The Monster’s Birth in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Shelley creates sympathy for the monster by creating themes of alienation and prejudice towards him. She also adds subplots of the Delacy family and the monster’s lack of childhood to create sympathy in Frankenstein. The theme of alienation is very prominent throughout Frankenstein. Alienation means estrangement, which is exactly what the monster was going through. In volume two, we are able to understand the monster’s tale through his own eyes.

Walton prohibits his thrive for knowledge to be exceeded, whereas Frankenstein allows his compulsive obsession to lead to his death. By contrasting these two characters, the reader is able to grasp an understanding of the evil that has forsaken Frankenstein. Though his appearance is one of a human being, his drive for success has transformed him into a character that he views as his creature, monstrous and destructive, without having the appearance of a grotesque fiend. Mary Shelley depicts Frankenstein as someone more monstrous than his own creation. As of the beginning of the novel, Frankenstein’s stories include an underlying tragedy that will later lead to his downfall, “I feel pleasure in dwelling on the recoll... ... middle of paper ... ...itive qualities he possesses, such as his ability to acknowledge the importance of a family.

“Men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other’s blood.” (Shelley 156) The author uses the word monsters to describe ordinary people suggesting that their intentions are the same as the monsters. Frankenstein had good intentions when he created the monster but the monster wreaked havoc. The monster acting out in a negative way may... ... middle of paper ... ..., but there was another still paramount to that. My duties towards the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention because they included a greater proportion of happiness or misery. "(Shelley 265) This quote reiterates one of the main points of the novel: Frankenstein's decision turns on the good of humankind.

Throughout Frankenstein, one assumes that Frankenstein’s creation is the true monster. While the creation’s actions are indeed monstrous, one must also realize that his creator, Victor Frankenstein is also a villain. His inconsiderate and selfish acts as well as his passion for science result in the death of his friend and family members and ultimately in his own demise. 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.

She uses light to symbolize his happiest times and darkness to represent when he’s feeling bad. The monster is a distortion of the monsters people can become. The monster killed Elizabeth in the novel, but when you really think about it, the real monster was Victor because he created the monster and he chose to abandon home. He didn’t give him any guidance, he left him all alone in a horrible and cruel world. Distortions in Frankenstein served to show humanity in a grotesque way, it served to show humanity in its true colors.

Even though Victor is successful in creating a human heart beat with the use of dead human rem... ... middle of paper ... ... accused mankind of being barbaric. If Victor and society would have been able to get past their prejudices of the unfamiliar, Victor, his family, and the monster may have been fortunate enough to avoid their doomed endings. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein focuses on several social and emotional themes throughout the novel. The consequence of obtaining too much knowledge for one’s good begins Victor Frankenstein on a canter to an early, lonely grave. The theme of isolation inevitably creates two dangerous monsters within Victor and his creation.

That’s why stories about supernatural became popular. ‘Frankenstein’ is one of the typical examples of that time which portrays the effects of these changes. As we read more we get to know that Victor Frankenstein described the monster when he first came alive. The monster was ‘hideous’ with his ‘yellow eyes’, ‘pearly white teeth’ and ‘scarcely skin’. Here Shelley wants us, as readers, to be repulsed by what we see.

With the quote on page 68, the monster is comparing his creator as God and himself as the fall of man, like Adam. The monster says to Frankenstein that he has a good heart deep inside, but the maltreatment of other humans and his own ugliness has made his heart cold and bitter. Victor Frankenstein and the monster both share their love for science, especially when the monster stated, “... ... middle of paper ... ...ature separates how good and evil are both viewed by society and how much of both have existed in the world. The creature has been admiring and discovering life by experiencing and learning the language, interactions, and overall love; he can’t believe how much evil there has been and how he hates it. The creature goes on to say that “To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honor that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm.”(52) He is speaking of his creator, Victor Frankenstein, as he believes the “virtuous” part of him is the “god-like” way that he had permeated him with life but the “base” part of his creator is the violent way in which he shunned him and left him to fend for himself to the natural world.

Frankenstein sees the creation as if he were the devil when the creature tries to make an effort to embrace him (Mellor Mary Shelley 357). When he sees ... ... middle of paper ... ...rced him to be. ?I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend? (Shelley 95). Although most people assume that in Frankenstein, the creature was the murderer, the truth is the exact opposite.

Dr. Frankenstein is a student with a strong desire for science and the supernatural. His goals begin to consume him with his wild want to make this creation of Frankenstein. His creation is then a hideous monster that only wants to live as a normal human, but in turn is shunned by society and eventually himself falls into the evil perils of humanity. Shelley uses symbolism and the supernatural to bring out the ignorance that existed in society even in a time of extreme knowledge and learning. Very often in her book Shelley points out facts about property, the families witnessed by Frankenstein and the doctor are both prominent and wealthy, but also seem to share the fact that a dear friend lost their fortune and were then shunned from society and miserable.