HOW IS THE MONSTER PORTTRAYED IN CHAPTERS 11 TO 16 OF THE FRANKENSTEIN NOVEL?

English Coursework

FRANKENSTEIN

INTRODUCTION

Frankenstein is a long novel written by Mary Shelley, a 19 year old girl who created Frankenstein out of her own nightmares. Mary started writing the novel in the 19th century. Mary was born in 1797 and grew up in troubled times. Her life was a peculiar one it was filled with demons and from this life came a terrifying tale which went from generation to generation horrifying adults and children all over the world. The source of the book was Switzerland and this is where Mary was living when she wrote the book. In Switzerland life was lived in an age of rapidly increasing scientific discovery. Biology was the most crucial subject as many lives were being lost and a solution to preventing this was deeply required. With all the discoveries people built up wild imaginations about bringing the dead to life with the complex use of magnetism and electricity. As a child Mary heard of scientists going out of the laws boundaries and trying to bring in-animate substances back to life. Mary had a father who she loved and admired, his name was William Godwin and he was a brilliant philosopher. Mary’s mother could not be loved by her because she passed away after Mary’s birth due to a great weakness of her body. Her name was Mary Wilson who was a famous feminist.

After growing up stressfully and reaching the age of 16 she met up with a young man called Percy Bish Shelley who was aged 21. She got married to him and found that he was a very serious man. After the cheerful marriage Mary remembered her nightmares and all the chronicles and legends she had heard as a child. These memories struck a chord in her imagination and it influenced Mary to write the novel. In the 19th century medicine was not as sophisticated as it is today and dissection was illegal. This meant that more people were dying and the urge for scientific discoveries increased. Mary was impressed and influenced by the whole scientific and medical references made. Her parents were both revolutionists therefore she also had an interest in revolutionary. By the age of 17 Mary Shelley gave birth to a baby girl 2 months prematurely. The baby was to die afterwards and after it did she was left with haunting nightmares. Less then a year later she had a son who she named William. The monster was a reflection of Mary’s turbulent life. So now we can see how she was influenced by her own life and its nightmares to write the novel ‘FRANKENSTEIN’.

The novel is based on a Swiss scientist who held absolutely deranged ambitions. His ultimate desire was to re-animate life and he thought that in doing so he would be able to preserve life and prevent death. This scientists name is Victor Frankenstein and his mother’s death, which was due to the birth of his brother influenced and encouraged him greatly to fulfil his unstable desires, which were to compose life out of an in-animate body. Victor began his delirious venture by travelling to Ingolstadt, a university in Geneva where he studied the proficiency of anatomy. In Ingolstadt Victor met an ingenious anatomist who had similar ambitions and intentions as himself. Victor worked with this man and progressed slowly in their work. Then a tragic event took place which resulted with the death of Victor’s colleague. This drastic event ignited Victor’s determination and accelerated his work. After 2 years of compulsive devotion to his work Victor came upon the last few steps to his procedure of re-animating life. Victor had suffered starvation and discomfort during his arduous work and when he opened his eyes to the results of his foolish experiment he saw the most horrific and repulsive being he had ever set eyes on. Victor fled from the place and left the monster neglected and abandoned.

The monster awoke feeling lonely and desolated; it suffered various types of pain such as hunger and cold. These experiences of pain lead the monster to explore the world and its society in a search of pleasure and a solution to prevent pain. The monsters curiosity and anxiety of the world lead it to learn and discover how nature and its complicated components work, it gained the knowledge of how fire works through experience and he discovered how to express himself using the language English through observation. It observed a family called the De Lacey family who lived in a cottage and from them progressing steadily it learnt the language, English. The monster had acquired a hovel beside the De Lacey family’s cottage and fed on berries and nuts. The monster learnt to read soon after and eventually discovered the true looks of itself; it found that it was preposterously ugly and humans were tremendously frightened of it. The monster found Victors journal in one of the pocket of Victor’s coat jacket, which it had acquired from his birthplace. It used the information in the journal to cunningly track Victor down, A journey later the monster and Victor met formally for the first time at the sea of ice (North Pole) where the monster explained its despondency and his great depression. The monster asked Victor to create another female monster like itself so he could have a companion. Victor disagreed and endured the wrath of the monster as it hunted down his family one by one. When the monster reached Victors beloved newly wedded wife (Elizabeth) and made her perish Victor filled with detestation and the need for vengeance. Victor began to follow the monster, he travelled through the sea of ice and during his journey he met an ambitious explorer. This explorers name was Victor Walton and he had similarly to Victor Frankenstein a great strength in fulfilling his desires and ambitions. Victor Frankenstein explained thoroughly his tale and his great mistake and the moral was that people can go too far with their ambitions. Victor Frankenstein perished soon after in grief and despair and when the monster discovered this he was amazingly in tears as Victor was his father and the only family he had.

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This essay is based on 6 chapters, chapter 11 to chapter 16. These chapters have been requested for this essay because they are more significant then the others. This is because these chapters contain the detailed description of the monsters inner feelings and they specify the monsters momentous and crucial thoughts. These chapters encapsulate the tale of the monsters life and every step of it. In chapter 11 where the monster awakes for the first time, it is shown essentially as an innocent new born baby who is innocuous in every possible way. The monsters intelligence is then shown fundamentally as it learns at a supernatural speed and acknowledges nature promptly. One of the monsters most imperative feelings is contained within the required chapters and this is lonesomeness and negligence, this feeling of the monster is crucial because they are greatly effective in the action the monster takes afterwards. From chapters 11 to 16 the monster is shown in alternative views, at a point it is shown as a kind and amiable being with peaceful feelings. Then its feelings turn into a state where it looks for revenge and hatred packed his heart with evil intentions. These feelings are enormously effective to the novels plot and therefore are a highly significant part of the novel. The monster is a male consequently it feels masculine feelings, one of these is sexual desire and the monster feels this in chapters 11 to 16. This feeling shows the similarities between humans and the monster and therefore acts as a very crucial part of expressing the monsters feelings in chapters 11 to 16. Overall the required chapters are undoubtedly significant because they consist of all the crucial feelings of the monster which plays a humungous part in the novel.

THE ESSAY

The monsters birth is set on a dreary November night, immediately you can see that a tragic event is to be held. Then the event occurs and the monster lying lifeless revitalises with the nature of a newborn baby and awakens for the first time. When the monster opens its eyes the cowardly horror stricken scientist stares back. The scientist, Victor Frankenstein is the center character in the chapters before chapter 11 to 16. Therefore the monster is displayed through the eyes of Victor Frankenstein and is shown from his point of view. Victor uses immensely effective describing words to describe the monster such as:

“Dull yellow eyes” and:

“Wretch”. These words give the abundant impression that the monster is a horrifyingly revolting and unimaginably deformed beast. Victor describes the monster as if it was the most horrendous creature that he had ever set eyes on. Frankenstein is obviously devastated by the futile results of his deranged experiment, his dreams and ambitions had been shattered. Victor had put his utmost devotion and determination into his experiment which had turned out to be a massive calamity. This is shown in the part:

“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?” This quotation is a rhetorical question and implicates that Victor had wasted 2 years of his life and had suffered uncountable pains and starvation all for the creation of a worthless and repulsive creature that was of no use to him.

Victor Frankenstein then contrasts the features of the monster which he himself had personally selected for his creation. Victor says:

“His yellow skin covered the work of muscles and arteries” and:

“His teeth of a pearly whiteness, but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes”. The contrasting quotation portrays the beautiful features of the monster which have been concealed and masked by the disgusting and atrocious features that its body also obtained. Victor then grievingly describes his emotions and feelings about the wretched results that he had attained. He describes the monster as a complete squander of time and space which he could have put into use and value in other methods. This is shown in the parts:

“For this I had deprived myself of rest and health” and:

“Breathless horror and disgust filled my heart”. These quotations are very effective in expressing Victor’s feelings and they display how Frankenstein’s dreams and desires to re-animate life had been totally destroyed and shattered due to the horrendous monster of a creation which he had resulted with.

After the monsters intriguing birth in chapter 11 it was abandoned and left neglected by its own creator, Victor Frankenstein. This is when the monsters tale commences and from then forwards the monsters life is viewed through its own eyes and it is the central character. This change of central character affects our view of the monster and changes our opinion and judgement about him. The monster describes how he felt and his thoughts after he had been born, According to the monster he was a knowledge less and immaculate being who had just gone through the first step of his life. This is shown in the part:

“It was indeed a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my senses”. This quotation shows that the monster had not yet obtained the knowledge of how to function his senses such as hearing and smelling. The monster had similar to humans 5 senses and when he was born all 5 senses rushed at him and had the monster confused. The monster then presents himself as a pained and depressed critter that is alone in his species and in every other way. The monster desperately requires to obtain knowledge of the basics and necessities of life such as how to fulfil his hunger and keep warm.

The monster describes the cold as an oppressive element of nature; this is shown in the part:

“I was oppressed by cold”. This quotation shows that the monster was receiving unpleasant pain from nature’s way. The monster then realises that nature has good and bad elements, he starts comparing the differences:

“I found that the sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and thrush were sweet and enticing”. This quotation is a comparison between the pleasures and pains of nature. The monster realised that he could not express himself and then built up a strong desire to express himself. The monster is curious and anxious about his surrounding environment and the world so he explores and seeks knowledge to overcome or fulfil his desires. The monster finds sunlight disturbing to his eyes; this is shown in the part:

“The light became more and more oppressive to me”. This quotation shows that the light sometimes irritates the monster and his eyes have not adjusted yet just like a new born baby. All these first time experiences of using his senses and his feelings implicate that the monster is a new born innocent being that is sinless and fresh without guilt.

The monsters desire for knowledge rapidly increases and he begins to explore the environment he had occupied. The monsters rate of information input was swift and supernaturally efficient. The monster can be viewed as a highly intelligent being as it learns quickly from experience and observation. The monster learns from experience how nature is sophisticatedly constructed and how it can bring pain as well as pleasure to a person. The cold was one of those natural feelings which brought pain upon the monster making the monsters brain work super fast to find a solution to prevent this pain. The monster also learns from comforting and pained experiences how fire functions:

“I was overcome with delight at the warmth” and:

“I thrust my hand into the live embers but quickly drew it out again in pain”. These quotations show how the monster came upon the discovery of how fire functioned.

The monster observed a small family called the De Lacey family who lived in a small cottage in the woods. From them he learns and applies the language English, he started off by learning the most frequently used words and progressively at high speed widened his vocabulary and improved his punctuality:

“I learned and applied the words, fire, milk, bread and wood”. In this quotation the monster is saying that he had learned a few words which he could use and therefore he had partially fulfilled his desire of expressing himself. He could use these words to refer to objects. After learning to speak the language the monster became eager to learn more so he acquired a book called ‘Volneys Ruins of Empires’ and studied it in amazement and astonishment. After studying the book the monster had constructed a fluent vocabulary with complex words.

After the monster was abandoned yet again by the De Lacey family his feelings spun frantically out of control and his mind turned to think in a devious way. He wanted revenge on Frankenstein and would stop at nothing until he had satisfied his need for vengeance. These conniving thoughts and feelings lead the monster to his first act of guilt, he had murdered a young boy called William Frankenstein, Victor’s young brother. The monster uses cunning intelligence to divert the guilt onto Justine and implicate the murder sentence on her. The monster is also shown as highly intelligent by presenting him as a curious being, he questions about life and its purposes:

“Where were my friends and relations?” and:

“What was I?” These questions show that the monster has a sophisticated brain and his intelligence is great. All these ingenious thoughts and experiences display the monsters great intelligence.

The monster then starts to present himself as a lonely outcast with no friends or relatives of any kind. The monster obviously feels depressed and neglected. He describes himself as being lonesome and feeling awful about himself. The monsters emotions are greatly effected by the loneliness and rejection. In this fragment of the novel I would say in my own opinion that the monster obtains a lot of sympathy from the readers. The monsters preposterously ugly looks and beastly voice makes the monsters feelings worse and makes him feel even more degrading. The monster thinks of himself as junk and a futile being who is useless to and at everything. The monsters grief and anguish worsens rapidly as he experiences repeated profound negligence and abandoning. To the villagers and inhabitants of the world and his surrounding environment he was a demon from the hellfire who brought hellish diseases and infections with him such as cholera. He was ruled out of the human race without a single chance or option to fit in. He was treated and seen as a totally different species, into one even worse then amphibians and cold blooded reptiles. This is how low the monster was and this is why he presents himself as a forlorn being who had been outcast from human beings. The monster was seen as ‘evil stitched to evil’ and leading to more EVIL!! These situations of repeated abundant neglecting and abandoning made the monster desperate for a companion therefore he represents himself as lonely and an outcast to human society.

The monster is a male being and therefore experiences masculine feelings. One exceptionally powerful masculine feeling is sexual desire, the need for sexual experience. When observing the De Lacey family and exploring the monster finds himself in occasional situations where his feelings give him the urge to fulfil his sexual desire. One of these situations is in the part:

“I beheld countenance of angelic beauty and expression. Her hair of a shiny raven black, and curiously braided, her eyes were dark, but gentle, although animated, her features of a regular proportion, and her complexion wondrously fair, each cheek tinged with a lovely pink”. This extensive quotation shows how the monster feels about Safies’ looks, the Arabian visitor. The monster is obviously sexually attracted to Safie and has sexual desires for her. Another situation where the monster experiences sexual desire is in the part:

“For a fee moments I gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her lovely lips”. This quotation portrays that the monster was sexually attracted to Justine and held strong desires for her. He stared at her beautiful features and gave out the image that he was drooling. These experiences of sexual desire influences and encourage the monsters strong feelings for a companion and portray him as having sexual desires.

During his life the monster portrays himself in many different ways. His looks were truly deceiving; he looked unimaginably monstrous and immensely deformed. But nevertheless he was full of kind and cordial feelings; his inside was warm, pleasant and affectionate. He had consideration and cared for others, an example of this is shown in the part:

“I had been accustomed, during the night, to steal a part of their store for my own consumption; but when I found that in doing this I inflicted pain on the cottagers, I abstained, and satisfied myself on berries and nuts”. This poignant quotation proves that the monster has kind feelings and has concerns for the De Lacey family. He would without a hesitation put the cottagers needs first and keep them content and out of harms way. Another example of an honest good deed carried out by the monster is shown in the part:

“I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist their labours. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire; and, during the night, I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days”. This quotation views how the monster carried out a caring deed regardless of any benefits for himself. This shows how much the monster is willing to do to keep the De Lacey family happy. The monster filled with emotional feelings when he witnessed the reaction of the family to his good deed. They were indeed very pleased and thanked the mysterious being who had carried out the deed.

These examples of strong and effective feelings coming from the monster show that the monster is more complaisant then general human beings. The monsters mind was of a good nature and more sophisticated then a regular human being. His intentions at first were righteous and positive; his feelings toward the world and its inhabitants were of amiability, refinement, generosity and courtesy. His feelings were undeniably fragile and delicate; in this case the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ is acceptable. The monster didn’t mean to harm a living soul on the planet but the humans misjudged the monster and they didn’t see the real him.

After experiencing what seemed like hell the monsters attitude and feelings toward the world and its occupants altered and turned into a bitter and destructive form. The monster had been put through the most severe negligence and rejection that could ever come into existence. First he had been deserted by his own father and creator, Victor Frankenstein who had taken one look at the monster and filled with disgust and regret. Victor turned and ran as far away from the monster as he could. Victor was obviously repentant and wanted to forget and put the monster out of his mind. The monster then had no choice but to face the society which he did by going out into the public and then regretted it as he was rejected again by the society, the public fled in horror as they were petrified. He then realised that he was an outcast and he would never be accepted. He was an ignominy to human society and would never fit in anyway. This is shown in the part:

“I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted”. This quotation shows how gruesome the monster was; to the children he was a creature from one of their dreadfully imaginative nightmare, and to the grown and mature adults he was a sight where you should need to faint. This quotation shows how the monster was being misunderstood and misjudged by humanity and seen as a revolting beast instead of the kind and gentle being he was inside.

The humans thought the monster was a disparaging demon with an evil mind so the humans became frantic and went ballistic. This is shown in the part:

The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and other kind of missile weapons”. This quotation shows exactly how harshly the monster was treated, the humans’ unjustified reaction to the monsters appearance made him very distressed. Without a thought or care for the monster or listening to his side of the story the humans attacked with greatly groundless fury. These abundant cases of rejection, abandoning and negligence ignited the monsters bitter feelings of anger and his most crucial desire became revenge. Revenge on Victor was on top of the monsters list. This was because the monster felt that if Victor Frankenstein had taken responsibility of his experiment and taken care of him the monster would have had a chance in life. At this part the monster decided to turn into the most destructive beast that everyone saw him as, his intentions were to cause havoc and mayhem. He was going to be responsible for devastation and murders. The monster decided that once he had tracked down Victor he would force him to re-animate life again and create for him a companion. The monster became so bitter that he wouldn’t stop at a single sin to fulfil his desire for revenge. So in the end the monster had become what he was wrongfully judged as.

In chapters 11 to 16 the monster is basically presented as a being that had a possibility of having a purpose to his life and being somewhat of use. But his father and creator Victor Frankenstein did not give him a chance and made him suffer the life of a purposeless and useless being. At the least Victor should have given the monster a name that way the monster would feel a bit significant. But Victor didn’t stop to think how the monster would feel, Victor thought the monster was useless and didn’t have the slightest possibility of being useful because of the way he looked and the way he sounded. The monster was deprived of having a possible purpose to his existence as he was abandoned and rejected right from the beginning. The monster is also portrayed as an innocent being that was forced to carry out evil deeds and strained into being guilty by the ruthless treatment he received from society. In the end the monster describes his actions as being justified by the treatment he had suffered from society, he also presents his feelings as being very similar to humans.

In my own opinion and judgement the monster is warm hearted and pleasant, I think apart from his irregular looks and with his gentle personality he would have fit in perfectly with a kind and loving human family. But this was not made an option as all of the humans that the monster congregated with acted indecent and fled in fright or faint in astonishment and shock. The treatment the monster received can be described as discrimination to a single being and segregation of him from the rest of the beings. He was been treated unfairly and inequity would be a good word to describe the treatment. The monster had been outcast from all humanity and nature, he was like a work of repugnance which damaged and made the work of beautiful nature look ugly. Without a single chance the monster had been misjudged and although innocent wrongfully seen as guilty, guilty of what? Guilty of being who he is and looking the way he looked. Obviously the monster is much sympathized and commiserated for by the readers and also myself. I feel sympathy for the monster because he was absolutely innocent and misapprehended and seen as guilty. He was treated unjustifiably and inexcusably harsh. He was given no chance whatsoever of living peacefully and having significance and a purpose to his life.

CONCLUSION

Overall from chapters 11 to 16 the monster is portrayed in a couple of varied techniques, first he is portrayed as being innocent and as sinless as a newborn baby. He was a being without a single fault and he was sanitary of evil deeds. Then the monster is presented as being highly intelligent as he learns through curiosity and experience the basic necessities of life for example he learnt how fire works and discovered how and what to eat and how to keep warm. Through observation he learnt to speak the language English and eventually became fluent at it. Then through the monsters own eyes we are made to see how he was negligent and lonesome because he had been outcast from humanity and rejected and abandoned by his own creator and father. Then the monster displays himself as being kind and harmless and similar to all other humans had gentle feelings which were feelings of a lot of pain. He also says that his feelings were exceptionally warm and amiable as he loved emotional humans and their families. The monster then presents himself to have sexual desires as he experiences it in a couple of situations, one with Safie and one with Justine, he had found them both sexually attractive and was pretty fond of them and their personalities. In the end the monster portrays himself to be a bitter and destructive beast which was the fact due to the cruel, unjustifiable treatment he received from society and all humans. The monsters personality completely utterly transformed into one which was ignorant and which cause devastation and wreckage. Therefore the tale ended tragically with deaths and a kind and gentle monster transformed into a bitter and destructive beast.

The Author of this novel Mary Shelley was initially trying to send out the message to the readers that people can go over the limit with their crazy ambitions and desires. Their ambitions might turn out to be wild and deranged, and that when a person tries to accomplish what god did and tries to play gods’ role it is definitely pushing the limit. The example given of this person in this story is a scientist called Victor Frankenstein with his crazy experiment to re-animate life. Mary is also trying to say that people should never be judged by his or her looks, the inside and personality of a person is always concealed behind a locked door and to obtain the key you must give the person a chance and possibility in life. The moral is also that parents should look after their children that they have brought to life or they will run wild and feel useless and lonely, children need love and support to grow into a responsible adult. It is also shown in the story that men are made evil by the treatment they receive from the society and their family. Mary Shelley studied a lot of books by Rossesu and he said that men are born good and their nature is harmless until they have been made evil by society. Mary Shelley lived in a time of rapid scientific progress. The most crucial subject was biology and many discoveries were being made. Perhaps this novel is expressing a fear of science and its powers.

HOW IS THE MONSTER PORTTRAYED IN CHAPTERS 11 TO 16 OF THE FRANKENSTEIN NOVEL?

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