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Corruption In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein explores the theme of alienation and how it ultimately leads to the corruption of an individual. As Victor Frankenstein sought to discover and solve the secret to life by “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (37), he erected a creature who was monstrous looking. As a result, the creature was continuously rejected and isolated from society due to his grotesque appearance, forcing him to navigate the world alone, unable to find any source of companionship or parental guidance leading him to become bitter and vengeful. Mary Shelley presents allusions to demonstrate how the creature’s identity in becoming a monster was forced upon him, due to the creature’s circumstances of social rejection and misinterpretation …show more content…

Once the creature was able to read and decipher Victor’s journal, the creature realized the circumstances of his creation and realized that he was regarded with disgust by Victor. The creature’s exclamation, “Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” (115), highlights his awareness of his monstrous appearance and the realization of the role it plays in his isolation from society. The creature’s physical otherness prevents him from finding acceptance or companionship in a world that is repulsed by him, further emphasized by the cottagers, specifically De Lacey who was blind and accepted the creature’s company and kind words. However, once his children entered the cottage, they were horrified at the creature’s appearance, with one of the children, Felix, striking the creature violently with a stick. This highlighted the idea that his appearance led to him being alienated from society which made the creature grow resentful, “from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and more than all, against him who had formed me” (121). Due to the circumstances of alienation by the creature’s physical appearance, the creature grew vindictive and corrupt when he was consistently being …show more content…

As Victor insists that he and the creature continue in separate paths, the creature holds Victor accountable for his negligence and his lack of nourishment saying, “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel… make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous” (84). By utilizing allusions to demonstrate the creature’s disdain towards his creator, it explains how the creature becomes bitter and vengeful in his desire for revenge against his creator for treating him more like Satan than Adam. He wishes to feel happy by simply not feeling alienated anymore, asking Victor for a female companion. He explains to Victor that if he complies, “neither [him] nor any other human being shall ever see me again” (131). This wish demonstrates that the creature only wants is to escape the human eye where all he’ll be seen as is a monster, instead fleeing with one of his

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