Author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley mirrored the prejudice and judgment from society in her legendary classic, “Frankenstein”. This novel depicts the creation of a monster who became a victim of unfortunate circumstances from those around him. Due to his unusual features, the creature caused terror to those who crossed his path. The creator, Victor Frankenstein, never assumed that such creature was capable of reason and emotion. The creature truly desired to become one with society however if society acted cruel and inhumane, then so would he. With the use of “Monster and Monstrosity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” by Žaneta Skalošová one as the reader can become aware of the use of pathos that allowed us to deeply sympathize with the self conflicting …show more content…
As previously mentioned, though the creature possessed grotesque features physically, it did not affect the innocent being from within. Once abandoned the creature tried to befriend multiple individuals but they all showed hatred and terror. This lead to the creature to grow tired of the continuous assumptions and rejections from society. Shelley incorporated the hatred that society showed towards the creature in order to emphasize the “current structure of society with its prejudices and imperfections” that she dealt with at the time (Skalošová 17). Due to society’s ignorance, the creature adopted the monstrous qualities, in which lead him to become the villain of the story that we all know and love today. Furthermore, the creature allowed humanity once last time to show compassion and sympathy. The creature tried to befriend a young boy as he believed that children were free of all prejudice. Upon sight of the hideous creature, the startled boy tried to run away. The creature wanted to persuade the young that he meant no harm but the boy shouted, “Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces. You are an ogre. Let me go” (Shelley 170). The creature soon became aware that the young boy was Frankenstein’s brother. He soon strangled the boy to death to fulfill his vengeance, “‘I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.’” (Shelley 171). Under this circumstance, the creature chose to be the monster that people initially feared. Victor Frankenstein created such creature but society made the monster within the
Like most horror stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has a wretched monster who terrorizes and kills his victims with ease. However, the story is not as simple as it seems. One increasingly popular view of the true nature of the creature is one of understanding. This sympathetic view is often strengthened by looking at the upbringing of the creature in the harsh world in which he matures much as a child would. With no friends or even a true father, the creature can be said to be a product of society and its negative views and constant rejections of him. Although this popular view serves to lessen the severity of his crimes in most people’s eyes, the fact remains that the creature is in fact a cold-hearted wretch whose vindictive nature
Frankenstein, a novel first published in the year 1818, stands as the most talked about work of Mary Shelley’s literary career. She was just nineteen years old when she penned this novel, and throughout her lifetime she could not produce any other work that surpasses this novel in terms of creativity and vision. In this novel, Shelley found an outlet for her own intense sense of victimization, and her desperate struggle for love. Traumatized by her failed childbirth incidents, troubled childhood, and scandalous courtship, many of Shelley’s life experiences can be seen reflected in the novel. When discussing the character and development of the monster, Shelley launches an extensive discussion on the
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the unnamed creature brings terror to civilians and commits horrific acts against his creator, Victor Frankenstein. However, his redeemable acts of kindness makes his character morally ambiguous. He struggles between doing well and causing trouble because of isolation, the excerpts of society, and his pursuit for love.
Mary Shelley’s, gotchic novel, Frankenstein, is a story of a mans adventure out of self pity and disappointment in search for total control and ultimate power, as he wishes to escape from the realities of his past life. In this story, Victor Frankenstein’s use of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos creates many moods and repsonses from Victor, himself, and the Creature he has created, which conveys emotional repsonses, persuasive actions, and appeals to logic that created this twisted and wretchedly staggering novel. Victor Frankenstein uses Pathos to effectively create an emotional response. After being reprimanded by Victor, the creature expresses how he thought Victor would respond, because, “All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who
Most people are kind at heart, but society’s negative perceptions changes them. Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, portrays this concept. Frankenstein’s monster treats humans kindly - refuting the stereotype that all monsters are evil. In this novel, the monster is kind towards mankind until society criticizes him and turns him into a malicious creature. The monster that Frankenstein creates has kind-hearted morals, but because society harms him based on his hideous appearance. Because of his treatment, he transforms into a murderous monster, pointing to the destructive power of societal criticism.
Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, symbolized a person’s necessity for acceptance by society. Society labels everything as good or bad, right or wrong, rich or poor. Although some of these labels may be correct, many are misconceptions. The monster, needed to be accepted by society, but instead was scorned, attacked, and shunned because of his outward appearance. The treatment of the monster was on the assumption that he was actually a monster. The only justification of this treatment was his outward appearance.
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, which was published in 1818, is considered the literary work that created science fiction, much as the novel’s protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, created his monster. The novel raises the question of what makes a human. The Creature is living and human shaped, although grotesquely, but he is not considered human. Throughout the novel, the Creation searches for humanity and wishes to be seen as equal to humans, and this essay will explore how he does and does not accomplish that goal by analyzing his motives and morality, and how he succeeds through failing. One of the first and foremost human features in the Creature is his morality and how it is directly influenced by his environment.
The Frankenstein monster created by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is one of the most wondrous characters in literature. Furthermore, the psychology behind Victor Frankenstein and the monster that he had created has been an issue that has been debated by psychologists for several years. Moreover, it has been claimed that the Frankenstein monster gives the reader a glimpse into the consciousness of Victor himself. This being said, many individuals have tried to understand the reasons for the monsters actions and his change in disposition. Despite its vicious behavior and committing the act of murder, Doctor Victor Frankenstein’s creature is not characteristically evil or malicious but a creation of rejection and negligence and Shelley give
Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is an intricate novel written during the literary movement of Romanticism, and one of several famous fictional books in the Gothic genre. Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the midst of marveling whether someone could bring the dead back to life. Many of the discussed themes are presented through the actions the character’s act, and occurrences from Shelley’s personal life. Two of the numerous themes represented are social judgement regulated by birth and creation.
Throughout the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, the creature is subjected to countless acts of violence and rejection. For a monster to develop, one must have been formerly exploited either by an individual or their society. The creature is not only a physical product of science, but his atrocious behavior is also an explicit result of Victor’s actions toward him. The creature was not born a monster, but slowly morphed into one as he experiences violence and rejection from his society.
In the story the main speaker is Victor Frankenstein who is the creator of the monster, which he also describes the monster throughout the novel. The first descriptions he gives to the creature are mainly based on the physical features of it; the first impression he has is “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath… his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.” (Shelley 58) This shows that the monster does not look anything close to a human being, and this traits represent how his first impression defines his destiny through the story. On the other hand, when the monster tells his story, he expresses himself with “I have good dispositions; my life has been hitherto harmless and in some degree beneficial; but a fatal prejudice clouds their eyes, and where they ought to see a feeling and kind friend, they behold only a detestable monster.” (Shelley 159) He expresses how he is prejudiced by other people, and they are afraid that the monster might hurt them. The consequence
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells the tale of a man whose entire life turns to misery after creating what he calls a monster, a demon and a fiend. However, the real monster in this story is pride and the feeling of superiority. This is evident in the novel with Robert Walton’s view of himself and his expedition, Victor Frankenstein’s attitude towards himself in comparison with the creature, and mankind’s perception of the creature and their ignorance towards him.
“ People fear what they do not understand. ” In the original 1888 edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this saying is excessively shown throughout the journey of Frankenstein himself and his creation known as “ the creature.” Fear is spreaded in this famous, gothic novel because the epitome of society is lacked by both the creator and the creation, leading to much misunderstanding with who is the real monster. In this novel, the true monster is society because the ideals indirectly presented led Frankenstein to abhor and abandon the creature, the ultimate isolation of both, and the delirious vengeance developed by the two.
Mary Shelley, a writer and leader of the Romantic era, was clearly influenced by the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. One such thinker was John Locke, who expressed that all humans have natural rights. Locke also had a theory that humans are born with clean slates, and the environment humans grow in, especially at a young age, has massive influences on aspects of their personalities, ideals, and motivations. Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was, without a doubt, influenced by this claim. This is evident in more ways than one, with the strongest argument being that the monster, that Victor Frankenstein created, was almost completely like a newborn baby with a fully developed brain. His actions and beliefs were merely an result of his experiences and the natural goodness of human beings. In essence, Mary Shelley is using the monster of Frankenstein as a representation of other human beings who are affected by the hate and cruelty that surrounds them and become that which they experience. In essence, the monster is an embodiment of the human condition, in a creature that isn’t classically defined as human, but meets all the criteria.
Mary Shelley’s exemplification of various characters in Frankenstein is a reflection of social norms of the time. This is ever so evident through the character of the creature, as society’s disgust with him reflects society’s aspiration in customs. This rejection of the creature also reflects Shelley’s own society as they start rejecting the Enlightenment’s pursuit of knowledge after the age of Romanticism