Rebekah Prieto
Cline
English 102
16 October 2011
“Frankenstein, the True Monster”
Perhaps it is the manner and society in which I was raised that leads me to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with a physiological bias. Many critics have interpreted the book by assuming that Shelley must have been portraying Victor Frankenstein as a replication of herself. For example when Barbara Johnson writes “… a representation of maternal rejection of a newborn infant, and to relate the entire novel to Mary Shelley’s mixed feelings about motherhood. Having lived through an unwanted pregnancy from a man married to someone else only to see the baby die …” (Johnson p. 246). While others have chosen to focus on the religious references such as when Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar write, “It is Eve, after all, who languishes helpless and alone, while Adam converses with superior beings …” (p. 230). However, I believe the creation of the novel Frankenstein is an extreme example of the way people are treated when they are considered outcasts in society. Through the information provided in the novel it does appear that Frankenstein, or rather the idea to write Frankenstein, was truly just intended to be a ghost story. However, I believe that writers tend to somehow convey their feelings towards personal or social experiences through their writing. I do not believe that this is usually a conscious occurrence; however, some of writing comes from what we know or see combined with our imagination. Shelley, in writing Frankenstein, portrayed the physiological experiences that might go through ones mind when they are perceived as a an individual who does not fit the account of a “normal” human being. This may comes from the physical or mental abilities one possesses. At a first glance one may see this story as one which depicts Frankenstein as a sort of heroin, but after a closer look one will see that he himself is the one who created the monster and then proceeded to torture him by refusing to provide him with the emotional support, love, and kindness that all humans need to survive. This confirms that V. Frankenstein is the true vision of monstrosity in this novel.
Frankenstein was once so involved in his creation. He was proud and reassured that he would be positively recognized for his endless hours of work. When Frankenstein says,
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. “(Shelley p. 32)
one feels that he is an honorable man. After Frankenstein sees his creation living for the first time he judges him solely on his appearance. He never even gives his creature a chance, like an explosion he defies his creature any hope of success. He is like the mean child who teases another child for being different. It is because of Frankenstein’s utter disgust in his creation that all of the death and misery is created. Shelley elaborately displays the way a person can be made into an outcast of society by the actions of merely one individual.
Shelley ostentatiously displays Frankenstein’s creature as a kind a caring being who only desires love and affection. One cannot help but to feel sympathy towards him. Despite his gigantic stature and unruly appearance he is portrayed as a gentle giant of sorts. He studies humans with the desire to learn their ways for he feels that if he can speak their language and act as they do then just maybe they will accept him in all of his frightening glory. When he decides to make an attempt at approaching the humans whom he observes as kind and accepting, he plans for days. In human like manor he is nervous and scared of being rejected. “My heart beat quick; this was the hour and moment of trial which would decide my hopes, or realize my fears. … it was an excellent opportunity; yet, when I proceeded to execute my plan, my limbs failed me and I sunk to the ground” (Shelley p. 89). This is not the attitude that a monster would have. If Shelley had intended to write the story with the creature as the monster she would not have portrayed him in such a noble and kind manor. This provides further evidence that Shelley intended for her readers to perceive Frankenstein as the true monster.
It is apparent that Shelley wished for her audience to sympathize with the creation of Frankenstein. She shows him making courageous attempts for acceptance; from this one can see that the only thing he desires is the warmth and kindness of someone. However, Frankenstein has ripped this very hope from his creatures grasp. Frankenstein’s cruel manor is further experienced through out the remainder of the novel when one realizes that this poor outcaste was not even so much as granted a name. To the day of his death Frankenstein was out to destroy his creations very being. A simple request was all that the nameless creature desired, and this was to be granted a female of his kind so that he would be forever loved and finally shown the warmth and kindness he desired. The evil heart of Frankenstein could not even provide this token of kindness to the creature he so carelessly brought into this world.
The constant tortures on Frankenstein’s emotions are the very thing which turned him from a kind hearted and sympathetic being into a cruel and vicious murderer. Shelley conveys the reality of the consequences which may occur during extreme cases of torment and rejection. These occurrences, in the novel, are a direct result of the true monster, Frankenstein. Shelley shows us further the emotions which Frankenstein’s creature endured when she writes,
You, who call Frankenstein your friend, seem to have knowledge of my crimes and his misfortunes. But, in the detail which he gave you of them, he could not sum up the hours and months of misery which I endured, wasting in impotent passion. For whilst I destroy his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still I desire love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me? … Why do you not execrate the rustic who sought to destroy the savior if his child? Nay these are the virtuous and immaculate beings! I, the miserable being and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on. … (Shelley p. 155)
In reading this account of the creations emotions, Shelley demonstrates her utter disgust in the cruelty people who are viewed as different are shown in society. I believe the reason this novel has been viewed as a masterpiece is due to Shelley’s emotional regard for individuals who may appear “different”. It is clear that she feels a high regard for people of this nature, furthermore it is apparent that she must have felt that people who treat people poorly should not be afforded happiness.
If you take a deeper look into the novel Frankenstein, the images of cruelty and torture are ever present, and this is the very set of images which make this a “ghost“ story. In a response written by George Levin, “… there is no such comfortable explanation for the evil of Frankenstein himself.” (Levine p. 209), it is shown how no one in their right mind could covey Frankenstein as a hero or a good and moral human being. The sickening reality is that, in Victor Frankenstein, Shelley has succeeded in creating a character as evil as the devil himself. Frankenstein attempts to portray himself as the victim. When he is accused of Clerval’s murder, he falls deathly ill; when his brother William his murdered, he falls into a deep depression. One might see these ultimate circumstances as a reason to view Frankenstein as the recipient of supreme remorse; however he only fell into these deep emotional drawbacks for fear of being convicted of murder. Frankenstein’s narcissistic characteristics are those of a demented and physiologically unwell human being. Shelley’s attempt to demonstrate how sever physiological torture can make one seem as though they are a monster is beautifully displayed in her novel Frankenstein. She has also displayed the effects of being deemed and outcast by one individual can create horrific consequences.
Work Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Hunter, Paul J. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1996. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Hunter, Paul J. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1996.Levine, George. Frankenstein and the Tradition of Realism. pg. 208-214. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Hunter, Paul J. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1996. Johnson, Barbara. My Monster/My Self. Pg. 241-251. Print.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Hunter, Paul J. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.,1996. Gilbert, Sandra M., Gubar, Susan. Mary Shelley’s Monstrous Eve. Pg. 225-240. Print.
