“I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing in my bedchamber” and when the monster comes towards him he describes that:
“One hand was stretched out seemingly to detain me but I escaped, and rushed downstairs.”
These reactions show his disgust and complete rejection of his creation and he feels so strongly that he cannot bear to be in the same room as the monster. When the monster reaches out to Frankenstein his immediate reaction to this gesture was to flee even though this could have been a sign of friendship.
There is a use of various Gothic techniques before and after the creation of the monster, which are “rain pattered dismally against the panes” which shows alliteration and “candle was nearly burnt out” also “dim yellow light of the moon.” All these elements show pathetic fallacy, which represent how Frankenstein is feeling at that point in time. Another classic gothic image is that of an outstretched hand seemingly to grab someone which is shown when Frankenstein is in his bedchamber and the monster confronts him. All these gothic elements intensify the series of sinister events of this chapter of the novel.
Frankenstein reveals his rejection further by not giving the monster a name, instead referring to it as a “thing” and a “miserable monster.” This shows he does not think of the monster as human and thus leaves the monster without an identity.
Frankenstein’s actions when the monster is created could be explained by the continuous repetition of the pronoun ‘I’. This shows he is very self-absorbed and this could be the reason he does not sympathise with the monster.
Chapter seven follows the monster, having been forced to flee Inglostadt, lives outside a cottage in the woods. He watches the De Lacey family, who are the residents of the cottage and learns from them. The narrative perspective has now shifted from Victor Frankenstein to the monster.
From this perspective we discover how the monster begins to learn different aspects of human nature. He tells us that:
“I learned from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues and to deprecate the vices of mankind.”
He learns this from the De Lacey family as he learns how to read.
The monster reads books, left by the De Lacey family, and realises a greater deal about him but raises many questions in his mind, which include “who was I?” ”What was I?” and “Whence did I come?” He also believes his “person hideous” and “stature gigantic” and that he is “dependent on none” and “related to none.”
This creates sympathy for the monster because he is very confused at this time and is just coming to terms of his rejection from Frankenstein and what he actually is.
Another of the books the monster reads is ‘Paradise Lost’, which is based on the biblical story of Adam and Eve, taken from the book of Genesis. When the monster begins to read this book he begins to compare himself to Adam by saying:
“Like Adam I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence” but he then realises that, in fact, he is very different from Adam, because Adam was a “perfect creature, happy and prosperous guided by his creator” but the monster believed himself to be “wretched, helpless and alone.” Most of all he realised “no Eve soothed my sorrows or shared my thoughts.”
This makes the reader feel sympathy for the monster because they see how worthless the monster believes himself to be and has no one to share his thoughts and feelings with.
When the monster discovers Frankenstein’s journal he states that this “ strengthened and confirmed these feelings.” He discovers Victor Frankenstein’s feelings towards his birth as the “hateful day when I received life” and the monster realises that he is “so hideous that even you (referring to Frankenstein) turned from me in disgust.”
The reader feels sympathy for the monster at this time because he realises, unlike Adam, that his creator loathed and detested him, and they realise how uncaring Frankenstein was.
Finally, the monster decides that that the cottagers should ”become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues.”
He decided to enter the cottage when the old, blind man was alone. When the monster entered the cottage and began conversing with the old man he was interrupted by the rest of the family returning home who were shocked at the stranger in their house. Agatha fainted, Safie fled and Felix through the monster to the ground and beat him with a stick.
At this moment the monsters “heart sunk” and was filled with “bitter sickness.” At this point he fled to his hovel, next to the cottage, “overcome by pain and anguish”
You feel great sympathy for the monster at this point because he has been rejected yet again by the only people he cared for and thought would accept him.
Overall, Shelly uses many different ways of creating sympathy for the monster including detailed descriptions of the birth of the monster, which also incorporates the use of gothic images, the use of first person and a switch in narrative perspective. Shelly wanted the reader to sympathise with the monster because of the views and attitude to scientific research at that period of time, which she saw as dangerous and frightening. Also Shelley’s personal views on parenting and personal responsibility contribute to her making the audience feel sympathy for the monster. The Rejection the monster feels relates to Shelley’s own mother dying during childbirth.
