The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a science fiction story about a creature created from non-living matter, by a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The conflict between society and Frankenstein’s creature is largely perpetuated by a split between those considered attractive, and those who are not. The conflict and language use in Frankenstein demonstrate that most of society judges others based on their physical appearance, which leads to excluding those who fall outside the accepted definition of beauty and sometimes life-threatening consequences for both groups. Frankenstein and his parents demonstrate that they also fall victim to the habit of judging others initially based off of their appearance. The Frankenstein parents first …show more content…
Once the creature begins to go out on his own and learn about life and society, during his first interaction with other people he learns that he will be immediately judged based on how he looks. To start, when Frankenstein first sees the creature, he quickly runs away without any interaction and exclaims “no mortal could support the horror of that countenance” (Shelley 36). This interaction made the monster realize that even his creator could not avoid the habits of the society he lived in, and immediately ran away from him in fear because he didn’t believe he was attractive. Then after that, the creature still has enough hope to go into a village and meet other people, but he is immediately met with children that “shrieked” and one woman who “fainted” just at the sight of him (Shelley 74). In every situation where the creature attempts to interact with others, he is shunned immediately, before even being able to say a word. The village even drives him away with the threat of weapons. This immediate judgement threatened the creature’s life and taught him immediately that society is unkind to those who fall outside of their idea of attractive. Because this is one of the first and only things the creature learns from his little interaction with society, it suggests that it is not only important, but also very
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Show MoreSociety Made Monsters Societal isolation is not talked about as much as it should, it creeps into a person’s mind and fills them with apathy towards their fellow man. No quote better emulates this than in Chapter Seventeen of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all of mankind?” The Creature is beseeching Victor Frankenstein to end his loneliness by providing him with a woman like him.
Frankenstein’s Monster is not categorized as evil by his malicious behavior and is sympathized with due to his creator abandoning him and the role of nature versus nurture taken place II. Monster’s Nature and alienation A. Monster originally had an inquisitive nature yet gentle nature a. Information on the German family was “each interesting and wonderful to one so utterly inexperienced as [he] was” (105) B. With the rejection and alienation from society, the only interactions the monster experiences, he becomes full of hatred a. Rejected by De Lacey family by his looks and labeled a monster b. Tries to save a child but is shot by child’s father C. Reader may feel sympathy towards the Monster’s actions because the readers know that his true nature was not evil and he was misjudged III.
Eventually, the stereotypes made by society lead the creature to become who they think he is. Frankenstein paints a bleak picture of how society’s stereotyping leads to segregation and suffering with the creature’s journey through life. The society of Frankenstein makes a stereotype based on a single premise, his appearance, and chooses to discriminate and segregate Victor’s creation. This discrimination is evident when “the children shrieked and one of the women fainted.
Throughout this novel, we learn the views of the creature that Victor Frankenstein created. His views on society, justice, and injustice. When he is first created, he seeks to be accepted by society despite his appearance. However, the events he experiences shape his views. Victor Frankenstein, the DeLacey family, and the father and daughter he meets throughout his journey do not accept him.
In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the theme is prejudice and its effect on mankind. Throughout the story the creature explores one of mankind's most destructive flaws, prejudism. Every human the creature meets in the novel assume he is monster because of his appearance, when really the monster is kind and intellectual. One after another he is attacked by his creator, village and even families despite trying to befriend them. The violence and prejudice he faces shows him the evilness of man.
Frankenstein’s creature initially shows no signs of ill will or malice when first encountering human beings (Shelley 72-73). On the contrary, through careful observation he is able to learn more about human society and personal relationships. He begins to admire the close connection between the people he observes and respects their virtue. This, however, makes him realise what he is missing. Observing the love and affection between others only increases the effect his own solitude has on him.
Have you ever judged a person by how they look? Or Ran away from your problem but they seem to come back and haunt you? Well in the book Gris Grimly 's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein had created a creature so horrible looking that he ran away from it. Everyone believed that he wasn’t a human being, but I believe that everything he 's done was the most humane thing he could have done. The creature was a kind and "benevolent soul" that cared for everyone until he would be turned away from humanity all because he looked different.
Beauty and ugliness is often used to justify the reaction of others in the novel, Frankenstein; in which the relation between external appearance and internal desires are shown to be related. The theme of how appearance affects judgement is often demonstrated through the characters response to the monster’s physical being. Shelley depicts this situation through Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the Delacey family, and through the monster himself. The use of appearance to determine judgement is shown to be a negative habit. By automatically associating ugliness with evil, and beauty with innocence, society unintentionally develops a negative being in those considered ugly, while at the same creating an illusion of innocence over beautiful individuals.
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.
Throughout the novel, the main character Frankenstein, made many poor decisions that I would consider to be morally wrong and unethical. Frankenstein’s research and discoveries are ethically wrong because he was taking dead bodies from cemeteries, cutting off their limbs, and body parts to create a human like creature. He did not have anyone's consent to do this study causing it to be unethical, and he also should not be able to do this because he is playing the role of god. In the beginning of the book, Victor Frankenstein described to Walton that he had created a monster using body parts from a graveyard.
Perhaps, if a human such as Frankenstein had accepted the creature, onlookers would have had an easier time welcoming someone with his appearance into their presence. Society’s false perception of what makes someone “normal” is what altered their first impression of The Creature. People had a hard time distinguishing the difference between mind and body, which resulted in The Creature’s undesired abandonment and a gut filled with hatred towards his creator. In contrast, Victor Frankenstein refers to his family in a positive way several times throughout the novel.
In cinema nowadays, movies that are more famous among the people somehow engaged with explosions, gunfights, and superheroes. In the early days of cinema, the special spot for people had to do something with monsters and murderers. Some of these monsters have abilities to be sympathetic to the people who watch the movie. As a great example there is the movie Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein’s invention, is a monster that is created by an obnoxious scientist who decides to play god and it goes wrong.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein presents important social criticism. Shelly focuses, in particular, on importance of forgiveness, betrayal, acceptance in society. Learning to forgive yourself and others is an important thing to know how to do or you’ll be holding on to useless hatred and pain all of your life; the same way the monster, Frankenstein, was doing. “Forgive me. Everywhere I go, they hate me”.
Frankenstein’s Message for the Modern Age Frankenstein’s message for the modern age is to do experiments with caution, and to not mislead others about scientific matters. Discussing the issues that it raises for the society; scientists should try to minimize any effect their work can have on people, animals, and the environment. We will learn about the many lessons that can be taken and applied to the 21st -century world, which will help us as global citizens to know our responsibilities for others. The lessons we can take and apply to this 21st-century world are that knowledge comes with risks and we should understand and know the downfall that comes with science.
Society often looks at those who are aesthetically satisfying in a pleasant way, while regarding those that are less amiable, poorly. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, this is the biggest mistake Victor Frankenstein makes. While the book progresses, the main character becomes more and more horrified by his creation, while, in reality, the creation is not inherently evil, rather he feels left out and lonely. As the readers become immersed in this gothic tale, they realize that each scene is designed to convey how appearances influence people. Through the Arctic settings and the imagery created by Mary Shelley, the readers can sense the real emotions of the horrid and terrifying creation.