Society Creating The Monster In Merry Shelley

’s Frankestein Essay, Research Paper

SOCIETY CREATING THE MONSTER IN MARRY SHELLEY’S FRANKESTEIN

Life Sucks through Frankestein point of view, Mary Shelly shows the values of companionship, fear, trust, and happiness. All of these values the creation wants of portrays, but due to society, he is unable to achieve them. The creation tries to understand these values throughout his life but can’t because of the injustice he receives from the humans. Marry Shelly’s point is that society and the system that society creates its what made the creation a “monster”. The mistreatment of the creation from his first sign of life until the end of this novel, took gradually away the goodness in him leaving the loneliness and hatred dominant in his heart. Also what cause the creation to be bad is the mistreatment of his own creator, his on “father” Victor Frankestein, who made the assumption that the creation was bad directly by not giving him a chance.

When the creation finds his first home at the house of the De Laceys he understands humans better and tries to mimic them. While he stays here the creation watches avidly to learn how to act “human”. The creation feels he can help them out and does so by doing odd jobs during the night. After the creation lives among the family for many years he decides that he will confront the family and tell them about his experiences while living there. Unfortunately the family does not accept the creation and he is scared away. After this incident the creation vows to never help anyone out again because of the mistreatment he endures. Now the creation sets out on a killing spree to get revenge upon his creator so he can understand how he feels. The creation sets out on a killing spree to get revenge upon his creator so he can understand how he feels. The creation sets out on a killing spree to get revenge upon his creator so he can understand how he feels. The creation finally meets up with his creator and begs for a equal counter part. As the creation is speaking to Victor he says, “I was benevolent and good: misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous”(Shelly84). This moves Victor emotionally and he decides to make the creation his counterpart, as long as he promises not to hurt anymore of his family and everybody else. Victor now understands that even though the creation is a fiend he still needs companionship, the lack of fear, trust and happiness. As can be seen the creation wants to be good but bad things have driven him away from this. Throughout the book the creation tries to become more civilized but all the madness turned him into a fiend. While the creation is going about his ways he attacked by a village full of men who no nothing more than to hurt the unwanted. The creation interprets it as, “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge”(Shelley91). From that moment on he realized that people did not like his appearance and hated him because of it. If villagers did not run away at the sight of him, then they might have even enjoyed his presence. This the creation’s first lesson of man.

The creation receives nothing but ravage men chasing him out of their town. This instills a great deal of fear that the creation knows he does not want to deal with again. What this does to the creation is drives him further away from all good and puts him into a deep depression. After this the creation tells Victor, “Here, then, I retreated and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man”(Shelley91).

While living near the De Laceys the creation finds his first stable home. While living with the De Laceys he learns all about happiness, sadness and feelings of love. Happiness is the one virtue that is the most ironic because he only feels happy when the family does, but he never feels it for himself. When the creation meets the De Lacey family his first impression is that they are a suitable family that get by easily. Although when the creation lives with the family for a considerable amount of time he soon finds out of their troubles. While living there he finds out that the young boy works constantly and so does the sister. The creation feels that he can help out the boy and make him ecstatic by doing so. The creation wants to belong so much that he collects the wood for the family to see them happy. The first time he does this, ” the young woman, when she opened the door in the morning, appeared greatly astonished on seeing a great pile of wood on the outside. She uttered some words in a loud voice, and the youth joined her who also expressed surprise”(Shelley96). The creation doesn’t want to show himself because he thinks that by not understanding him they may fear him, ironically that’s exactly what happens. But this is also what makes the creation want to stay, seeing the happy expressions on the families faces.

Once the creation meets up with his creator and expresses his wants for a companion he states: “Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!”(Shelley131). With this the creation is saying that he wants Victor to trust him and create him a counter part to make him happy. The creation just wanted him to trust him enough so he can have a companion. Since Victor, the family or villagers did not trust the creation he now believes that he can never be able to communicate with humans because of his form. All the creation needed was a little trust because after that he would be able to tell every one of troubles. Trust, I believe, is one of the most important values in this novel. I think that with trust the creation would have been able to communicate with the humans and express his views. The creation puts it like this:

“I swear to you, by the earth which I inhabit, and by you that made me, that with the companion you bestow I will quit the neighborhood of man and dwell, as it may chance, in the most savage of places. My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy! My life will flow quietly away, and in my dying moments I shall not curse my maker”(Shelley132).

The creation simply tries to show with this statement that Victor needs to trust him because if he will the creation will not kill another human if he cooperates. The creation just wants a counterpart so he can feel companionship firsthand. Since the creation couldn’t fit in with the humans he wanted Victor to make him a mate so that he could go and live in harmony with itself and not hurt anybody. So the creation still, even though society has treated him badly, does not want to hurt humans.

The creation also says:

“I swear, by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven, and by the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never behold me again. Depart to your home and commence you labours; I shall watch their progress with unutterable anxiety; and fear not but that when you are ready I shall appear”(Shelley133)

The creation says this to Victor because he wants to emphasize that if Victor will agree to make him a counter part he will never bother him again. The creation is trying to assure Victor of his good intentions and also in some way trying to make peace with his own “father”.

But the unfairness of its creator, Victor, it is shown again in the book when he decides not to make the companion for the creature. When the creation finds out about this Victor says, “Be gone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness”(Shelley153). Victor rudeness towards the creation is shown in this statement, just when the creation was trying to convince himself that maybe his creator actually wanted him to be happy and live in harmony. This is a breakdown for the creature and replies to Victor, “It is well I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your wedding-night”(Shelley153). By this the creation its expressing its anger, and even though he has all this anger inside he still is calm and does not want to hurt Victor.

Frankestein’s intent was to create a being unlike any other, superior to all human life and so he picked the most perfect body parts and beauteous features, all to be pieced together in great anticipation. However, the results are horrific and irreversible. The creation is not accepted by society and ironically the first who does not accept him is his own creator, Victor Frankestein. Accusing Frankestein of bringing him into a world where he could never be accepted, the creation realizes his creator’s faulty idealism. The creation was not accepted by society due to his ravenous looks and hideous ways, or even because of the simple fact that society fears what they do not understand, and they could not understand Frankestein. The creation was good at the beginning but than his pain for mistreatment and the lack of companionship made him angry. The creation could have fit in only if his creator was all the way on his side, so practically it was more Frankestein’s fault than the whole society’s fault. People like the rioters just needed somebody to explain this creature to them and assure them that nothing bad was going to happen to them because of this creature.