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The Role Of Cruelty In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, cruelty is what sets the plot in motion. The rejection of the monster by Victor Frankenstein represents the wickedness that is consolidated with human society. The inclusion of cruelty in Frankenstein functions to capture the creature as abandoned by his creator, withdrawn from mundane society, and a victim of the evil nature of humankind, even when he has admirable intentions. Although the novel was written in the 1800s, there is a strong connection between what we understand of how society treats “ugly” people now and how they were treated back then. In the novel, once Victor Frankenstein completed his creation and it was filled with life, he screamed and fled from him. Frankenstein knew he was capable

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