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What Is The Similarities Between The Tempest And Frankenstein

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A little girl screams in fear for her parents as she envisions a green, three-eyed monster lurking under her bed, waiting to get her until she finally closes her eyes. A little boy scares fellow trick-or-treaters as he’s dressed as a vampire for Halloween brandishing his pointy teeth with blood dripping out of his mouth. Both of these examples of monsters focus on the physicality of a creature and undermine the weight which the word ‘monster’ actually carries. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, and in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, there are characters that perfectly fit the description of a tangible monster. However, monsters are more than their somatic features. Monsters are created within based on circumstances, decisions that are …show more content…

Originally, he was a fair duke that showed love to everyone he met; however, his love of magic gets him exiled by his own brother. Once on the island of his banishment, Prospero develops monstrous characteristics of greed and domination. He imposes his beliefs upon initial inhabitants by teaching them his own language so that they could communicate with him (Tempest. I.ii.352-364). Prosper felt he had the superior form of communication and higher level of intellect, so the previous occupants should have to learn his language. He also forced his self-proclaimed authority on this creature who was the birth-right land-owner. This creature, Caliban, is upset and claims, “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me” (Tempest. I.ii.331-332). Just as Prospero’s kingdom was taken from himself, he retaliated by taking Caliban’s kingdom from him. To do this, Prospero enslaved Caliban as well as another he finds on the island through use of his magic and forces them to do his menial tasks. It is through his exploiting and dominating actions that Prospero is seen as a monster. He cultivated his supremacy over everyone to a malicious extent that he was a malevolent monster disguised as a …show more content…

After being abandoned by Dr. Frankenstein, Creature wanted to be accepted by mankind. However, his grotesque appearance was enough for society to isolate him. The physical and psychological characteristics that a society finds difficult to acknowledge as “normal” is what monsters embody. Because people made snap judgements about who Creature was, Creature started thinking of himself as wicked and evil. The circumstances he was placed in incited fury within that turned into physical violence. Creature referred to Dr. Frankenstein as a “cursed creator”, and “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled [his] bosom, and [he] did not strive to control them; but allowing [himself] to be borne away by the stream, [he] bent [his] mind towards injury and death” (Shelly 138 and 140). He became a powerful and threatening force. Creature fed the evil wolf and became more of a monster than just his physical semblance showed. By murdering innocent victims, he only fueled the monstrosity within him causing it to be his paramount

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