Where and how does the creature represent himself as a (Romantic) subject in possession of essential human feelings? Why don’t his feelings earn him a place within the human community? Choose a key episode in his narrative to help you answer the question. Be sure to follow the formula of context, quote, analysis that we’ve been working on.
English 220: Introduction to Writing about Literature
Nature and the Modern World
In Volume II, Chapter 2, Victor sees a figure advancing towards him with “superhuman speed”, and immediately becomes uneasy as he it recognizes the figure as the creature he regretted creating. As the creature approaches him, Victor anticipates a fight as he “trembles with rage and horror.” It is evident that Victor hates the creature as he speaks of it’s “unearthly ugliness” with such disgust and contempt. However, the creature already knew that Victor would react in such a manner towards him and remains calm and avoids any physical combat with Victor. The creature represents himself as a Romantic subject because he pleads with Victor and tries to compromise because his desire to be loved and experience happiness is strong. In this chapter the creature is overflowing with feelings, and implores to Victor saying, “”How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone?” For a creature that is perceived as ugly, as a wretch, and even as a devil, his words perceive him as the complete opposite. The creature appears to us as a human who is desperate for affection and love considering that all he has ever known was violence and being shunned by all of humanity. His feelings don’t earn him a place within the human community because he is judged by his appearance only, this is evident when he steps foot into a cottage in search for food. The creature tells Victor what happened saying, “but I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. 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,”. This shows us that as benevolent and kind as the creature may be, his appearance makes it impossible for him to be accepted within society. People will run and attack at first glance and it’s a sad reality for the creature.
Hi Christiana. Excellent post!
a. Explains what your peer is doing well.
You say: “In this chapter the creature is overflowing with feelings, and implores to Victor saying, “”How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favourable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion? Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone?” For a creature that is perceived as ugly, as a wretch, and even as a devil, his words perceive him as the complete opposite. The creature appears to us as a human who is desperate for affection and love considering that all he has ever known was violence and being shunned by all of humanity”
Here, you do a great job of introducing your quote, by emphasizing that the creature is “overflowing with feelings” as he speaks to Victor. Then, you note the opposition between the way the creature is perceived—as ugly, a wretch and devil–and his own representation of his desire for love and affection.
b. Provides suggestions about what your peer might develop or further explore.
You might consider further developing your ideas here about the contrast between the way the creature is perceived and the way that he perceives himself in a paper. You could look, for instance, to the contrast between the way the creature is perceived by Walton at the end of the book and his own account of his actions.
The creature represented himself with possession of essential human feelings when he was traveling alone and encountered an accident that occured in front of him.When he was in the woods, he saw a young girl that was drowning in the river so he tried to save her. From his own perspective, he called himself having “The feeling of kindness and gentleness”(155). Which readers see because he immediately tried to save the girl without any hesitation. Then, everything changed when another person came in to look for the girl. He began shooting the “monster” he saw with bullets, and that’s when the creature showed another human-like feeling. He said, “ Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind”(155). The creature had very negative feelings towards all humans because instead of thanking him when he tried to save the girl, they hurted him. The reason why he didn’t get a “thank you” from the man was all because of his scary appearance. Most people judge a person’s personality based on their looks. Since the creature was ugly and scary, he was then labeled as the bad guy who killed the girl. It may be an unfair way to judge others based on looks, but that was the only thing the man could use to determine good or bad. Which sadly, marked the creature as bad and dangerous, which further isolated the creature, making him unacceptable to the human community.
Great work! You’ve chosen a good example. You also make the interesting suggestion that it is not just the creature’s kindness and gentleness, but also his hatred that makes him resemble a “human.” I would propose that the “hatred” is, however, what makes him a “monster.” He was not born with those feelings, but acquired them only after he was judged “based on his looks,” as you say.
“It may be an unfair way to judge others based on looks, but that was the only thing the man could use to determine good or bad. Which sadly, marked the creature as bad and dangerous, which further isolated the creature, making him unacceptable to the human community.” This is a great evaluative point! I can really hear your voice coming through.
Discouraged and scarred by his previous human encounters, the Creature watches the interactions between the members of DeLacy’s family from a distance. He especially takes note of their emotions, what causes them, and how they change. Thus, by understanding the joys of family and noticing their individual sadness, the Creature admits, “I thought (foolish wretch!) that it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people” (91). His admiration for their interactions, music and pleasure that comes about it makes him feel that such innocent, pure emotions be protected. In fact, although the Creature himself never experiences the same affection that the family shows towards one another, he still admires the beauty of their relationship to the point that he begins to refer to them as his “friends” despite them not even knowing of his existence. Therefore, all that the Creature sees and observes in the family is what he then internalizes and reflects upon, trying to see how their emotions and behaviors can relate to his own. However, his desires to be integrated into their lives is proven to be a contradictory to the reality because although “I [the Creature] admired virtues and good feelings, and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottages; but I was shut out from intercourse with them… which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming one among my fellows” (97). The more the Creature learned about humanity– human nature, emotions, language, and history¬– the more desperately he yearned to apply such things in the comfort of humans. But alas, his physical differences and unnatural conception created a barrier based on physical discrimination between him and the humans, which thus taught him of the vice of humanity. Overall though, these reflections of the Creature highlights the fact that he is limited to observations and forced into isolation, making him devoid of interactions with others. On the other hand, Victor is the complete opposite in the sense that when he created the Creature, he preferred observations over emotions and lived in a self-induced solitude.
Great points. This one stands out to me in particular:
“However, his desires to be integrated into their lives is proven to be a contradictory to the reality because although “I [the Creature] admired virtues and good feelings, and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottages; but I was shut out from intercourse with them… which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming one among my fellows” (97). The more the Creature learned about humanity– human nature, emotions, language, and history¬– the more desperately he yearned to apply such things in the comfort of humans. But alas, his physical differences and unnatural conception created a barrier based on physical discrimination between him and the humans, which thus taught him of the vice of humanity.”
To heal himself from the terror and despair, Victor once again tries to regain his connection with nature. The scenery has made his heart “swelled with…joy”. However, that joy also lasts for a brief moment as he encounters the creature advancing toward him with great speed. Victor “trembled with rage and horror” and began to reject the “devil” he created. The creature does not detest Victor for the way he viewed the being. He seemed to agree with victor at being called a “wretched” who was “miserable beyond all living things”. Hesitantly, Victor decides to give the creature a chance to explain his tale. The creature began to narrate the story of his experience. He foretells his journey and the feeling of desolation, “poor, helpless, miserable… confused, hunger and thirst” which he had endured. With no sense of belonging, the creature explained the “feeling of pain [that had] invaded him”. In this scenario, the creature is seen as the Romantic subject mainly because he begins to realize his necessity as many emotions are evoked. As he was lost internally and externally, the creature had no idea of who he was. He did not have any identity which only separated him from the rest. Near the side of a cottage, the creature begins to observe a family that expands his understanding of belonging. He was moved by the “trait of kindness” and yarned to receive those affections. Each time he observes the family, he also wanted to be loved. Nevertheless, it only made the creature feel isolated. The creature could not bring itself outside because of its appearance. Even though he mastered the language, he was “terrified when [he] viewed [himself”. He realizes how horrendous his image was and the cause of why people rejected him.
Nice work Jannatul! I like that you begin by mentioning Victor’s desire to regain his connection with “nature.” In this way he is a Romantic subject; the irony, of course, is that this uplifting “Romantic” experience is disrupted by the appearance of the creature.
This is a good point: “Near the side of a cottage, the creature begins to observe a family that expands his understanding of belonging. He was moved by the “trait of kindness” and yarned to receive those affections. Each time he observes the family, he also wanted to be loved.”
In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Victor’s creation evolves over time. He has been rejected by humankind as he is portrayed as a monster incapable of feeling however, this is not true. His first signs of emotion was his need for revenge after realizing Victor made him that way and abandoned him. The creature then learns overtime and gains more emotion. In volume 2, Victor and the creature meet again, and Victor immediately curses him assuming it was just a mindless monster, but through the creature’s words, Victor realized he was talking to a human-like being. Victor decides to listen. The creature now speaks very well and appears to be somewhat well educated. He is well aware of how the world sees him and he feels like he was rejected by the world and rejected by his creator. As they sit down and talk, the creature explains his perspective of things to Victor and to the reader gaining the reader’s sympathy as well as Victor’s attention. The creature is a human. He has wants and needs like any other person. In volume 2, chapter 7, the creature describes how reading books brought out his inner person as he shows signs of passion, ability to learn, etc. He compares his relationship with Victor to that of Adam, God, and Satan. One of the creature’s most important signs of human traits was revealed in volume 2, chapter 9 when the creature states, “You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies for my being,” (Shelley 106). The creature wants to feel love and happiness. He believes no human would fall in love with him despite how human he actually is because of how ugly he is. People will always see him as a monster and nothing more. A female creature created by Victor to him would be the perfect pairing. He wants to feel love and happiness. He feels that a female creation would let him feel accepted by another.
“As they sit down and talk, the creature explains his perspective of things to Victor and to the reader gaining the reader’s sympathy as well as Victor’s attention. The creature is a human. He has wants and needs like any other person. ”
This is a good claim! I like that you emphasize the way in which she creature’s story affects both Victor AND the reader. The paradox, of course, is that while the reader recognizes the creature as a human subject worthy of respect and love, none of the characters in the book can see him as fully human.
During the first meeting between Victor and his monster in the mountains, the creature claims that he has the possession of human emotions. The monster states that he is “benevolent and good” (80) and that his “soul glowed with love and humanity” (81). The creature wanted Victor to know that he is has the ability to learn and love like a normal human. However, even with the creature’s ability to express emotions, he is still rejected by humans because of his unnatural appearance stated “thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine; my joints more supple” (80). This is also seen in Victor’s response stating that they are not alike, but they are “enemies.” The monster compares himself to “fallen angel” even though he was supposed to be Victor’s “Adam.” This parallel was to emphasize that the creature was rejected and driven away from “heaven” which to the monster is the human community. The monster yearns for a companion because he knows that he will forever be rejected by human society hence he needs someone that is similar to him.
“The monster compares himself to “fallen angel” even though he was supposed to be Victor’s “Adam.” This parallel was to emphasize that the creature was rejected and driven away from “heaven” which to the monster is the human community. ”
Nice reading of this reference to the bible. Good work!
The creature represents himself as a romantic subject in possession of human feelings by his ultimate desire to be loved and not looked at as a monster. Even though his physical appearance may make people frightened, he still was born with compassion and wanting to do good deeds which in turn should have also made people see that he was not evil. Unfortunately, that was not the case because humans generally do not want to accept something or someone who doesn’t fit into society’s expectations. Eventually, human prejudice and abandonment forced the creature to become violent and angry. Because of this, the creature argued with Victor that he create a female monster just like him, so she could provide him with what he has wanted since coming into this world, love. The creature emotionally explains to Victor, “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph.” The creature argues that his behavior changed from peaceful to violent because nobody loves him, not even his own creator. His creator, Victor, is responsible for bringing the creature into this hateful world and making him miserable, and the creatures’ argument should make him realize that he failed the creature. However, he still has hatred for him because he cannot get passed his deformed physical appearance no matter what words the creature utters.
“Even though his physical appearance may make people frightened, he still was born with compassion and wanting to do good deeds which in turn should have also made people see that he was not evil. Unfortunately, that was not the case because humans generally do not want to accept something or someone who doesn’t fit into society’s expectations. Eventually, human prejudice and abandonment forced the creature to become violent and angry.”
Great analysis. You are quite right that the problem here is society’s “prejudice.” The built in narratives of Justine and the Turkish Merchant further emphasize the barbarity and “prejudice” of society.
For a long period of time, the creature remains in the hovel that is near the cottage, where the DeLacy family live. He observes how they interact with one another and the French language that they speak. He hopes that his fluency in the language and his display of genuine affection will allow the cottagers to overlook his grotesque physical characteristics. The creature displays the possession of human feelings as he speaks of his desires for friendship and love. For instance, when the Autumn season approached, he recognized the happiness among the cottagers, and stated, “they loved, and sympathized with one another; and their joys, depending on each other, were not interrupted by the casualties that took place around them. The more I saw them, the greater my desire to claim their protection and kindness; my heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures” (96). In this particular scene, the creature speaks of how the cottagers treat each other, and how he desires to be treated in the same manner. He longs for the family’s love and protection, and believes that he is worthy of their compassion. However, his great display of human emotions are not enough to earn him a place in human society due to people’s inability to look past his physical features. For instance, when the creature interacted with the blind old man for the first time, he was explaining how people often hold misconceptions towards his true intentions. The creature states, “but unfortunately, they are prejudiced against me. 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 king friend, they behold only a detestable monster” (98). In consequence to people’s lack of judgment, the creature does not have the opportunity to remain safe in a human community. This is shown in several scenes in the book, in that humans have displayed nothing but hostility towards the creature.
“He longs for the family’s love and protection, and believes that he is worthy of their compassion. However, his great display of human emotions are not enough to earn him a place in human society due to people’s inability to look past his physical features.”
This is a great point! Good work throughout. Very fluent writing style.
Victor Frankenstein experimented with the endless possibilities of life and death, which in turn created a subject that brought fear within society. The monster found comfort in desolate locations, where humans were absent as the monster was ridiculed and judged based on his unique appearance. These experiences that presented themselves, shows that the monster was incapable of fitting in to societal standards, but was capable of understanding human emotions of empathy and anger. As the monster is roaming to find some acceptance, he sees a family and quickly witnesses the ups and downs of life. The monster begins to reminisce as he claims “I saw no cause for their unhappiness; but I was deeply affected by it…Yet why were these gentle beings unhappy? They possessed a delightful house and every luxury”. The monster was examining the family’s habits and living conditions and at first did not understand their state of happiness. He compared his own wretched conditions to the lovely “fire to warm them when chill” and eluded to their unhappiness being unjustified. .He realized that the family did not live under optimal conditions and developed a sense of empathy from spying on the children and experimented with modes of compassion. Throughout this experience, the monster understood human emotions as he began to observe their tendencies and emotions, embarking on his own journey to fit in. This was short lived as this journey caused rage to build up. The monster traveled into a village where humans inflicted pain by hurting him, seen with the DeLacy family, and he realized he could never settle down in a world overrun by prejudice creatures. Angry against the injustice that lives and tortures him, the monster is fully aware that humans are incapable of being kind towards his “evil” nature.
“The monster was examining the family’s habits and living conditions and at first did not understand their state of happiness. He compared his own wretched conditions to the lovely “fire to warm them when chill” and eluded to their unhappiness being unjustified. .He realized that the family did not live under optimal conditions and developed a sense of empathy from spying on the children and experimented with modes of compassion.”
This is a good point. Could further develop by providing an example of how the creature learns compassion.
Frankenstein’s monster represented himself as a romantic subject in possession of essential human emotions many times throughout the story. It is important to note that Frankenstein’s monster is technically essentially a human being. Although he himself was not born regularly like most humans, he is composed of different human parts and is essentially a recycled human being. Frankenstein’s monster has all of the human emotions. While he narrated his story to Frankenstein, he states “I often referred to several situations, such as their similarity struck me, to my own. Like Adam, I was created apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the special care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from beings of a superior nature: but I was wretched, helpless and alone” (page 94). In this quote, Frankenstein’s monster talks about the prejudice that he feels. Upon reading one of the books that he discovered, he was happy to find a person who was somewhat like himself; a person who might not have been born a normal nature but under a unique circumstance. In fact, he feels like he himself is almost just like Adam, both men, both born specially, but the only difference between them is apparently their appearance. To the rest of the world, Adam is god’s greatest creation and he is treasured by his Creator. People see him as divine and a sign from god. For Frankenstein’s monster on the other hand, he experiences nothing but sadness, loneliness and hatred just because he does not look human. To make things worse, he cannot find a single person who would love and cherish him in his world, not even the very person who had brought him into the world would accept him for who he is and overlook his appearance. His feelings will never earn him a place with other humans because human beings will never look past his appearance and see who he really is. It is ironic as he takes the time to accept and understand human behavior and emotion yet humans cannot do the same for him.
Very nice analysis of your quote here: “In fact, he feels like he himself is almost just like Adam, both men, both born specially, but the only difference between them is apparently their appearance. To the rest of the world, Adam is god’s greatest creation and he is treasured by his Creator. People see him as divine and a sign from god. For Frankenstein’s monster on the other hand, he experiences nothing but sadness, loneliness and hatred just because he does not look human.”
The creature is distinguished from human beings on the basis of his appearance, but also because his appearance suggests that he is evil like Satan, unworthy of happiness and care.
Volume two, chapter two of Frankenstein does well in showing the creation’s thoughts on his problems. Frankenstein’s monster sees himself as someone who deserves attention and love, as he “ought to be thy Adam” because he was created by another, but instead is considered to be a “fallen angel” due to his grotesque looks. He presents himself as a subject with human feelings by asking Frankenstein what it would take to move him to “turn a favorable eye upon the creature”. Like any normal person, the creature does not want to be judged for what he can not control and is willing to change and do anything in his power to be loved by his creator. He claims to feel “miserable” because of his loneliness and demands that Victor give him compassion or else he will have revenge. His feelings will never earn him a place in society because he looks abnormal and unnatural.
“Frankenstein’s monster sees himself as someone who deserves attention and love, as he “ought to be thy Adam” because he was created by another, but instead is considered to be a “fallen angel” due to his grotesque looks. ”
Yes, the creature is distinguished from human beings on the basis of his appearance, but also because his appearance suggests that he is evil like Satan, unworthy of happiness and care.
As the creature is narrating his story to Victor, he displays numerous times his ability to perceive and experience essential human feelings. One particular moment in which this creature displays these feelings is when he is traversing through the woods in Switzerland. Walking through the woods evoked feelings of “gentleness and pleasure…Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me” (103). The creature is describing how he was touched by the beauty of nature to the extent to which he cried tears of joy and appreciation. The creature describes how he had experienced the sensations of happiness after a while and allowed himself to soak in that experience. These feelings that the creature describes, of thankfulness and joy, are essential human feelings that most humans are able to experience and his ability to understand and work through these feelings, validate his possession of them. These feelings, however, do not earn him the status as a human or a place within the human community. Moments later, the creature notices a girl falling into the stream and rushes to save her, but in return, gets shot. He describes how he “hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body, and fired” (104). Human instinct and benevolence(as the creature described) caused him to act swiftly and save the girl. The man most probably did not view the creature as a human because of his monstrous looks and saw him as a threat, causing him to shoot. This shows how even through human actions, he is not considered as part of the human society, let alone a human, because of his physical features. Although the creature might experience essential human feelings and even act through them, his physical appearance is what deters him from being considered a human.
“. One particular moment in which this creature displays these feelings is when he is traversing through the woods in Switzerland. Walking through the woods evoked feelings of “gentleness and pleasure…Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the blessed sun which bestowed such joy upon me” (103). The creature is describing how he was touched by the beauty of nature to the extent to which he cried tears of joy and appreciation. The creature describes how he had experienced the sensations of happiness after a while and allowed himself to soak in that experience. ”
This is a great point! You might think about developing it in a paper by comparing the creature’s feelings in response to natural beauty to Wordsworth’s in Tintern Abbey or Wollstonecraft’s in her Letters.
The creature represented himself as a romantic subject in the possession of essential human feelings during the time the creature resided in the squalid shed attached to the back of a cottage of the De Lacey family, he witnessed how nicely the De Lacey family interacted with each other and how loving and caring they were. For example, when the creature saw through the window how the father of De Lacey family embraced his daughter Agatha, the creature states “ I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature: they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced … and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions” (Vol 2. Ch.3). This scene in a way pains the audience to witness how lonely the creature is because no one really treats him well, whenever someone sees him they immediately show disgust and fear. The kind way the De Lacey family interacts differentiates with the hatred the Monster faces with his own family- Victor. The De Laceys’ love for each other increments the creature’s misery, as he learns what he is missing in his life and how lonely he is in actuality. It is quite obvious that the creature longs for a love that he is witnessing from the De Larcy family. The creature greatly resembles that of a child who longs for the love of their parent, he wants the love and the companionship that he is witnessing from the De Larcy family and this makes the audience pity the creature because his own creator and father, Frankenstein, does not want him and deprived him of love because of his hideous appearance in which the creature had no control of. Another great example is when the creature realizes that the De Larcy family is not actually that happy with their lives as he assumed because they are financially struggling to meet their needs. After realizing how the De Larcy family was struggling financially, the creature stops stealing their food and instead tries to make their situations better by secretly gathering wood for them, so that he could in a way relieve them of their struggles a bit (Vol.2 Ch.4). The creature`s act of trying to bring happiness by reducing the struggle and sadness of the De Lacy family illustrates the creature`s generosity and compassion. Sadly, his possession of compassion and kindness does not earn him a place within the human community because the human community is not compassionate enough to accept people`s genuine feelings and acts of kindness as a sole factor when deciding to be more accepting of them. The human community values appearances and physical looks in the highest regard. The creature will never be warmly accepted by the human community because his appearance does not resemble theirs or their vision of the acceptable appearance. His appearance scares them and disgusts them at the same time, completely blurring out his compassionate human traits.
Great work! You have a lot of really nice textual evidence here.
This is a great point: “He witnessed how nicely the De Lacey family interacted with each other and how loving and caring they were. For example, when the creature saw through the window how the father of De Lacey family embraced his daughter Agatha, the creature states “ I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature: they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced … and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions” (Vol 2. Ch.3). This scene in a way pains the audience to witness how lonely the creature is because no one really treats him well, whenever someone sees him they immediately show disgust and fear. The kind way the De Lacey family interacts differentiates with the hatred the Monster faces with his own family- Victor.”
You are quite right that the creature lacks a family–this is one of the things that makes him so different from all other human beings.
The creature represents himself as a being with feelings and emotions just like any other, while he is oppositely perceived as a wretch and a monster during his conversation with Frankenstein. In volume 2, chapter 7, the creature tells Frankenstein about reading books and gaining knowledge about humanity and literature, as well as learning about feelings such as love and happiness.
The creature talks about being rejected by humanity due to his unnatural, grotesque appearance and requests that a companion be made for him. In volume 2, chapter 9, the creature claims that he needs someone “with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being,” this someone being his Eve, as he sees himself as Frankenstein’s Adam. The creature is unable to mutually exchange the “sympathies necessary for my being”, being love and affection, with another human being due to his appearance. And as his creator, Frankenstein is the only one who could create a companion for him, but he is rejected yet again, because Frankenstein refuses to create another monster.
“In volume 2, chapter 9, the creature claims that he needs someone “with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being,”
I am glad you bring up the female creature. I will address that more in my lecture for next time.
It is obvious that the creature is in possession of essential human feelings, and especially, the feeling of empathy. In Volume 2, Chapter 4, the creature discovered that upon stealing part of the De Lacy family’s food, he “inflicted pain on the cottagers,” and so he “abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots.” The creature is able to recognize that stealing affects the cottagers negatively, and although it has no direct benefit to himself, stop stealing. Unfortunately, his humanity is overshadowed by his inhuman appearance. He is extraordinarily ugly, resulting in people automatically assuming he is evil. The creature himself realizes this, and attempts to appeal to the blind man, De Lacy, while his children are missing. He thought that his “voice, although harsh, had nothing terrible in it; I thought, therefore, that if, in the absence of his children, I could gain the good-will and mediation of the old De Lacy, I might, by his means, be tolerated by my younger protectors.” But during his attempt, De Lacy’s children returned unexpectedley and drove him out. The creature was, once again, abandoned by humanity.
Nice work. Your writing style is very effective.
Very strong opening claim here: “It is obvious that the creature is in possession of essential human feelings, and especially, the feeling of empathy.”
You jump immediately to an example: “In Volume 2, Chapter 4, the creature discovered that upon stealing part of the De Lacy family’s food, he “inflicted pain on the cottagers,” and so he “abstained and satisfied myself with berries, nuts, and roots.” The creature is able to recognize that stealing affects the cottagers negatively, and although it has no direct benefit to himself, stop stealing. “
In volume 2, Victor goes to the peak of the summit where he is met by the monster. In the attempted failure of warding off the creature, the monster takes Victor to an ice cave where he narrates to his experience thus far. In the monster’s narration, it is evident how evolved the so called “monster” has become. Rather than attributing to the fact that he is a monster, the narration demonstrates how humane the monster is, capable of essential human feelings. One way this is demonstrated is through his reaction on his telling of the story of the cottagers he had met. He reacts saying, “Such was the history of my beloved cottagers. It impressed me deeply. I learned, from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues, and to deprecate the vices of mankind.” After meeting a family like these cottagers, the monster has evolved in many fields like language and in cultivating many new values such as social values like a sense of family. It is evident how knowledgeable the monster has become, using phrases like “social life”, “virtues”, and “vices of mankind”. All these words are similar as they demonstrate the monster’s understanding of morals and values. The monster also further demonstrate growth in areas like love and compassion for people as he uses words like beloved”, “impressed”, and “admire” on his telling of the cottagers’ story. The monster has evolved so far as to being able to express feelings of sympathy for others as demonstrated for the cottagers. However, he is still rejected by them due to his appearance, just like with Frankenstein.
Nice work! I used the same example in my lecture! I like the way you are analyzing with close attention to the particular words used in the passage. Try to do this in your paper too!
The monster forces Frankenstein to listen to his explanation of all the events that occured from his (the monsters) point of view. The monster tells Franksenstein about how he observed a family and learned to speak, read and social norms while doing so. After he finally introduced himself to the family they fled out of fear so he burnt down their house because he felt abandoned. Then he decided to follow Frankenstein to Geneva and on the way he tried to save a girl from drowning, he “had saved a human being from destruction, and, as a recom-
pence, I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound, which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness, which I had entertained but a few moments
before, gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth.”Though he was kind and just trying to help he got shot at anyway.Once he finally got to Geneva he met Willaim Franekstien who pretended to be his friend then then attacked him as well so the monster killed him. The monster feels he should be part of the human community because he has adapted to society by learning how to speak and read. He also has learned how people should act and continues to try and help people even though everyone he has met has abandoned him and or tried to hurt him.
In volume 2 chapter 6 we are able to see the creature’s ability to be romantic and subject in possession of human feelings as he talks about not having anyone by his side. He expresses, ” But it was all a dream: no Eve soothed my sorrows, or shared my thoughts; I was alone (106). Here he demonstrates a different part of him and shows us that he just like any other human wants someone to be by his side, he doesn’t want to be alone. He resents his creator because unlike Adam, as he references, his creator did not create a partner for him to love and spend his life with. He also, isn’t accepted in society due to his horrifying looks. In Chapter 6 we also see how Felix, “dashed the creature to the ground and struck him violently with a stick” (110). When Felix first saw the creature he was afraid due to the fact that he most likely never had seen a creature like this. He was afraid that the creature might harm his family therefore he went and defended his family by attacking this strange creature, even though he was harmless. Here we see how his features overpower his emotions and feelings towards people because every time someone sees him it causes fear which causes people to hate him before even getting to know who he truly is.
In Frankenstein, it is evident that the creature truly craves acceptance and companionship within the world he was put in. He tries his best to demonstrate to Victor, the rest of humanity, and the reader that he is truly capable of experiencing emotions, having morality, and having intellect just like the rest of human kind. Yet despite having those similarities, he is still rejected due to his grotesque and monster like appearance which leaves him feeling frustrated, angry, and as if his situation were unfair. There is definitely more to this monster but humans would not even give him the time of day due to the monster’s difference in appearance causing discomfort and fear, which creates the blockage for these people to even be capable of being open minded about befriending the monster. This is very much shown when it came to the DeLacy family, where the monster was able to have a nice and encouraging conversation with the father of the household, who was blind, yet when the rest of the family came back they reacted negatively such where “Agatha fainted; and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage. Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father…he dashed me to the ground, and struck me violently with a stick. I could’ve torn him limb from limb…But my heart sunk within me…and I refrained”(99). There is a strong implication here about people being shallow enough to just base their assumptions and judgement off of appearances yet the monster seems to understand that these humans don’t know any better which is why the monster decided to just walk away from the unfair situation. No matter how hurt and desperate the monster is about wanting to be accepted by the people that he grew to like and admire through time, he stood his ground in being the bigger person.
In Volume 2, Chapter 7, the creature is pleading for acceptance and longing for the love a parent would give their child. He is struggling with many human emotions from sadness to withholding anger from rejection. The creature is voicing his need for affection, but is overlooked by
“the old man”, “— Save and protect me! You and your family are the friends I seek. Do not you desert me I’m the hour of trial !” (99). This shows that he is capable of human qualities being that he is looking for companionship. He is consistently searching for someone else who is “natural” to complete him. He also displays his morals when Felix hits him and he chooses not to hit him back. Although he is not natural it is clear that he has an idea between what’s right and what’s wrong. Although the creature may be capable of humanistic characteristics, he will not be accepted into the human community. Due to his unnatural features, many people are afraid of him and perceive him as a threat. This is clear when Felix hit him for being near his father as previously stated.
Victor’s creature is really lacking the love and happiness in his life because of him being ugly. The creature wants to be happy and have someone that looks just like him so they can share their life together. So, the creature asks Victor to make him a creature that looks like him but the opposite gender. For example ” You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.” (106). The creature wants to have someone just like him so that he doesn’t have to go through this alone anymore and be able to share those human feelings that he has hiding inside of him. The fact that he asked Victor to make him another creature shows that he has romantic feelings which allow us to see his human side. He feels lonely without someone like him which all humans do. The creature will never be accepted in the human community. He won’t be accepted because of his appereance, everyone is going to be afraid of him and think that he will cause harm because of that scary appearance he has. Which is why he needs someone that will look just like him and won’t be afraid of him.
Within the second volume of Frankenstein, Victor’s creation is longing for that sense of love and acceptance that anyone would want from their parent figure. Faced with constant rejection from Victor, however the creature does not react with the same harshfulness as Victor, alas it tries to understand and improve himself. Knowing this, it reasonable to say that the creature could be representative of essential human feelings, and his actions are an effort towards feeling accepted. It is quite obvious that the creature is able to emit human-like emotions and qualities, so while observing the De Lacey family, it would be able to recognize that hardships that they are subject to, it is able to learn and represent his own humanity. Revealed in this quote, “The young man and his companion often went apart, and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their unhappiness; but I was deeply affected by it. If such lovely creatures were miserable, it was less strange that I, an imperfect and solitary being, should be wretched.”(Volume 2, Chapter 4), although the creature may not understand the interaction at first he is making an attempt to understand why they weep, making an attempt to join the “human community”.
“It is quite obvious that the creature is able to emit human-like emotions and qualities, so while observing the De Lacey family, it would be able to recognize that hardships that they are subject to, it is able to learn and represent his own humanity.” I like what you wrote because this shows that by the creature observing the Delacey family’s situation, he was able to sympathize and actually want to help them by doing good deeds.
I think what you can further develop is, before inserting the quotation, you should explain who is talking or thinking and about what. In addition, you should explain answering the second question about why his feelings don’t let him enter society. You could have written about how even though he had similar emotions to humans, humans did not want to even approach him because they were scared of his physical deformity.