VC shows many signs of humanity – learning from the pain of the fire not to touch it, yet discovering light and heat come from the fire also. He also has the intelligence to question how something with such benefits could convey such pain. When he is trying to continue the fire, he learns by cause and effect; he touches the wood, discovers it must be dry before burning, and then collects plenty of wood to dry out.
It is from here that VC’s learning becomes slightly more tragic. He learns next that people seem to hate him for no apparent reason. He enters a village, where he suffers attack “…until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I [VC] escaped to the open country…”. Proof of the lesson that he has learned comes in his being too afraid to enter the house attached to the hovel he hides in. The creature is developing a fear and distrust of man; “I saw the figure of a man at distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before, to trust myself in his power”.
It is here that there is another turning point in VC’s learning. Here, learning from observing the De Lacey family, he develops a deep in and insatiable desire for human company, and develops many complex human skills and feelings. The first of these is not something so much learnt, but it is evidence that he is a noble savage; “..taking up an instrument, began to play, and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale.” He can appreciate music – surely proof that Mary Shelley wishes him to be considered in human terms, not monstrous. VC also shows an appreciation for beauty that most humans could not boast; “Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent creatures” – has also learnt to think logically, to reason, given very well laid out reasons as to why they are so beautiful, backing up his argument.
The next thing is one of the most important things which VC learns – it is a lesson of morals. He sees “several times [the younger cottagers] placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves…I had been accustomed to steal some of their store, but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained”. This shows that he understands and acts out of compassion. He also “observes with pleasure” when he sees he has been of help.
Still to come are the most important facets of VC’s education; the ability to read, to appreciate the highs and lows of human capability and to appreciate emotion as key to humanity. It is from “Sorrows of Werter” that VC learns about “the importance of emotion to any definition of humanity” (the English Review). This is complimented with the violent but apparently glorious history of man which “Lives” provides, giving VC a varied and balanced view of what beauty there is in human nature, and what horror there is, too.
Paradise Lost is another book which VC stumbles upon; though this teaches him little in it self, the parallels which VC draws between it’s key characters and himself are important; he can see different aspects of each in himself. This shows the how VC has learnt to take something from a book and place into a real-life situation (“I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed”).
By far the most important part of VC’s education is his learning to speak. Though it has been proved that it is impossible to learn language in the fashion that VC does, we must remember that this is just a novel. In his learning to speak, VC gains the ability to articulate the feelings inside him, the ability to read and the ability to communicate his dreams. He learns as Safie learns, being taught by Felix. Being taught to speak and listen to speech opens the door to all other avenues of Frankenstein’s learning; his learning about humanity is increased tenfold after this. Whether this is a curse or a blessing, however, is left for us to decide – after learning how to speak and read, VC sees just how outcast he is, just how far outside the circle of love that is there between Safie, Felix, Agatha and the old man. Once he can see the extent of his loneliness, and can grasp what potential there is – once he learns that there is more to life than suffering – he is gripped by an insatiable desire to be a part of society. Society’s rejection of him, it can be argued, is what turns him from a noble savage to an educated murderer.
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