In Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the creature 's acquisition of knowledge leads to his diversion from benevolence to pure hatred towards mankind. The works of Victor Frankenstein, the monster was created by old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a spark making him come to life. The Creature enters life as an eight-foot giant only to have been created with the intellect of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, the Creature attempts to integrate himself into society only to be shunned away in disgust by humanity. The Creature then makes his way and lives next to a human family which is essentially the start for the creatures detestation towards humanity. The Creature 's mind still of a newborn begins to observe his human neighbors as through observations and interactions the family has demonstrates the positive and negative aspects of the Creature. …show more content…
The Creature commences as “benevolent and good” (pg. 69) as he firstly observes the positive aspects of mankind. The positive nature of mankind is emphasized by the deeds of the two younger cottagers who “several times placed food before the old man when they reserved none for themselves.” (pg. 77) The deeds taken by the two cottagers deeply affected the Creature as it demonstrates the human ability of unselfishness and the effect of human kindness. The creature states that “this trait of kindness moved me sensibly”
The creature learned what "bitter indignation" was and how to be "cruel" based on the way the villagers and his own creator treated him. The Creature is human because he has all the same emotional traits as we do, he may not look like us, but the thing that makes us human is making mistakes, " My feeling hurt. My heart aches. I cry. I feel sorry for myself.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic novel that tells the story of scientist, Victor Frankenstein, and his obsession with creating human life. This leads him to creating a gruesome monster made of body-parts stolen from grave yards, whom upon discovering his hideousness, the monster seeks revenge against his creator, causing Victor to regret the creation of his monster for the rest of his life. Shelley uses the literary elements of personification, imagery, and similes to give a vivid sense and visualization of Victor Frankenstein’s thoughts and feelings as well as to allow us to delve deeper into the monster’s actions and emotions. Throughout the novel, Shelley uses personification of various forces and objects to reflect the effect in Victor’s actions.
The creature's views were warped by all of this. Even when he learned to read, write, and speak, he learned to love others, but after all of this, he could not. If society learned to stop judging only appearance, the creature himself would have lived a better life. Not a life consumed by
The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.
“I thought that I might be able to restore happiness to them,” he said. Another example of the creature been kind is when he saved the little girl form dying in the river. However, by the end of the novel things change. The creature became another person; when he kills his first victim he tasted evil.
A plethora of instances depicted in the novel bolsters the reader's understanding of the monster's development of empathy which originated during
Frankenstein seems to show a prejudice towards his own creation; though he purposefully made the monster large to make it easier to add smaller things—such as nails and eyelashes—he chooses to look at his newly-awakened creation with repugnance. “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (Shelley 35) This disgust motivates him to run away, thus abandoning his monster.
The creature is no different than humans in the way that humans can kill, be kind or be violent and miserable, which the creature shows and experiences. As the creature learns more he encounters villagers with "gentle manners" and some barbarous villagers" who treat him like trash. If humans are so called humans because of their sympathy and compassion, then humans shouldn 't be considered humans if they kill or become violent. The men the creature meets are just as defective as he becomes. Just like any human around the creature 's "heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy", but he also experiences "misery" and "violence" he is "filled with an insatiable thirst for vengeance" (190).
The creature wishes to live in peace, but because he does not look like a normal human, he can not live in peace. Additionally, Frankenstein does not help the creature or nurture him with love, thus, he causes the creature to develop a deep resentment towards Frankenstein. The creature, whom is optimistic until now, says, “ Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?” (161).
He is aware of his otherness and knows that he is “shut out from intercourse” (84) with the people he holds so dear. It can be argued that this is the point where the creature’s humanity is the strongest throughout the course of story. He has a basic understanding of human societies, he speaks and reads their language, shows compassion and, most importantly, seeks their company and friendship. In his knowledge that social belonging is the missing component to his own happiness, he confronts the people he secretly observed only to, once again, be met with fear and anger (94-95). He comes to realise that he
In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature is an outcast in society, without a friend in the who world is thrust away by humanity due to his appearance. The creature devolves due to a series of events feeling different emotions for the first time in his life. These experiences due to the fact his creator, Victor Frankenstein turns his back on the creature leaving him to his own instincts on learning how to survive and integrate into society. devices to learn how to survive. becoming helpless, discouraged leading into leading into retaliation of anger and violence.
This time spent here helped to begin to develop the creature’s mind, proving he was in fact rather intelligent. The monster knew that he was different from these people, often describing them all as beautiful. He knew they would not accept him, and yet his search for belonging and family continue to surge the novel forward. While the creature is lonely and hurting, his actions slowly become malicious.
Frankenstein Essay Frankenstein shows us the importance of understanding others. Discuss. (Belonging and Acceptance) Nathanim Gebremedhin 215261 8I ‘Frankenstein’ is an award winning novel by Mary Shelley that was published in 1818. It tells the story of a committed young science student, Victor Frankenstein, who performs an unorthodox science experiment, consequently creating a malformed but sentient creature.
“If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us” Adlai E. Stevenson. The politician explains his perception of creativity in this quote along with its connection to ambition by relating determination and faith to the discovery of knowledge. He believes that nothing can restrict our drive to seek information when one entirely devotes himself to the pursuit. Similarly, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, Robert Walton, and the creature all attempt to acquire arcane knowledge at any and all costs. Their ambition drives them to take risks and even put the lives of themselves and others on the line.
Due to neglect and immediate abandonment during the beginning of his life, the creature develops a hostile attitude and seeks revenge on Victor Frankenstein. In response to the cottage dwellers attacking him, the creature exclaims “cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence of which you had so wantonly bestowed” and reveals his feelings “of rage and revenge” (Shelley 135).