Frankenstein As Monster Essay, Research Paper

Through out the novel we are under the assumption that the demon in the novel is

the man who is disfigured and hideous on the outside. While we view Victor

Frankenstein as the handsome and caring victim, even though sometimes a monster

can not be seen but heard. Looks can be deceiving but actions are always true.

We first view Frankenstein’s ignorance while he busy in his work. He had not

visited his family for two straight years. These are the people that love and

care about him, yet he does not go home. Not even to visit his own father, the

man who pays for his schooling and necessities. We again view his ignorance and

irresponsibility when after spending two years of work on his creature he

disowns and abandons the creature. He runs out of the room after seeing the

creature come to life. He fled the room because he thought the creature was so

hideous, even though he had chosen all the best body parts for its creation.

When Frankenstein returns to the house when he "became assured that my

enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy"(55). Even after all his

work he is ecstatic that this horrible beast has left him. Victors’ ignorance is

viewed again when he does not tell anyone that he has created this monster, and

that he is the murderer of William. He does not tell of this creature until his

own welfare is on the line. He could have stopped these evil deeds the monster

was doing if he would have finished producing his mate, but Victor makes up

reasons so that he does not. The monster on the other hand is the opposite of

Victor Frankenstein. The feelings that the monster has are shown when he is

first created. He tries to speak to Frankenstein and he smiles and reaches out a

hand, just like a child reaching for their parent. The monster’s feelings are

again displayed while he is living with the family. He replenishes their supply

of firewood very often, and when the monster discovers that their food supply is

running low he refrains from eating some of their food. The strongest feeling he

displays is after the only people he cared for despise him, and he swears

revenge on all mankind he saves a girl that falls into a river and almost

drowns. The monster did not like performing the horrible deeds that he did, but

he was provoked by Victor’s irresponsibility and his ignorance. The monster

reveals his feelings to Walton while they stand over the corpse of Victor. He

stated, "Think you that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My

heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and when wrenched by

misery to vice and hatred it did not endure the violence of the change without

torture such as you cannot even imagine"(238). The monster acts with more

respectable and reasonable decisions than Victor does. He has a right for

revenge. He has been abandoned, exiled, despised, and denied any form of

happiness. He has wants and needs that any human desires; care, love, and

friendship.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993