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Is The Creature Or A Child In Frankenstein

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Creature or Child? How would being alone and confused in society affect someone? In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a scientist creates life, afterwards, he abandons his creation to live a life of loneliness and confusion. The creature is sent into the world curious, confused, and is constantly judged by society based on his appearance. This establishes the question, is the creature a monster, or just a child abandoned by his mentor to learn and live by himself. Viewing the creature as a child makes the reader more sympathetic to his situation, and allows the reader to see him as misunderstood, afterall, he lacks understanding of the world and only wants to fit into society. Similar to a child, the creature has natural curiosity with little …show more content…

He makes numerous attempts to learn about humans, their ways and emotions, to try and fit in with the world, hoping they would accept him despite his appearance. However, everytime he interacts with humans they are unfriendly towards him, this is shown when he recounts his experience, “The whole village was roused by me, some fled, some attacked me with weapons until I was bruised.” (132). This means that society does not accept him, instead they attack and berate him because he looks different. This matters because he means no harm but is still ousted by society for no reason besides his appearance. Viewing him as a child instead of a monster in this situation would allow the reader to see he is misunderstood, his intentions are unknown to a society who views him as a killer by creation. In reality he is young and curious, looking for somebody who can accommodate and support him. His misfortune and mistreatment continues when he interacts with the family he had been observing. After watching them for months, he finally meets them and is immediately attacked and is forced to flee. This matters because the time he spent trying to fit in and be a child was wasted, as nobody is able to see him as anything other than a monster. Up to this point, the creature has done nothing wrong to society, at every chance he tries to fit in and affiliate with their life and culture. For a majority of his early years he continues this, but eventually alters his mindset due to his failed

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