Mary Shelley then allows the reader to learn that the monster possesses emotion and passion. The monster failed to understand each emotion that he experienced, but they all affected him. The monster experienced feelings of happiness, joy and excitement several times. However, for most of the time, he felt lonely, neglected and depressed. Evil and anger corrupted him. The monster let his anger and negativity get the best of him, and he acted irresponsibly because of it. This shows that the monsters fury and violence is only a product of his loneliness and misery. Like Frankenstein, many other people thought that the monster was incapable of having such feelings or emotions.
The monster has natural attraction to humans and wants friendship from them, this also shows that the monster is a good creature, but as soon as the villagers see the monster they run away in horror, as soon as this happens he realises he is hated because of his appearance. The monster tries to accomplish friendship when he encounters the De Lacey family. The monster hopes to gain friendship from the old man and eventually his children. He knows that it can be possible because the old man is blind, he can’t see the monster's repulsive characteristics. But fate is against him and the ‘miserable wretch’ has barely spoken with the old man before his children return from their journey and see a monstrous creature at the feet of their father attempting to harm a helpless old man.
‘Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore the creature from his father, to whose knees he clung...’
Felix's actions hurt the monster. He knows that his dream of living with them ‘happily ever after’ wont happen and with the encounter still fresh in his mind along with his first encounter of humans, he ‘declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, him who had formed and sent him forth to this insupportable misery.’
Here the reader feels sympathy for the monster because of the brutal treatment which he suffers at the hands of humans but at the same time scared of what the monster is capable of.
The monster then compares himself to Adam in the novel. Frankenstein like God, creates human life, the difference is that the monster does not have his creator to tell him what he should or should not do. The monster, like Adam does not have any contact with other human life, but for a different reason. He isn’t in contact with others because of his physical appearance, unlike Adam who had no choice.
‘Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. He had come from the hands of God, a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature but I was wretched, helpless, and alone.’
Adam and the monster lived part of their lives alone, but there came a point where they were in need of a mate. Adam asked God to create a mate for him and God satisfied his request. The monster also asks Frankenstein for a mate. The monster says he can’t manage being alone. Frankenstein at first says no, but then he is convinced and promises to do the work.
There are many themes in the novel such as science, cruelty, fear, love, revenge, and loneliness.
Science is evidently always changing and advancing, yet it still relates with some of the problems Frankenstein encountered during his day. Many people are very against the ideas of creating a human life, except in the ways nature intended. Frankenstein didn't know the creature would turn into this monster and kill others, nor did he know the creature would also be as kind and gentle as well. Frankenstein also didn't consider how society would accept and treat the creature. The creature was not exactly of normal standards, and when someone tries to place a being like that in a normal human environment without any guidance or teaching, then he was certain to be disliked and punished as many people have throughout history just for being different.
Frankenstein was also related to a significant theme of today, which is cloning. Many people now are against the idea of it. In the wrong hands problems are bound to arise. For example in Frankenstein's time he really hadn't thought this through very much. He was focused on whether or not he could make it happen, and he didn't think about what he should have been doing if it actually did. Many Scientists today have the same problem, even though times have changed.
There is one more reason people do not like the idea of forming new life. This would be because it goes against most of the natural laws known. This is true even in Frankenstein's time as well as in the present, because the natural laws and religion have hardly changed or evolved much.
Overall there is a lot of correlation between the concepts and ideas in science then as well as today. I think Mary Shelley was trying to warn us to use science carefully and that there are many consequences to creating human life, also shelly could have been trying to tell us that human society itself is monstrous and unfair.
