Frankenstein Passage Analysis

        The monster understands. In this passage, the monster truly finds the origin of himself, his own metaphysics. At this point, his feelings of abandonment and bitterness by his master are confirmed by putting his newfound skill of reading to use and "deciphering the characters" in Victor's journal. Equally significant, by realising the such crude and disgusting circumstances in which he was created, the monster experiences his first major emotion of retribution. Reading the journal essentially confirms his indignant will to take revenge against Victor, the simple accusation being that Victor made the monster very different from the rest of the world and the former did not care for the latter. In addition, this is an important intellectual development for the creature. After acquiring the skill of reading, this is the first time when he comprehends text that is directly pertinent to his very existence. Finally, though mentioned many times before this passage, the monster's description of what the letters told him characterise Victor as the true monster. Victor is the bitter, callous person who abandoned his baby as soon as it was created. The monster even claims to rather be Satan himself, for Satan had fellow-devils to admire and encourage him. This companionship is something the creature earnestly yearns for and the major driver of his feelings of vengeance.

        The effect of the artwork is purely representational and is to illustrate the monster's comprehension of the disgusting and loathsome circumstance in which he was made. I chose to use pencil and not add to the grey lead-colour in order to help convey the gloominess yet simplicity of the matter. The content the monster reads from the journal has a strong macabre and mean-spirited frame of mind, illustrated by the grey hue, while the insight the monster gains is very straightforward: Victor did not bother to help his creation in any way whatsoever, leaving it to face the world by itself and struggle without any guidance from a mother-figure. The angle, design, and shape are again, like the effect of the artwork, for purely representational purposes. I discovered a front-view that showed the book as well is the most practical method of drawing the scene. Lastly, the title, "The Monster Understands", expresses the significance of the passage in a very curtail yet descriptive manner.