he has done and how he has created this monster and he rejects it, so the monster is now truly alone and when he leaves Frankenstein to try and live in the outside world he realises what he is due to the fact that he sees that he is very different to everyone else and everyone else sees that as well and he is rejected from normal society. This is another time where Mary Shelley has made the readers fell sympathy towards the monster. Another reason why this instance is made to make the reader more sympathetic is because when the monster was born he was full of hope and kindness and when someone like that is rejected by he’s ‘father’ and all the people around him just because of his appearance makes the situation of creating a human not just immoral from a scientific of religious view but of the situation the ‘monster’ has been put into without any choice. Another example of the monster being rejected is when he goes and stays in the De Lacey’s barn, the De Lacey’s are a poor farming family which were having a rough time with there crops and harvesting them because of the weather but the ‘monster’ overheard there convocations and problems and being the kind, giving person he is he helps them by picking there crops and helping them get by (this is where you see a very altruistic side to the monster), he does all of this without them finding out who he is. But when the taxman comes to threaten and try to harm the eldest of the family who is blind the monster steps in and stops him. The blind man is the only person ever to talk to the monster and understand he’s problems, but when the family return and find him in there house they chase him away although he has done nothing wrong. This provides the monster with more sympathy because he was just starting to be accepted for the first time in his life and it was all taken away from him because of his appearance.
Because of all these problems in the monsters life he starts to become more and more depressed and alone which causes him to lose control and become his malicious ‘monster’ which has forgotten all ideas he had thought about humanity when he had first been created and now the prejudice of others had driven him to a life of violent revenge which ended with Victor Frankenstein’s brother and wife dead. The sympathy the lies in all this rage is that he may be a killer and there is no sympathy for that but he is also a victim and if it wasn’t for the rejection and torment from others he wouldn’t have become this ‘evil monster’.
Towards the end of the novel all that’s gone on in the monsters life starts to build up into rage, which is aimed at Dr Frankenstein. The ‘monster’ blames Frankenstein for the disastrous live he has had. When he was ‘young’ he was full of hope for the future and he had a strong belief in humanity, he was a sensitive person who enjoyed music, nature and enjoyed the time he spent ‘with’ the De Lacey’s. But there was always a hatred for himself and his appearance, which haunted his life. Mary Shelley uses all of these factors in making sure that the audience feels very sympathetic. The reason for all these situations in which the audience is made to feel sympathetic is to try and show that what Victor Frankenstein was doing was unethical, immoral, blasphemous, and is going to far into the field of scientific exploration.
One of the main reasons Mary shelly created the ‘monster’ is to maintain the viewer or readers interest, she does this in many ways. The foremost way shelly achieves this is by portraying the ‘monster’ as a ‘freak of nature’ who’s existence is sin against god. But all those things are contributing factors to the real reason why the ‘monster’ is portrayed how he is. The ‘monster’ is used in the way that he is to create a sympathetic feeling towards the situation this ‘poor creature, is in.
