Human Meaning In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

In a Society Full of Hatred, Good Turns Evil John Ortberg once said, “Art is built on the deepest themes of human meaning: good and evil, beauty and ugliness, life and death, love and hate. No other story has incarnated those themes more than the story of Jesus.” However, the story of Frankenstein comes in at a close second to these themes of “human meaning” (Ortberg). The creation is heroic, as well as, a monster, he has an appalling appearance, and he wants love but receives animosity. The creation was born good and made evil. A term for the creation Mary Shelley used was “creature.” Creature is defined to be an animal, as distinct from a human being or a fictional being that is typically frightening (Dictionary.com). Shelley used creature
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Victor said that the creature was “more hideous than belongs to humanity” and called him a “filthy demon” (Shelley 60). The creation’s creator felt that the creature was too ugly to exist in the presence of human kind. When a creator criticizes his creation in such a way, it afflicts the creature and pesters at his soul. By neglecting and shunning people with socially unacceptable appearances of behaviors, mass murders are created. Society judges on looks, therefore, society described him as a monster. Monster is defined as an imaginary creature, typically large, ugly, and frightening and serves as a caveat (Dictionary.com). Mary Shelley uses the term monster when referring to the creation when she wants to demonstrate the differences between Victor and the creation. This monster, in such sense, might indicate a better version of humanity. However, the monster demonstrates that he can also be empathetic, as spoken about
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Could he be the Biblical Adam or Satan? In Paradise Lost, the creation’s favorite book, the ideas of Satan and Adam become apparent (Shelley 117). Satan is jealous of Adam because Adam has Eve and an astounding garden. The creation is like Satan in this way, as he is jealous of Victor and the love he has from his family and friends. On the other hand, he is more of a man by the heroic things he did and his plans for his future. In his plans, he did not want to harm any animals for nourishment; he would rather eat berries and acorns for his meals. The creature is attempting to figure out the essence of life. He is just like us; he wants love, family, friends, and to just be wanted. Society is too stubborn to see his call for support and the helplessness of him. The creature, good or evil, represents the conscience Victor created. Back in the 1800’s, when Frankenstein was written, men could do everything but create a life, unlike women, in which, that is all they can do. Victor wanted to be able to do everything which made him turned monstrous with his knowledge. The creation represents Victor’s