Traumatised by this ‘catastrophe’, Frankenstein attempts to hide from the monster and says, “I turned loose into the world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery”. The very negative vocabulary here such as “carnage”, shows how evil Frankenstein thinks his creature is. Once again, it’s important for readers to note that he is making rash judgments based on appearance because he knows nothing about the creature’s personality.
From then onwards the monster was left alone, without a carer or even a name. Therefore, he starts to learn by himself and becomes selfless thanks to the special brain he’s been fitted with. He turns out to be exactly like a new born baby except for the appearance. At first, he can’t understand the things around him, saying “all the events of that period appear confused and indistinct”. This shows him resembling a baby because he is very confused by the world around him. It makes the reader sympathetic towards him as he has nobody to help him to understand the world, unlike most readers who have parents or guardians who they take for granted.
He also says, “I felt tormented by hunger and thirst” which shows he is suffering greatly because of his isolation. In addition, this causes the readers to sympathise even more.
In chapters 11-16 Mary Shelley portrays the monster as intelligent. This part of the book makes the readers admire the monster’s intelligence. “My mind received everyday additional ideas” shows the monster starts to think critically and it shows his desire to learn. The fact that the monster distinguished the “insect from the herb” shows that the monster begins to learn independently, through experience and observation.
By his keen listening, his learning develops from conversation from the DeLacey family: “In two months, I began to comprehend most of the words uttered by my protectors.” This quotation shows that he is very intelligent and smart. Shelley’s aim here is to show readers that he is as intelligent as ‘ordinary’ humans and, arguably even more intelligent.
Lastly, the monster says “how strange, I thought that the same cause should produce such opposite effects.” after learning that fire causes pain in addition to providing warmth. Like a child left unsupervised, he has harmed himself, which is another way that Shelley presents him as vulnerable and in need of a parent figure. This also proves that the monster begins thinking critically and very deeply. In the absence of formative learning from his parents, he is forced to learn independently and learns through experience and observation.
The monster is shown to be lonely, friendless and isolated even from his first contact with society. He is wrongly judged for his appearance: “some fled some attacked me, until grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of weapons escaped.” This shows that society spurns him and treats him as an outcast. The adverb “grievously” suggests that he is seriously injured, which evokes even more sympathy.
The creature says, “I longed to join them, but dared not,” This is understandable for the creature due to the longing of social interaction and he is afraid of being mistreated.
The monster then starts to understand that he is different to the society around him: “When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me”. This also shows that he is isolated from everyone around him and that he is harshly neglected. Furthermore, he has no father or mother or even any kind of example to look up at and learn from, saying “no father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caress”. From this point, the reader starts to sympathise with the monster because we tend to take the love and support of our parents or guardians for granted.
The monster reveals himself as being kind by empathising with the humans (the DeLacey family). He finds out that the Delacy family were suffering from hunger so he “abstained” from stealing their food to satisfy his own hunger. This shows that he is caring and a compassionate creature who is able to improvise and understand people’s situations. Furthermore, he is able to feel pity. He says, “I often took his tools... and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days”. Therefore, he shows kindness and understands the situation the family is facing and helps them by cutting wood. All this is done in secret so this proves that he doesn’t want to be rewarded for his hard work. Helping the family is rewarding enough for the creature, showing him as kind and helpful rather than an evil monster.
He proves to be really mature by being able to feel what the DeLacy family are feeling: “When they were unhappy, I felt depressed, when they rejoiced, I sympathised.” This suggests that the creature is capable of experiencing the full range of human emotions. Shelley is again emphasising the creature’s human characteristics.
Not only is the creature presented as an emotional being, he is also portrayed as a sexual being. He expresses his need for a mate so much that he goes all the way to Geneva to beg Frankenstein to create a mate for him. Further, he says, “You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for being.” In addition, the monster knows now that he is unique and that Frankenstein is the only one who can make him a mate, stating “This you alone can do.” He yearns for love and a partner to share life’s highs and lows with, which is another very human desire.
Although Frankenstein agrees to make him a mate he gradually changed his mind. That’s when the monster becomes vengeful and destroys and kills everything Frankenstein loves, for example Elizabeth.
After the DeLacey family had rejected him, assuming he was dangerous, he became really obsessed with the idea of vengeance so he departed to find Frankenstein. On the way, he met a young boy looking so innocent that he thought of giving the human race a second chance. This shows that he now understands that members of society should forgive each other to live peacefully. But as soon as Frankenstein’s creature stepped in front of the boy, the boy harshly rejects him with these words: “Monster! Ugly wretch! ... Ogre! Let me go, or I will tell my papa Frankenstein”. This part shows that now the monster can also get really hurt by words. At the sound of the name of the boy’s brother, the monster loses his temper and kills the boy. Due to the way society had shaped him, he had no regrets, claiming “for the first time the feeling of revenge and hatred filled my bosom... I bent my mind towards injury and death”. Frankenstein’s monster finally becomes out of control and no one can stop him. He says, “From that moment I declared everlasting war against the species”. From then onwards, the monster becomes violent and cold hearted. The words “everlasting war” implies that he is filled with hatred and contrast sharply with his earlier goodness and gentle nature.
In conclusion, as a reader I feel that this story perfectly reflects today’s society. Also, this backs up the saying “do not judge a book by its cover”. Shelley tells us a lot of morals. For example that genetic engineering is wrong and man should not “play god” by creating human beings or he will suffer for it. Shelley lived in a time of rapid scientific discovery. Perhaps the novel is expressing a fear of science and its powers. Even nowadays science has reached such a high level that it is possible even to clone. Everything in genetic engineering has a down side or disadvantages like Dolly the sheep who was a clone but died very early with many diseases. Of course genetic engineering has lots of benefits but in the end, is it really worth it? Shelley’s novel shows the danger of interfering with natural processes because, as a result of Frankenstein’s rash experiment, both he and his creation suffer.
Also, the whole idea of the creature being isolated from society throughout the whole book reflects what Mary Shelley had done; she married someone else’s husband and ran away with him. Due to this, society had been looking at her in disgust wherever she went. This is probably why she decided to write this book: to show people that there can be good in someone even if his appearance is misleading.
Men are born essentially “good” but are made evil by society, as Rousseau wrote. Shelley read lots of the work of Jean-Jacques Rosseau’s work. He believed that man’s nature is harmless but that it can become corrupted by society. This links to the creature who is changed dramatically by society’s cruel, prejudiced treatment of him.
The other story linked with “Frankenstein” is the death of Mary Shelley’s mother. This was a real shock for her because she couldn’t even remember her face or what her personality was like. This probably led her to find out about death and if you can bring someone back if they are dead.
Finally, Victor Frankenstein should have been responsible for the monster when he created it and should not have abandoned it. This is the same for parents. Parents should look after their children. In addition, children need love and support if they are to develop into responsible humans. The lack of care and support Frankenstein gave to his monster resulted in him becoming a killer. This reflects today’s society where parents who don’t look after their children find their children becoming criminals and failing in life.
All in all, the novel is a gripping piece of writing which I believe has many morals, which still apply to readers today, even almost two hundred years after “Frankenstein” was first published.
