In Frankenstein,how does Shelley inspire sympathy for the creature?

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Sarah Burke 10RC                3rd November 2004

In Frankenstein, how does Shelley inspire sympathy for the creature?

Mary Shelley was born in 1797. She had a difficult life with many family upsets’, miscarriages and suffered personal depression; she died aged 53. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein firstly as a short ghost story but it was published as a novel in 1816.

Frankenstein is a Gothic novel and it deals with two genres, Gothicism and science fiction. Gothicism is part of the Romantic Movement that started in the late eighteenth century. The Romantic Movement is based on freedom of thought and expression and the belief of living in an age of new beginnings and high possibilities. Science fiction explores the marvels of discovery and achievement that may result from future developments in science and technology. Mary Shelley has obviously used the idea of new technology to create an original novel. Frankenstein is about a young man called Victor who has a thirst for knowledge and ambition. He discovers the secret of animating lifeless matter and, by assembling corpses, creates a monster that vows revenge on his creator after being rejected from society.  

This essay will be looking at how Shelley inspires sympathy for the monster. Sympathy is a feeling or an expression of pity or sorrow for the distress of another. Shelley creates sympathy for the monster by creating themes of alienation and prejudice towards him. She also adds subplots of the Delacy family and the monster’s lack of childhood to create sympathy in Frankenstein.

The theme of alienation is very prominent throughout Frankenstein. Alienation means estrangement, which is exactly what the monster was going through. In volume two, we are able to understand the monster’s tale through his own eyes. This creates more sympathy and we feel his emotions because he is speaking in the first person. When the monster says, “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch… I sat down and cried” he creates more sympathy for himself because he knows his emotions but he doesn’t know why he is “wretched, helpless and alone” so therefore he is alienated from the world and himself.

The monster’s character also creates isolation because of his weaknesses and strengths, which make him different from society. The monster lacks the knowledge and understanding of who he actually is and why he is alive. Frankenstein rejected the “creature” at birth, never gave him a name and never helped the monster grow up. The monster says, “Cursed, cursed creator, why did I live? It shows the reader that he blames the only family he has for bringing him into the world and then rejecting him and making him isolated and cut off from everyone. This shows the monster’s feeling from his point of view. I think this creates sympathy because it shows the monster questions the reason for his creation.

With no other monster alive he has no family apart from Victor who is not the biological father, so the monster has no one to relate to as a fatherly figure. This is a typical form of alienation because the monster has no one to learn from, he just has his own natural instincts. The monster is also alienated because Victor abandoned him when he realised that the monster was very different, this means that the monster was alone from the beginning. This creates sympathy for the monster because his Victor was his only hope of being accepted into the community.

The monster cannot accept himself because of his differences in appearance and character and when he learns why he is alienated; it “filled [him] with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.” The first time he sees his reflection, he is disgusted with himself.

The emotive language of the quotation prompts the reader to sympathise with the monster because he says that he is mortified and humiliated by his own appearance. The monster shows he is depressed with himself and his life. This creates sympathy because it allows the reader to feel the monsters emotions and when someone doesn’t love themselves it is very upsetting.

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The structure of the novel also creates sympathy for the monster. There is an anti-climax in Frankenstein because in the beginning the monster is very isolated from everyone. He then asks Victor to create a female companion and Victor agrees. Unfortunately, Victor changes his mind and the monster is distraught because his spirit was raised but then crushed. This creates sympathy for him. The monster asks afterwards, “why did I live?” This shows that all hope for the monster has gone and he will have to live life with no meaning or purpose. This is demoralising for the monster and touches ...

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