Society is well-known for pushing those who are outsiders or strange away from society. This is prevalent to the examples in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The monster who was created by Victor Frankenstein who wanted to be the first to create life was appalled by the sights of the his creation. Frankenstein’s monster is judged based on his appearances and is often ostracized by society, just as anyone in modern day society can be shunned or pushed away due to their looks or how they think. The most outstanding example of ostracism that occurred throughout the novel is based on the monster’s physical features and structure.
nurture through the character development, reactions, and decisions of the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein. Based on Frankenstein's nature to learn and have rash and irrational decisions, it certainly caused him to act inhuman in certain circumstances of the story, naturally. Nonetheless, his family bond, which was nurtured into him, also caused him to make monstrous decisions and actions in other situations within the plot. Therefore, Mary Shelly claims, through Victor Frankenstein that both human nature, and the environments that one is put in, can mold them into inhuman monsters, whether this person is the product of the nurturing, or the perpetrator, and in this case, Frankenstein was
He abandoned his creation. Victor’s creation said, “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust” (pg.116)? Why would Victor turn his back on something he created? Victor’s actions show us that he despised his creation.
A condemnation of unfettered industrialism and the abandonment of human morality, Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein illustrates the Victor is the real monster. Constructing a marginalised and cruel childhood for the invention, Shelley builds her predominant argument crystallising the monstrous qualities of humanity. The subsequent condemnation of the unaccountable nature of Victor builds on her authorial intent that victor’s actions and intentions are in inhumane. Additionally, Shelley is realistic in acknowledging that absolute good and evil do not exist, and in pointing to moments where her cast deviate from their previous moral values, Shelley suggests that the creature and Victor both exhibit monstrous and empathetic qualities. Ultimately Shelley
In Frankenstein, the reader spots the danger when Victor destroys the female monster where the monster proclaims “Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; -- obey!”(Shelley 157). The reader sees the obvious tension between Victor and the monster due to both of their lacks of responsibility for each other and themselves and can relate it to the United States and their global affairs with countries like North Korea where the countries leaders have resulted to name calling like “rocketman” and “mad man”(Stevens). Throughout Frankenstein the reader saw Shelley’s theme of the dangers in not taking responsibility like pain, death, the suffering of others, and now the reader finds out how one of the dangers is the risk of composing deadly
This essay will foccus on the monsters as creatures that portray the fears of a society. This is why it is important to understand what is a monster and what are its uses in literature. In “Monster Theory (Seven Theses)”, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, the author, gives us some of the basic aspects of monsters as theses. Monsters are born as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment and “the monster 's body quite literally incorporates fear, desire, anxiety, fantasy[...] giving them life and an
In her novel Mary Shelley explores the central ideas of rejection and abandonment, human nature, good and evil and revenge to support the conviction of Frankenstein’s responsibility in the novel and Frankenstein is a reflection of this. Shelley shows through positioning of characters within the stories that good and evil is not clear-cut and there are many moral grey areas. The readers are positioned to feel sympathy for the creature, especially since his yearnings for human contact could easily be their own. Which makes it all the more frightening when Victor and others treat him in such vile ways. Shelley uses the novel to explore human nature, Frankenstein wants the readers to see the creature as a monster however they don’t.
Moreover, when he “looked around, he saw and heard of none like [himself]. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned” (138). Through the knowledge he acquired from spying in on the Felix family, he gained the understanding that his grotesque look doomed him to be marginalized within human society; therefore, his understanding of human history destined himself to be a monster. Although, this self-realization of a monster identity plays a huge role in the general plot and character development of Frankenstein’s Monster, it hints at a subtler interpretation of the nature of knowledge.
However, upon realizing had created an abomination as he finished, he flees, “…now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). After a long and grueling process, Frankenstein regarded the creature as horrid, malicious, heartless, inhuman, and uncouth – simply, a monster. He wanted to create life so bad that it became an obsession for him as he would go to any extreme to reach his goal. Furthering such a point could be the poignant example of the fallen angel, who had decided that he wanted to be more than a ‘special angel’ – he wanted to be God. As a result, Victor had succeeded in creating a baby in a man’s body, while leaving it to fend for itself without recognizing
He created a being more blasphemous than anything any other sinful man had ever done. This is what brought along the downfall of Frankenstein. This is the tragic story of Frankenstein, a message against the dangers of trying to be greater than nature, a warning against blasphemy. As Frankenstein put it himself, he is “a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be – a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity” (pg. 165).