Frankenstein: A Closer Look

Getting well into volume two and three of the book, we get the privilege to see a part of the traditional Frankenstein that the average person does not know: The narrated story of the creature himself. I think it is very interesting coming from this point of view as we usually associate the creature as a scary, dangerous, unforgiving monster that roams the world, terrorizing the people around him. After closer reading, you can argue see that the “monster” isn’t so much of a monster after all. He has feelings, emotion, and is seemingly feels out of place and left out because of who he is. He gets depressed, so much to the point where he begs his creator, Victor to take him back. The creature is alone, and needs to be loved and cared about just as any other animal, not just humans need. 

In class, we discussed one of the most important questions that the book provokes: Is the creature really a monster? Since we went so in-depth in class, and I think it is the most interesting topic based off of this part of the book, it will fuel the rest of my blog (Volume 2 Chapter 2). There is a lot of evidence that we looked at arguing both sides. Personally, I do not think that the creature is a monster. He has emotion and feels very left out of the world as everyone seems to hate him. On page 170, after being insulted by Victor, he says “How then I must be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!” The creature is very lonely, miserable, and depressed that he is unliked and misunderstood by the world. Victor has seemed to put the creature in this position. He doesn’t even have a name! Victor, abandoning this creation of his was selfish as he did the creature no good, and essentially gave him this painful destiny that he now has to live with. Still, the creature returns to Victor, asking him for forgiveness  as he says “I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee.” The creature knows that he can easily dominate Victor, but does not in hopes that they can be companions as they were supposed to be. From the other point of view, the creature does get called “Demon” and other monster-like names throughout the story, and the creature actually calls himself “creature” (p. 171). From the naked eye, yes the creature is in fact a creature, but going more in depth, there are many signs that it is not.

While writing this, I asked myself a question that could be argued: Is Victor the the real monster? He abandoned his creation, left him to rot in his own sorrows, and when he returns asking for forgiveness (when he really didn’t do anything in the first place) Victor rejects him ferociously, calls him demeaning names like “Devil, and Abhored Monster.” I’m finding it hard to wrap my head around Victor’s decision making. How can he abandon everything he ever loved back at home to study the creation of life for so long and spend countless hours making this creature, and once he is “born,” he leaves it, and rejects it when he comes searching for his creator. I wonder if Shelly intentionally put this comparison in the book to provoke the reader to ask questions and interpret these characters just as I am.