Despite the creature´s inherent misery and loneliness, at the beginning of his existence we see that as an aesthete, the creature responds to nature with appreciation and joy. With the eye of a scientist, he gradually differentiates one object from another. He observes, experiments and makes use of the benefits of the created order. This contemplative naturalist distinguishes the call of each bird species and attempts to imitate their song with his rough voice. We see an inherent sensitivity in the creature, we see that he appreciates nature, almost more than human beings, and does not hurt or harm anybody. For this, we feel sorry that his loneliness turns him from "a creature of fine sensation" to a "malignant devil".
The creature´s emotions are stirred while scrutinising family life of the exiled De Lacey´s. He admires his human exemplars for their deep love of one another and their sacrifice in times of poverty. He feels joy when they are hopeful and sadness when they are in despair. The creature's tender conscience surfaces when he discovers that his pilfering intensifies their distress. Altering his behaviour, he became their "Good Spirit," doing menial tasks without their knowledge. Later, he discerns that their experiences of injustice, at the hands of Parisian law, as well as their betrayal by Safie's Muslim father, were sources of extreme torment. It dawns upon him that injustice and betrayal played a significant role in his own wretched condition. This episode makes the creature appear more tragic and pitiful than before, it appears that the creature becomes more depressed and saddened with every experience of humanity.
The De Lacey´s share the physical burdens of their exile, but more than that, they form a community of language, which encourages and supports them. The creature notices that language seems to be a tool for the alleviation of pain and the increase of pleasure. He therefore reasons that the mastery of the "godlike" science of words might break his lonely quarantine. It is tragic that the reader realises that the harnessing of language and communication will not alleviate his isolation and pity. Communication will intensify the creature´s isolation by the realisation of his difference.
The arrival of Safie, Felix De Lacey's Arabian fiancée, expedites the creature's goal. She has to learn French in order to fully participate in family life. From behind a chink in the rough wall, the creature takes part in a hidden tutorial, learning his lessons more eagerly than Safie.
Volney's history, Ruins of Empires, narrated the plight of the exploited "savage" in North America. Hearing of their misery moves the creature to tears. He compares his rejection by humans with the racial bigotry of the colonisers. Contrasting this history with the hospitality he observes in the cottage gives him hope. The De Laceys never turn a stranger from their door. The creature reasons that the family might welcome him.
Goethe's Sorrows of Werther introduces the Monster to the sensitivity and agonies of romance. He weeps again, feeling kinship with the unrequited Werther. Felix and Safie's affection for one another increases the intensity of the creature´s loneliness. He becomes aware of his own need for never-to-be granted sexual satisfaction. Self-destruction proposes a decisive way out of pain and rejection. Living, however, seems to offer more to the creature since Werther's wretched life displayed a depth of devotion that went beyond mere escape. Sorrow might ennoble the creature, fitting him for respect if not love. This complex thought and reason on behalf of the creature intensifies the tragedy of his destiny. Despite his external faults, we see that the creature has more intelligence, sensitivity, and compassion than many humans.
Reading Milton's Paradise Lost schools the creature concerning humanity's alienation from their Creator. It touches him deeply to learn that while God was at war with his creatures, God also went to great lengths to restore that relationship.
The creature wonders if he was worthy of redemption. Exposure to these ideas enables the creature to pose the quintessential questions of spirituality: "What did this mean? Who was I? What was I? From whence did I come? What was my destination?." This introspective questioning highlights the creature´s humanity, and makes the reader feel sorry that these questions, which lurk within all of us, cannot be favourably answered.
Learning language incites great thoughts in the creature but does not satisfy his longing for companionship. His insights and physical existence are kept to himself. Huddled in the cold outside of community, the creature's newly acquired gift of knowledge serves only to deepen his sorrow.
In the ice-cave of Mount Blanc, Victor Frankenstein is compelled to admit that the creature´s "tale and feelings, proved him to be a creature of fine sensation." Relief, however, can only come through relationships. Can the creature risk rejection? Life at the margin of existence has brought out what was potentially virtuous within him. But it does not gain him acceptance into humanity, it only serves to intensify his pain.
Sensitivity, intelligence and the creature´s pathetic longing for community cannot overcome human revulsion toward the marred creature. Had the creature´s passionate qualities convinced Victor Frankenstein or the De Lacey family to validate him, Mary Shelley's tale would be in the genre romantic comedy. As it stands, the story is a cataclysmic horror tale of compulsion, murder and revenge. Victor's cruel phrase, "There can be no community between you and me; we are enemies" not only unveils animus toward his progeny but speaks of humanity's collective rejection. The phrase easily translates into "you are outside of human community, we want no part of you."
Why? The origins of the creature, born of the lust of his creator´s overreaching thirst for forbidden knowledge, have implied to some interpreters that there is an inherent reason for humanity's rejection of him. Physically, the creature consisted of a tangled mass of dead body parts stitched together to become what nature would never have produced, hence the use of the word "monster", meaning "unnatural". This quality is labelled by horror philosopher Noel Carrol, as "ontological impropriety." The perpetual taboo of blending categories between living and dead, animate and inanimate sets an absolute boundary between the dead and the living. Victor Frankenstein oversteps this boundary; the creature is the consequence of transgressing nature. From the Monster's perspective this explanation is capricious and unjust: "You are what you are for reasons beyond yourself. You are damned by the human race for it." This realisation by the creature is the crux to the novel. When the creature realises that it will never be accepted, it turns on its creator, and humanity as a whole.
There is one transitory exception to this stubborn rule, the blind Father De Lacey. The creature realises that his chance for friendship relied more on hearing than sight. Over the months, he observes the elderly De Lacey and finds him full of charity, character and the ability to listen. The old man's blindness could surely overcome human prejudice against physical ugliness. Initially the creature is correct. De Lacey commiserates with the Monster and graciously offers him help and friendship. The elderly gentleman concludes that his visitor is an honest person in need of a friend. Trust is short-lived, however, owing to the reaction of the old man's sighted family. The prejudice of sight prevailed. Upon the heels of promised friendship, the creature finds himself driven from the society of cottagers. Therefore, alienation produces rageful violence. So it seems that the creature´s violence and destruction is not his fault, it is the fault of those who reject him, and those who he swears vengeance against - humanity.
From now on rage carves a swath of misery through the lives of those in the path of the creature. Anger morally blinds the creature, leading him to criminality. This is tragic; all the intellectual and emotional education the creature receives is blotted by anger and hatred. Humanity has made a creature, and turned it into a monster.
The monster plots to abduct a child whom he imagines is not perverted by human prejudice. The monster wonders if he could train a child to love him? When the child shows his repulsion and declares himself William Frankenstein, younger brother of Victor, the enraged creature strangles him. And so the murderous rampage of the creature continues. The creature justifies his actions by saying "I am wicked because I am miserable". This comment can be translated to "I was treated badly, was rejected, and therefore I struck out in revenge". This comment summarises the creature´s outlook and reasoning. The creature feels rejected therefore he seeks revenge.
Within the pain and suffering of his own perspective, the creature's patience, goodwill and sensitivity seem to outstrip and justify his violence. The human species and his egocentric creator treated him horribly. The power of his rhetoric resounds in the convincing alliteration yet there is something wrong with his logic. Being in a state of misery does not necessitate miserable behaviour. The criteria for criticism of the creature is not aesthetic or moral, but behavioural. The creature is one of the most heinous types of being - a sensitive and intelligent killer. This judgement has nothing to do with the physical or metaphysical gap between the creature and humanity; there are many of his ilk in our species.
It is a criminal platform, which declares that upbringing, social pressure, and heinous abuse lead to evil behaviour. Murder, theft and rape, according to this view, are inescapably the result of extraneous factors, not personal choice. Despite the creature´s appalling crimes, we recognise his justification for his actions. We see that his inner pity and loneliness drive him to the edge. Frankenstein appears to be the antipathy of the creature´s existence and its actions. The creature is not to blame - it is the creator. For this reason, we feel more pathos, compassion, and pity for the creature - not its creator.
"In no beast so fierce, does not now some touch of pity"
