I Samuel 16:7 says "Man looks by the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the Heart." Society tries to place labels on individuals based on the physical attributes that they can see with their own eyes, but inside every individual there is a moldable perception of his/her own identity. In Frankenstein, the creature’s perception of himself is the only accurate way to discover who he actually was, and to follow the changes of his identity throughout the book as he is rejected by society during every attempt at interaction. The creation was abandoned at birth and left to mature alone and educate himself. He does so by reading Frankenstein’s notes, studying several classic books, specifically Paradise Lost, and observing society. Milton’s Paradise Lost is studied by the creation as a guide to his own beginnings; he is torn between the two identities that it reveals, Adam and Satan; although he longs to be Adam, he is pushed by society to accept that he is Satan. Adam, man, was the desired creation, while Satan, the beast, is the hated monster. Victor Frankenstein is fascinated with natural philosophy and decides to step across the gender barrier and supernatural boundaries by "giving birth" to a new man. This passion drives Victor into the solitude of his laboratory until he completes his task. Just like the Biblical account of creation where God forms Adam out of the dust of the ground Victor, labors to "animate lifeless clay" (Shelley 32). He also urns to create something out of nothing and be the supreme being worthy of his creation’s eternal gratitude. Success in his laboratory would result in "a new species that would bless him as creator" (Shelley 32). The human birth process is achieved through the union of a mother a... ... middle of paper ... ...t that he is a monster after every attempt to integrate himself into society fails miserably. The creation of Frankenstein who was supposed to be the first of many in his new species was never accepted into society and was left to lead his life alone. His many attempts to tie himself into society and begin living his life as Adam were ignored by others. As a result, the creature took on a life as Satan, a monster, determined to physically harm mankind as retribution for the enormous agony and misery it had placed on his own life. Life as a monster was the only way that the creature could gain any recognition from society, and at the same time it gave him an outlet for all his anger. The creation of Frankenstein was a monster, but only as a result of exclusion from society. Works Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. J Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.
As Frankenstein is enroute to his pursuit of gaining more knowledge, he states, “I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed” (Shelley 41). Frankenstein’s decision in allowing his intellectual ambitions to overpower everything else in his life leads him to be blinded to the dangers of creating life. He isolates himself from his society when creating the monster, letting himself be immersed in his creation while being driven by his passions, allowing nobody to be near him. The fact that he allows this creation of a monster to consume his total being reveals how blinded he is to the immorality of stepping outside the boundaries of science and defying nature. His goal in striving to achieve what wants to in placing man over nature makes him lose his sense of self as all he is focused on is the final product of his creation. He starts to realize his own faults as after he has created the monster, he becomes very ill and states, “The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him” (48). His impulsive decision to make the monster leads him to abhorring it as it does not turn out to be what he has expected. Because he chooses to isolate himself in creating the
In the book, the Monster is searching for a way to fit in and find acceptance, so, the Monster turns to reading the bible. It gives the Monster a small sense of solace and he interprets many of the passages to help him define who he is what his role in this world might be. The Monster of "Frankenstein" finally admits that he is but a creature of Victor and says, "I ought to be thy Adam but I am rather the fallen angel" (Shelley, 2000). There is a dual allusion present in this quotation. One is referring to in John Milton's classic Paradise Lost, a tale which is often mentioned in Shelley's "Frankenstein." The other is undoubtedly the Creation of Adam and Eve in the Bible itself, not just the allusion given in Paradise Lost. The aforementioned quotation illustrates the very idea that creation through science is a hollow, damning pursuit as the Monster seems himself for what he is perceived to be.
... Therefore, the qualities that cause people to detest the creation are all products of Victor’s hands, and out of the creation’s control. Before the creation comes to life, Victor is pleased with its physical appearance; "His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful" (Shelley 34). Within hours after the creation is alive, Victor recalls a much different story in his mind, saying, "I had gazed on him when he was unfinished; he was ugly then" (Shelley 35). It is in this ignorant fashion that Victor and the other humans the creation meets destroy his identity by rashly inventing the identity of a murderous "wretch," rather than an unfortunate child, which the reader believes he was.
Humans are seen by many as the exemplary species on earth, intended by God to dominate and take control of others. Humanity cannot be characterized as a physical trait; for one can appear to be human on the outside but within are nothing near a human. Within Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, humanity can be considered an emotional experience; an experience where one is always longing for acceptance and naturally conforms to avoid being ostracized or different. The monster is made from human parts and in human likeness, but is not seen as a human being by many. Such is a question raised by many; is the monster human, or is he a filthy demon to which Victor Frankenstein had given life? Although a clear definition of humanity is not expressed in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is in fact human due to its ability to adapt and utilize the human culture and lifestyle in many ways including longing for a companion, discovering its soul and yearning for acceptance.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist, produces a monster and instead of teaching his monster the mannerisms and norms of society, he abandons him. Victor expects his monster to make it in the harsh, critical society without being taught correct demeanors because he believes that having correct mannerisms is intuitive. A common viewpoint of the book is that Frankenstein’s monster should receive the blame, because he should have had proper nature, but in reality, society nurtured him to act out. Victor isolated the monster, and other members of society followed in Victor’s example and also treated him as so; which made the creature’s actions monstrous. Frankenstein played God, causing society to view his creature as a monster and as a risk to the public, but Frankenstein did not intend to create the monster as dangerous in nature; society nurtured him to act as a beast.
...being so ugly. He cannot hide from the reality. He doesn’t realize what a catastrophe he has created and so he pays the price of death to William and Justine.
Throughout Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the reader is lead to sympathize with the monstrous creature, which was created by Victor Frankenstein. Despite any internal contradictions, the creature has the indisputable outward appearance of a monster, one repulsive to even his own creator. Inevitably, the appearance becomes the creature’s most significant quality, which eliminates any recognition of other, more human, qualities. As a result, any possibility of acceptance within human society are completely destroyed. The creature himself even recognizes this fact. Expressing many human qualities, such rejection and the consequential loneliness has a tremendous impact on the creature, especially in the impressionable years after his initial animation. With the psychological effects caused by these factors, the creature is sent on a rampage, causing tragedy throughout the course of the novel. Many may question Victor’s culpability and lack of responsibility over his creation; however, the ultimate blame for the events must be placed while considering the situation on a larger scale. Without a structured beginning to life, the creature is subjected to the harsh society around him, whose reactions only lead the creature to exile and psychological torment, justifying his wrongful actions.
In the Bible, the book of Genesis 1:27 states that "God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Creating both men and women in His image, God is the only person who can do this successfully, giving us unconditional love and never abandoning us throughout our journey in life. On the other hand, Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist creates a life form due to his love of natural sciences. His desire to create this life form only for an experimental purpose unknowingly leads to disastrous outcomes for both Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the monster. In Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein uses his knowledge where he violates ethical principles by playing God and creating a life form that he is ultimately ashamed of.
When Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein is analyzed, critics comes to a conclusion about Victor Frankenstein's creation. The creature invokes the most sympathy from the readers than any other character in the novel. Because he is abandoned by society which manipulates the creature to do evil things despite his good heart. Therefore Shelley's message throughout the novel is that a person is not born evil, they are made evil.
Throughout the novel, Shelley investigates the idea of monstrosity. She makes the point that a monster does not have to be genuinely evil in order to be considered monstrous. Shelley presents two characteristics of mankind in order to prove her case. The first example is Frankenstein’s creation. Upon first being introduced to his creation, the reader initially labels him as a monster because of his physical appearance. He is portrayed as a man with “…yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath…watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set…shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). Not only does the reader view him as...
In the book, the reader comes to find that Victor Frankenstein emulates this human nature, to betray. Victor shows his betrayal by creating life out of death, and by leaving his creation as soon as it is brought into the world- just for being displeasing to the eye. Although the Monster was considered the pinnacle of betrayal, the real monster was Victor Frankenstein himself, and the human nature that he universally
When Victor goes to college and his interest in science and nature grows, his curiosity to find the secret of immortality causes him to want to create a creature and bring it to life. Victor starts to create his unnatural work hoping that it will bring success in the future, “I prepared myself for a multitude of reverses; my operations might be incessantly baffled, and at last my work be imperfect, yet when I considered the improvement which every day takes place in science and mechanics, I was encouraged to hope my present attempts would at least lay the foundations of future success.” (43). Victor states his concerns about what he plans to do but dismisses them based on the importance he places on his work. For that reason, he starts to meddle with nature to create something no one can do but God. Finally, when Victor completes his creation, the monster, he realizes that he has made a serious mistake by interfering with nature, “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.” (47). He thinks he has achieved this beautiful dream of creating a life, but now that he has, all he can see is an ugly monster. Trying to take on divine creation fails and instead of beauty, all Victor can create is something horrifying. Therefore, disrupting with nature is a trait that proves Victor is the true monster because it is a limit that no human should overstep. Eventually, it will come to a miserable
After his creation, Frankenstein’s monster is left in isolation, cursed to endure people’s hatred towards him. This revulsion met by onlookers is merely based on the creature’s hideous looks. The monster is not actually a monster at all. He displays more humanity than many other characters in Frankenstein. The ultimate irony is that the prejudicial belief is what caused the reanimated human to become a monster. In the nature versus nurture debate, proponents of the nature theory believe that a person is unchanging and that one’s experiences do not affect that person’s behavior. If this were true, the monster would not change as a result of his interactions with humans. It is undeniable that the creature does immoral things, but when Frankenstein’s monster saves a little girl from drowning, Mary Shelley takes a clear stance that the creature was naturally noble but became monstrous as a result of interactions with humans.
While I was breaking the rule of personal space, I felt somewhat uncomfortable myself. I did learn that this is a real rule in our society and that I am not alone in how I feel. In my home, the kitchen is my personal space and I don’t like to have anyone in there when I am cooking a meal. I also don’t like people to stand too close to me when I am talking with them. I will automatically move a few steps away if someone, other than my family, is too close to me when they are conversing with me. Thus, breaking this rule was a little difficult for me and extremely fascinating at the same
Bruess. Contemporary Issues in Interpersonal Communication. Los Angeles: Roxbury, 2005. Print.) Though these norms were taught, they were always just inferred. Learning the rules of Proxemics has been eye opening. It is nice to have the general guidelines of intimate, personal, social and public distance. When there are specific rules put in place it is much easier to convey how someone is violating them. For instance, a friend of mine, Mike, recently stopped by my house. It should be noted that Mike has been a notorious “close talker” in our friend group for years. Now that I know the specific distances, was able to talk to Mike about his close talking and that it was making some people uncomfortable. And, because we were alone, the minimalized embarrassment of the situation allowed him to be receptive to the notion that he was violating implicit social rules. I showed him the textbook and we talked about the different distances. Ultimately he thanked me for my candor and has been making strides in appropriate distances while in dyads and