The Role Of Judgmental People In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character’s actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.

It takes the average person under a minute to compose an opinion about someone they recently encountered. This opinion will be the image inside your head until you genuinely get to understand that person., but judgement with still occur because humans do this for an eccentric reason. People have stereotypes that go along with judging through age class, for example, adults stereotype judging teenagers as persistently staring at their phones all day, rarely interacting with anyone face to face. This exhibits irony; children and teenagers perceive their parents to be infallible.

In the Volume III of “Frankenstein”, there is an endless roller coaster of situations in which the reader is exposed to doubts and mystery, and then pure horror. I face that position myself, and when I thought Frankenstein’s life was already tragic, then a pile of deaths turns his life into something beyond tragedy and misery; it is just something I cannot explain. Once Frankenstein destroys the other creature, because he finds himself stuck in the fear of what could happen after this new creation, the Monster comes after him and confront him. He makes sure to remind Frankenstein that he has the ability to make him more wretched than he already is, “Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein presents important social criticism. Shelly focuses, in particular, on importance of forgiveness, betrayal, acceptance in society.

When people hear the word “monster”, most people imagine a massive, horrid, and grotesque figure that haunts people. While pondering what a monster is, mankind thinks of the outward appearance. Seldom do people think of man’s internal qualities as being barbaric or gruesome. Authors allow readers to create their own images of these terrifying beings. Frankenstein is a thought-provoking novel that empowers readers to have their own opinions about who the actual monster is and what it looks like. Readers can conclude that Victor Frankenstein is the actual monster in Frankenstein because of how he views himself, how he creates destruction, and how he destroys himself.

In life there are many evils that will try to defeat a person but the key to living a happy, fulfilling life is learning to have empathy for others who are facing their own evils. Empathy is hard to have if a person has not endured any real struggles in their life. Being able to know firsthand how it feels to go through difficulties helps create a level of empathy that leads to compassion for one another. Victor Frankenstein is a prime example of someone who has faced evils in their own life but in the end did not find compassion for others, instead he found his own hell. In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor’s lack of empathy opens the door into his world of selfishness, cruelty, and unhappiness.

The first major aspect that leads to the Creature’s fall from grace is appearance. Victor works tirelessly in academia because he believes to have found the solution to generate life. Once Victor succeeds, the Creature’s demonic appearance mortifies him. Victor describes his work with disdaining imagery, stating, “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motivation, it became a thing such as even Dante could have conceived" (Shelley 36). Although Victor successfully creates what would be his greatest academic achievement, he abandons his creation, showing that the Creature's ugliness is a prevailing factor for his isolation from civilization. According to Bridget Marshall’s

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.

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

The moment Victor Frankenstein successfully infuses life into his creation he is overcome with horror and disgust. Without further examination he is certain to have created a monster, not a human being (Shelley 35-36). However, despite his grotesque appearance, Frankenstein’s creature was not born malicious. During the first stages of his existence, unbeknownst to Frankenstein himself, his acts are motivated by innocence and virtue, which even earns him the title “good spirit” (79). Frankenstein did not create a monster. An unsatisfied need for a sense of belonging transforms Frankenstein’s creature into the monster it ultimately becomes. Therefore, I argue that the predominant theme in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the need for social belonging

Why do so many people feel the need to judge others based on how they look? Judging others gives people a sense of honor because demeaning others can create a sense of security and identity. If one concludes who a person is merely on what they look like they will miss what is important, what their morals are, and what their intentions are. It takes an individual who has read the novel To Kill A Mockingbird to understand because it is a perfect example of treating others with respect and not determining who others are based on what they look like. Many characters in Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird begin to realize that one cannot know a person until they peek beyond that person’s appearance.

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 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a conflict as old as life itself emerges as the story progresses; parent versus posterity in a struggle for reconciliation.Victor Frankenstein and his creation become tied up in a constant battle as the creation seeks his origins, finding a horrifying truth; the creator had abandoned the creation. This central conflict derives from the creation of the creature, inability of Frankenstein to appreciate his creation, and the creation’s need for a parental figure. The conflict addresses themes of the book such as human desires for prestige, acceptance, and the intimacy of a relationship with one’s creator. Not only does Shelley capture the resentful conflict between a father and his “son”, but she derives this conflict from her own rebellious battle against her father.

“Pain can be alleviated by morphine but the pain of social ostracism cannot be taken away.” (Jarman). Derek Jarman had a very good point when he said this. We all feel pain at some point in our lives and that pain is often altered by pain medication or other remedies but the pain of being pushed away from society otherwise known as Ostracism, that is pain that cannot be taken away. Ostracism is a problem that has been around forever and is still an unsolved problem today. 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.

In Frankenstein the monster is a complex character that I can sympathize with because he does not know how to act in society. This is relatable because when you move to a new area there are different social statuses and different things that are acceptable. This monster has never had any standards of how to act in society and what is socially acceptable. These can be very hard to learn along with a language and looking different then every other person. These people also don't accept him because he looks different.