How far do you sympathise with Victor Frankenstein’s creature?
How far do you sympathise with Victor Frankenstein's creature?
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes into you"
When answering the set question, there are a number of determining factors that have to be taken into close consideration. In this essay I hope to address and evaluate each of the factors before putting forward a conclusion. Both Victor Frankenstein and the creature have serious personality defects, but there are extenuating circumstances that have to be considered before laying blame at the feet of either character.
Virtue is found at the margins of society more often than at its centre. If this is so, Mary Shelley's Creation is a typical example. Her creature is an isolate of great sensitivity, kindness, and insight. We are firstly able to attribute these virtues to him in chapter eleven when the creature is born. "Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens, and gave me a sensation of pleasure. I stared up, and beheld a radiant rise from among the trees. I gazed with a kind of wonder.........innumerable sounds rung in my ears, and on all sides various scents saluted me: the only object I could distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on it with pleasure. From these lines we can see that the creature has a positive outlook on life and is extremely sensitive and articulate. We like the creature because he creates beautiful imagery with his gentle and descriptive language and describes what he sees perfectly creating clear images in our minds. At this point we are very sympathetic towards the creature because firstly we like the creature and because his talent for language allows us to understand and relate to him.
Another important factor in this novel is the initial treatment of the creature by his creator Victor Frankenstein. In chapter five we see how Victor Frankenstein handles his parental responsibilities. Victor Frankenstein's initial feelings are of horror and disgust. "How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form". We immediately feel compassion for the pitiful creature after the cruel cold comments that Victor Frankenstein makes at the sight of the creature. He had condemned the creature without giving it a chance. We see that Victor Frankenstein is a selfish and irresponsible parent. This is further intensified when he runs off and abandons the creature leaving him alone to deal with the problems of identity, not having any parents and the emotional problems with his grotesque appearance. But his biggest problem is that he has had no childhood, no history from which to learn and experience the cruel nature of mankind. Because of this we are extremely sympathetic and compassionate towards the creature and angry with Victor Frankenstein for his selfish and irresponsible ways. In fact it is ironic that Victor Frankenstein refers to the creature as "the wretch", "the monster" or the "demon", when the being appears to be almost more human, more pitiful, and better guided in his objectives. It is ironic that the creation has more humanity than his creator and the rest of the characters that appear in the novel. It is tragic, when at the end of the novel, the creation realises that the only way to bring an end to his misery is by bringing an end to his own life.
Mary Shelley's creature was modelled on Rousseau's notion of humanity as the "noble savage." The nobility of the Creature is evident as he unveils his chronicle to Victor Frankenstein upon the icy crags of Mount Blanc. The creature asks his creator, ""Did I request thee, Maker from my clay to mould me man? Did I solicit thee, from darkness to promote me?" We see that the creature resents his creation, and therefore his creator. We see that the creature's primary concern is that of a companion who is similar in appearance and likeness to him:
"Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other human being...I was wretched, helpless and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition".
The creature's self-justification is part and parcel with the Romantic philosophy that Mary Shelley critiqued in her novel. Unlike the Enlightenment credo, "I think therefore I am," the creature's creed would have been the plaintive cry: " I suffer, therefore I am." Self-knowledge, especially knowledge of his absolute difference from others, escalates his suffering. At this point in the novel we feel extreme sympathy for the creature because we can understand how distraught the creature must feel at knowing that he well never be accepted by society and will have to lead a life of bitter isolation.
It appears mere coincidence that the creature sees a similarity between himself and Satan, the reader must consider their social similarities, not Satan's religious connotations.
Although it may seem difficult to excuse the hurt, suffering, and loss the creation causes in his quest to seek happiness and company, we do get a valuable insight into why he commits such atrocities, as the creation claims, "I am wicked because I am miserable". This helps us to understand why the creature commits such evil atrocities later on in the book and helps to tame our loss of sympathy ...
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It appears mere coincidence that the creature sees a similarity between himself and Satan, the reader must consider their social similarities, not Satan's religious connotations.
Although it may seem difficult to excuse the hurt, suffering, and loss the creation causes in his quest to seek happiness and company, we do get a valuable insight into why he commits such atrocities, as the creation claims, "I am wicked because I am miserable". This helps us to understand why the creature commits such evil atrocities later on in the book and helps to tame our loss of sympathy that follows his evil deeds.
Due to the creation's "fearsome appearance", those who meet it usually run scared, and do not understand it. "The whole village was roused: some fled, some attacked me, until grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel. This is the creature's second rejection; he is cruelly stoned and beaten by the villagers for his grotesque disfigurements. At this point in the novel our sympathy towards the creature is further intensified. We feel pity towards the creature that is treated like a monster due to his frightful appearance and the shallow minds of the frightened villagers. We also feel great hatred and dislike towards Victor Frankenstein who has left the creature alone to bare the brunt of his hideous appearance.
Like a newborn experiencing the jolt of being, he painfully adjusts to harsh light and sound, quickly learning the lesson that perception and consciousness hurt. Shying away from the glare of sunlight, the creature is cradled by the moon's subtle radiance. The gentle orb provided a patron, a companion, and a source of spiritual awe. Loneliness insists that he personify the moon as a sponsor, however the moon's accompaniment is too subtle for the nurturing of the creature. His craving for relationship is heartfelt and intense. "I longed to join them, but I dared not........the gentle movement of the girl enticed my love. We can see how the creature is struggling with the pains of loneliness and how he is longing for relationship. We feel sorry that he has to hide away from people and relationships, knowing the love and affection he has to offer. While his creator, Victor Frankenstein, shrouds himself in secrecy to avoid his fellow scientists, family and friends, the creature drifts toward civilisation to find comfort and feeling. But however much he wants to have and to be a friend, community is unimaginable. His hideous disfigurement obliges the Monster to live as a clandestine observer of humanity. And in this way the reader begins to feel pathos for the creature. We swiftly realise that he does not stand a chance of social-integration, and the companion that he so intensely wishes for will not be given to him. The creature's realisation of this, and his comparison between himself and the first, and only human being on earth, "Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other human being...I was wretched, helpless and alone." We are still extremely sympathetic towards the creature and our sympathy is furthered when we think of Victor Frankenstein living a life of Luxury with his family and friends whilst his creation lives in poverty, shame and emotional trauma.
Despite the creature's inherent misery and loneliness, at the beginning of his existence we see that as an aesthete, the creature responds to nature with appreciation and joy. With the eye of a scientist, he gradually differentiates one object from another. He observes, experiments and makes use of the benefits of the created order. This contemplative naturalist distinguishes the call of each bird species and attempts to imitate their song with his rough voice. We see an inherent sensitivity in the creature, we see that he appreciates nature, almost more than human beings, and does not hurt or harm anybody. For this, we feel sorry that his loneliness turns him from "a creature of fine sensation" to a "malignant devil", and we appreciate the difficult circumstance that he finds himself in.
The creature's emotions are stirred while scrutinising family life of the exiled De Lacey's. He admires his human exemplars for their deep love of one another and their sacrifice in times of poverty. He feels joy when they are hopeful and sadness when they are in despair. The creature's tender conscience surfaces when he discovers that his pilfering intensifies their distress. Altering his behaviour, he became their "Good Spirit," doing menial tasks without their knowledge. Later, he discerns that their experiences of injustice, at the hands of Parisian law, as well as their betrayal by Safies Muslim father, were sources of extreme torment. It dawns upon him that injustice and betrayal played a significant role in his own wretched condition. This episode makes the creature appear more tragic and pitiful than before, it appears that the creature becomes more depressed and saddened with every experience of humanity. In this part of the novel we realise that there is no hope for the creature. He has no chance of social-integration and therefore no chance of love or relationship, we can see that he has two choices death or a life as an evil malice trying to quench his emotional pains with bitter revenge.
The De Lacey's share the physical burdens of their exile, but more than that, they form a community of language, which encourages and supports them. The creature notices that language seems to be a tool for the alleviation of pain and the increase of pleasure. He therefore reasons that the mastery of the "godlike" science of words might break his lonely quarantine. It is tragic that the reader realises that the harnessing of language and communication will not alleviate his isolation and pity. Communication will intensify the creature's isolation by the realisation of his difference.
The arrival of Safie, Felix De Lacey's Arabian fiancée, expedites the creature's goal. She has to learn French in order to fully participate in family life. From behind a chink in the rough wall, the creature takes part in a hidden tutorial, learning his lessons more eagerly than Safie. His eagerness to learn and to be normal gains the respect and pity of the reader.
Volney's history, Ruins of Empires, narrated the plight of the exploited "savage" in North America. Hearing of their misery moves the creature to tears. He compares his rejection by humans with the racial bigotry of the colonists. Contrasting this history with the hospitality he observes in the cottage gives him hope. The De Laceys never turn a stranger from their door. The creature reasons that the family might welcome him.
Goethe's Sorrows of Werther introduces the Monster to the sensitivity and agonies of romance. He weeps again, feeling kinship with the unrequited Werther. Felix and Safie's affection for one another increases the intensity of the creature´s loneliness. He becomes aware of his own need for never-to-be granted sexual satisfaction. Self-destruction proposes a decisive way out of pain and rejection. Living, however, seems to offer more to the creature since Werther's wretched life displayed a depth of devotion that went beyond mere escape. Sorrow might ennoble the creature, fitting him for respect if not love. This complex thought and reason on behalf of the creature intensifies the tragedy of his destiny. Despite his external faults, we see that the creature has more intelligence, sensitivity, and compassion than many humans. Again the reader respects and pity's the creature.
Reading Milton's Paradise Lost, schools the creature concerning humanity's alienation from their Creator. It touches him deeply to learn that while God was at war with his creatures, God also went to great lengths to restore that relationship.
The creature wonders if he was worthy of redemption. Exposure to these ideas enables the creature to pose the quintessential questions of spirituality: "What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? From whence did I come? What was my destination?" This introspective questioning highlights the creature´s humanity, and makes the reader feel sorry that these questions, which lurk within all of us, cannot be favourably answered.
Learning language incites great thoughts in the creature but does not satisfy his longing for companionship. His insights and physical existence are kept to himself. Huddled in the cold outside of community, the creature's newly acquired gift of knowledge serves only to deepen his sorrow. "Was I a monster, a blot upon the earth from which all man fled............I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflict".
In the ice-cave of Mount Blanc, Victor Frankenstein is compelled to admit that the creatures "tale and feelings, proved him to be a creature of fine sensation." Relief, however, can only come through relationships. Can the creature risk rejection? Life at the margin of existence has brought out what was potentially virtuous within him. But it does not gain him acceptance into humanity, it only serves to intensify his pain and our sympathy.
Sensitivity, intelligence and the creature´s pathetic longing for community cannot overcome human revulsion toward the marred creature. Had the creature´s passionate qualities convinced Victor Frankenstein or the De Lacey family to validate him, Mary Shelley's tale would be in the genre of romantic comedy. As it stands, the story is a cataclysmic horror tale of compulsion, murder and revenge. Victor's cruel phrase, "There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies" not only unveils animus toward his progeny but speaks of humanity's collective rejection. The phrase easily translates into "you are outside of human community, we want no part of you."
Why? The origins of the creature, born of the lust of his creator´s overreaching thirst for forbidden knowledge, have implied to some interpreters that there is an inherent reason for humanity's rejection of him. Physically, the creature consisted of a tangled mass of dead body parts stitched together to become what nature would never have produced, hence the use of the word "monster", meaning "unnatural". This quality is labelled "ontological impropriety". The perpetual taboo of blending categories between living and dead, animate and inanimate sets an absolute boundary between the dead and the living. Victor Frankenstein oversteps this boundary; the creature is the consequence of transgressing nature. From the Monster's perspective this explanation is capricious and unjust: "You are what you are for reasons beyond yourself. You are damned by the human race for it." This realisation by the creature is the crux to the novel. When the creature realises that it will never be accepted, it turns on its creator, and humanity as a whole. It is important to understand that it is the continual rejection of mankind and the realisation of his social ineptitude that finally breaks him and reduces the creature to bloody vengeance. This is important to remember at the end of the novel when we start to lose sympathy.
There is one transitory exception to this stubborn rule, the blind Father De Lacey. The creature realises that his chance for friendship relied more on hearing than sight. Over the months, he observes the elderly De Lacey and finds him full of charity, character and the ability to listen. The old man's blindness could surely overcome human prejudice against physical ugliness. Initially the creature is correct. De Lacey commiserates with the Monster and graciously offers him help and friendship. The elderly gentleman concludes that his visitor is an honest person in need of a friend. Trust is short-lived, however, owing to the reaction of the old man's sighted family. The prejudice of sight prevailed. Upon the heels of promised friendship, the creature finds himself driven from the society of cottagers. Therefore, alienation produces rageful violence. So it seems that the creature´s violence and destruction is not his fault, it is the fault of those who reject him, and those who he swears vengeance against - humanity.
From now on rage carves a swath of misery through the lives of those in the path of the creature. Anger morally blinds the creature, leading him to criminality. This is tragic; all the intellectual and emotional education the creature receives is blotted by anger and hatred. Humanity has made a creature, and turned it into a monster. The fact it is not his fault allows us to sympathise more for the creature at the end of the novel after his evil deeds.
The monster plots to abduct a child whom he imagines is not perverted by human prejudice. The monster wonders if he could train a child to love him? When the child shows his repulsion "you are an ogre" and declares himself William Frankenstein, younger brother of Victor, the enraged creature strangles him. "Frankenstein! You belong to the enemy-to him towards I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim". This is where our sympathy towards the creature comes to a dramatic halt. It is human nature to hate murder and especially against the innocent, so at this point in the novel we are filled with disgust as we see the "fiend within me" as the monster explains. But the chilling issue that freezes our sympathy completely is that the creature takes pleasure in his murders. "I gazed upon my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph: clapping my hands............I had learned now to work mischief". These lines are horrifying to the reader and fill you with revulsion and abhorrence. From here the murderous rampage of the creature continues. The creature justifies his actions by saying "I am wicked because I am miserable". This comment can be translated to "I was treated badly, was rejected, and therefore I struck out in revenge". This comment summarises the creature's outlook and reasoning. The creature feels rejected therefore he seeks revenge. But this doesn't sway the hatred that we feel towards the creature at this point in the novel. His wickedness overwhelms us, especially the deviousness that he shows in his next murder. When he plants the locket on Justine, framing her for the murder of the little boy that she loved so dearly". This guile deceitfulness shocks us; it is hard to contemplate how a creature of such kindness, insight love and intelligence could commit such atrocities. We have no sympathy for the creature at this point. These feelings are further intensified by the murder of Victor Frankenstein's wife Elizabeth. "A grin was on the face of the monster; he seemed to jeer with his fiendish finger he pointed towards the corpse of my wife". The frightening lines consolidate our absolute damnation of the creature as an evil malice.
Another major factor that shakes our support for the creature is the way Mary Shelley describes the creature. Especially the description by Robert Walton, "Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face, of such loathsome yet appalling hideousness". This is a chilling description, which creates the image of a disgusting monster. We to are overcome by our shallow perceptions and further dislike the creature for his unpleasant appearance.
Within the pain and suffering of his own perspective, the creature's patience, goodwill and sensitivity seem to outstrip and justify his violence. The human species and his egocentric creator treated him horribly. The power of his rhetoric resounds in the convincing alliteration yet there is something wrong with his logic. Being in a state of misery does not necessitate miserable behaviour. The criteria for criticism of the creature is not aesthetic or moral, but behavioural. The creature is one of the most heinous types of being - a sensitive and intelligent killer. This judgement has nothing to do with the physical or metaphysical gap between the creature and humanity; there are many of his ill kind in our species.
How far we sympathise with Victor Frankenstein all depends on how much we believe the creatures final reconciliation at the end of the novel, after Victor Frankenstein's death. "Fear not that I shall be the instrument of future mischief.......but it is true that I am a wretch, I have murdered the lovely and the helpless...... farewell I leave you and in you the last of human kind whom these eyes will ever behold". We can see that the creature is repenting for his sins and is sorry for what he has done. His final suicide consolidates his guilt and sorrow at the evil actions that he committed. I believe that his final speech was heartfelt and genuine to every word.
It is criminal platform, which declares that upbringing, social pressure and heinous abuse lead to evil behaviour. Murder, theft and rape, according to this view, are inescapably the result of extraneous factors, not personal choice. Despite the creatures appalling crimes, we recognise his justification for his actions. We see that his inner pity and loneliness drive him to the edge. Frankenstein appears to be the antipathy of the creatures existence and its actions. The creature is not to blame - it is the creator. For this reason, we feel more pathos, compassion, and pity for the creature - not its creator. But we should not hate victor Frankenstein he was not an evil man, he paid a heavy price for his actions. He saw the death of his loved ones and finally his own bitter death. He was a scientist eager to break back the boundaries of science. Ever since the death of his mother he swore to put an end to death. His reasons for creating the creature are noble, but his character defects were his downfall, he was naive and irresponsible, which considering his young age I think is quite acceptable. He did not purposely set out to do harm, so I would not bestow all the blame on him. I think that both characters were caught up in a string of moral and ethical dilemmas for which they did not know the solutions, and it resulted in their deaths. In answer to the set question "how far do you sympathise with Victor Frankenstein's creature, I will say that I sympathise greatly. But I also sympathise with Victor Frankenstein who I think paid the greatest price of all.
"In no beast so fierce, does not now some touch of pity"
By
Mathew Quinn 11 NM
