Jordan Alloway
Ms. Ruffing
English 10H – D
15 April, 2014
To look a ghoul, treated a fool
In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein’s monster is judged by his physical characteristics, his sensitive emotional personality is overlooked representing the depthlessness of society.
Often times in society, people are neglected and judged solely based on other people’s opinions, how they look, or how they act. Many times in these situations, the people that are prematurely shunned from society are morally sound, kind hearted people. In the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the monster was the one who was prematurely judged, and as a result, shunned from society. The depthlessness of society is represented throughout by selfishness and fear, as well as retaliation.
Early in the novel, a scientist named Victor Frankenstein treats his creation worse than anyone. He does not give the monster a fair chance, before he knows anything about the monster he regrets creating artificial life. Victor sees his monster and is astounded by him at first, then, triggered by appearance and early observation, hates his creation and only sees evil. Frankenstein says, “I never saw a more interesting creature: his eyes have generally an expression of wildness… he is generally melancholy and despairing” (Shelley 51). Frankenstein’s hate and lack of respect for his own creation represents the shallowness of society. When Victor uses words like “wildness” and “creature”, he connotes that he sees the monster as nothing more than an animal. Animals live in the wild and have wildness about them because they only know survival. Victor does not think the monster possesses any human like qualities otherwise he would not regret creating him. Fr...
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...tein’s monster himself felt this way. According to Robert Kiely from the Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 4, she says Frankenstein said, ‘“I was seized by remorse and the sense of guilt which hurried me away to a hell of intense tortures, such as no language can describe”’ (293). The monster describes the pain that he was forced to go through, alone, and enlightens the reader about his motives for his mass killings. He saw his world as a dark awful place where he was alone and pushed to lose sight of who he was. He is pushed to the limit and decides to kill those close to his creator, to feel the same pain that he endured. This is still how things work in today’s society with bullying. Someone who might be different from others is shunned from their community whether it big or small, and retaliates causing more problems for them and others involved.
I can't believe that the creature killed himself. In Grus Grimly's Frankenstein, a creature was made by a man named Victor Frankenstein in a laboratory. The creature was created because Victor mother had passed, and Victor wanted to figure out the way of life and death. The creature ends up making Victor miserable since the creature was isolated from everyone and had a lot of indignation inside of him that Victor has caused. The creature didn't have a name he was just called "creature." In my opinion, Victor should have named him because of he, not a creature; if you think about it he was a human.
In the novels Night and Frankenstein, both Wiesel and Shelley express that human injustice towards outsiders makes both individuals who act unjustifiably and individuals affected by those actions monsters. In Night, the prisoners that were taken to the camps were stripped of their morales of what is right and wrong because of the intense oppression due to the Nazis. Elie describes that he “dug [his] nails into unknown faces. [He] was biting all around… in order to get air” (Wiesel 89). The dehumanization of others and the keenness for self preservation causes prisoners to act inhumane towards each other. In Frankenstein, the monster describes himself as “benevolent; [his] soul glowed with love and humanity: but [is he not] alone, miserably alone” (Shelley). This thinking quickly changed when he realized no one would ever accept him. When society completely ostracizes an individual, they not only feel alone but they feel the need to express their feelings through revenge. The monster shown in Frankenstein is an example of how feelings of rejection can inspire feelings of hatr...
A person is not satisfied if they are not treated fairly. When people are mistreated because they look, act, or are different they face a stage where their feelings are mixed. These feelings vary from depression all the way to wanting to end someone’s life. In the novel of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, the monster faces difficulties because he is different the only thing he wants is to be treated equally; the monster actually discovered the meaning of justice.
Who is the real monster within the boundaries of society? In the classic novel written by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, the monster was characterized as an evil antagonist who has the murderous tendencies to annihilate the precious beings of mankind. However, the readers have yet to understand the victim underneath the distorted flesh and inhumane features since “the monster” was under the clutches of injustice because of the unreasonable ostracization, deplorable reason of creation, and unbearable misery.
By the end of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wanted the reader to discover that it was not Frankenstein’s creature that was the monster, but Victor Frankenstein himself. She was able to accomplish this fully by highlighting the absence of a single trait in Frankenstein; he has no empathy. Empathy, the ability to feel with another creature, is an integral part of what makes us human, what separates us from inanimate objects and animals. It is possible for a person to register another creature’s emotions without truly being empathetic. True empathy requires an individual to merge identities and act upon both their own and the others’ emotions.
In most novel and movies monsters are known to be evil, committing numerous crimes against humanity and are normally the ones that we don’t sympathize with. However, this novel carefully shows the reader that monsters can be good creatures, with a decent heart and act based on the actions of others. The novel shows how the monster should be pitied, rather than criticised. Mary Shelley's “Frankenstein” manages to create sympathy for the creature through speech, actions and mistreatment the creature suffers.
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.
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, values of society are clearly expressed. In this particular society and culture, a great value is placed on ideologies of individuals and their contribution to society. In order to highlight these values, Shelley utilizes the character of Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein is the main character of the novel, and with his alienation, he plays a significant role that reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values of individualism and use in society. This is done through Victor’s actions of self-inflicted isolation.
Victor Frankenstein from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the embodiment of the Greek titan, Prometheus. Victor is controlled by his desire for results but he ignores his path to getting those results. It’s helpful that he is able to ignore reality when doing so because then he is able to focus more on the developments. Being on the selfish side, Victor Frankenstein never bothers with the questions such as “Why” but focuses on the “Why not”. Victor Frankenstein is the modern Prometheus because of his realization when reality does not match what he imagined, brute strength to compensate for his ignorance and constant reluctant to take responsibility for his actions.
“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelly explores the concept of the body, life, ‘the self’ and most of importantly humanity, which is repeatedly questioned throughout the novel. The definition of humanity is the quality of being humane or in other words someone that can feel or possess compassion. Despite all the facts against the “monster” in “Frankenstein” he is indeed what one would consider being human. Humanity isn’t just about ones physical appearance but also includes intellect and emotion. Some people argue that the “monster” is not a human for he was not a creature that was born from “God” or from a human body. That being said, the “monster” is not only able to speak different languages, he can also show empathy - one of many distinct traits that set humans apart from the animals. Both the “monster” and his creator, Victor, hold anger and feel a sense of suffering throughout the novel. Victor is a good person with good intentions just like most individuals, but makes the mistake of getting swept up into his passion of science and without thinking of the consequences he creates a “monster”. After completing his science project, he attempts to move forward with his life, however his past – i.e., the “monster” continues to follow and someone haunt him. While one shouldn’t fault or place blame on Frankenstein for his mistakes, you also can’t help but feel somewhat sympathetic for the creature. Frankenstein just wants to feel accepted and loved, he can’t help the way he treats people for he’s only mimicking how people have treated him, which in most cases solely based on his appearance. Unlike most of the monsters we are exposed to in films past and present, the character of the “monster” ...
Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein centers around a creator who rejects his own creation. The plot thickens as Victor Frankenstein turns his back on his creation out of fear and regret. The monster is cast out alone to figure out the world and as a result of a life with no love, he turns evil. Shelley seems to urge the reader to try a relate with this monster and avoid just seeing him as an evil being beyond repentance. There is no doubt that the monster is in fact evil; however, the monster’s evilness stems from rejection from his creator.
The fact that Frankenstein’s creation turns on him and murders innocent people is never overlooked; it has been the subject of virtually every popularization of the novel. What is not often acknowledged is the fact that Frankenstein himself embodies some of the worst traits of humankind. He is self-centered, with little real love for those who care about him; he is prejudiced, inflexible and cannot forgive, even in death. While some of these traits could be forgivable, to own and flaunt them all should be enough to remind a careful reader that there are two "monsters" in Frankenstein.
Tragedy shows no discrimination and often strikes down on those undeserving of such turmoil. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a creature more repulsive than one can imagine is brought to life by a young scientist. Although this creature is horrifying in sight, he is gentle by nature. Unfortunately, the softer side of the creature is repeatedly overlooked and the so called “monster” is driven to a breaking point. Even though the Creature committed many crimes, Mary Shelley’s Creature was the tragic hero of this story because of his efforts rescue the life of a young girl and helping destitute cottagers.
...most readers tend to sympathize with Frankenstein because of the way in which he is mentally and physically harmed by his creation. However, one must also realize that while Frankenstein is a victim in the novel, he also exhibits features that make him a monster. These monstrous qualities, however, stem from his passion for science and his desire to create life. Not only does the reader criticize and pity Frankenstein, but the reader also empathizes with Frankenstein’s creation. He was unjustly shunned by society because of his physical appearance. On the other hand, the reader realizes that like Frankenstein, the creation can not be sympathized with entirely. He too exhibits traits that make him appear villainous. It is the duality of these two characters that make Frankenstein and his creation two of the most appealing characters of the nineteenth century.
However repugnant he was on the outside, when Frankenstein’s creature begins to tell his tale of sorrow and rejection the creature does not seem to be monstrous. Although rejected multiple times by the humans around him when he finds a family in poverty and “suffering the pangs ...