Frankensrein Essay, Research Paper
Maria Loren October 15, 2000 Professor Green English 220 The
relationship between an individual and society in Mary Shelley?s novel
?Frankenstein? The relationship between an individual and society is always
difficult. It becomes even more difficult when that individual is a monster.
Society has certain standards and those standards include our physical
appearance. When those standards are not met, then the society starts
reacting to it. Usually the reactions are the refusal of ?normal? members of
society to communicate with a person who doesn?t meet the criteria of
acceptable physical appearance. No matter how good of personality that
monster possesses, people will still be scared of it. However, I believe if
given a chance and some period of time, people can get over the physical
abhorrence of an individual and accept that being as an equal. But it is a fact,
that people first judge by the appearance at first when they have met the
person.(clothes, manner in which that person behaves). It might seem
shallow, but that?s the way human beings behave and react to each other.
The effect of social disownment on that ?monster? can be catastrophic. The
?monster? doesn?t know that these people despise his appearance, not his
personality, so he reacts angrily to this society. The true identity of his cannot
be seen to people, however he will believe that they hate him for him, for true
him, which is not true at all. In Mary Shelley?s ?Frankenstein? relationship
between an individual and society is very important. The appearance of the
monster, created by Frankenstein, is the biggest problem that monster had.
He realized that the society would never accept him for who he is because of
his awful appearance. Even the master himself, Frankenstein, is abhorred by
his creation. After all, Frankenstein was the one that sewed the monster up
from all the body parts that he was digging up. After all, he was supposed to
help the monster live and function. That wasn?t the case. Frankenstein himself
was absolutely mortified when he saw the monster running to him. ? I
trembled with rage and horror?He (monster) approached; his countenance
bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its
unearthly ugliness rendered it too horrible for human eyes.? (65) The
description of the monster is truly horrible. That is why he will never be
accepted into human society, no matter how he tried to please those
members of society. The passage from the novel that clearly illustrated the
relationship between the society and an individual was when Frankenstein?s
monster was observing the family of three: young man, his wife and an old
man. The monster was astonished by how beautiful these strangers were.
Even the old man was beautiful to him. ?Old man, taking up an instrument,
began to play, and to produce sounds, sweeter than the voice of the
thrush?It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch! who had never
beheld aught beautiful before?(72) The monster never saw anything before
that capture him so. The sight of these people gave him pleasure. He was
amazed how caring the people in the cottage were to each other. Poor
wretch only was treated badly by people and this caring way of dealing with
each other was new and fresh to him. He became gentler, in a way. As he
kept observing the people in the cottage, he realized that he has to learn more
about them, that he has to learn how to speak and be able to express himself,
his emotions, maybe even his gentler side. So he continues to observe the
family. ?What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I
longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I
had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers.? (73) The monster
saw that family was poor. That a lot of times the young man and woman
would put food in front of the old man, and reserve none for themselves. The
monster started feeling bad about stealing food from them, he abstained and
ate what he found in the forest. This act of kindness from the side of
Frankenstein?s creation, shows that he has a consciousness, not completely
spoiled by society?s violent reaction to him. The monster didn?t stop there.
He realized that the young man spends a lot of time gathering wood in the
forest, so what the monster proceeded to do was taking the man?s tools and
gathering the woods for them. The young woman and the young man were
happy to see the wood in front of their house, and also it brought pleasure of
satisfaction to the monster to see them happy. Frankenstein?s monster
wanted to get accepted by people. That is obvious when he will start studying
the language to be able to communicate with people better . For him it was a
godlike science, and he wanted to learn it. First he learned the basics of it,
but when he finally got to reading he learned his entire new vocabulary and
greatly expanded his knowledge of the language. He now was able to
express himself. He learned of the ways of society, and that helped him in
understanding the people better. ?The strange system of human society was
explained to me. I heard of the division of property, of immense wealth and
squalid poverty; of rank, descent, noble blood. (80) The monster now
wanted to introduce himself to the family(society). He felt that he needed their
love and their protection. He also felt, that with time, he feels outcast more
and more. Finally monster decided to introduce himself to the father; the old ,
blind man. The old man was kind to, he advised him not to lose his hope,
since there is brotherly love out there for him. However, monster?s hopes
were crushed when Felix and Agatha entered the cottage. They were
abhorred by monster?s looks. Agatha fainted and Felix hit the monster with a
stick. Even though the monster could have easily hurt Felix, he didn?t do it
because there was still love for them in his heart. Soon afterwards De Lacy?s
left the cottage. In this instance, we can clearly see what have happened. The
family (society) was prejudiced against the monster because of his outer
features. They judged him by the way he looked, but not by the way he was.
At that time, Frankenstein?s creature, made an impression of a very kind,
open, and intelligent individual and the unfairness of the family really hurt him.
?I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and
stupid despair. My protectors had departed, and had broken the only link
that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings o revenge and hatred
filled my bosom.? (93) The emotional reaction of the monster to this kind of
treatment was normal. It would have been not normal to have him be
indifferent to the cruelties of people. He was angry at them, and his creator.
However these feelings turned him on the path of anger and revenge. First he
set the cottage on fire and then ?danced with fury? around it. (94) It brought
him pleasure to cause destruction, because his life was destroyed, and his fate
miserable. The theme of the relationship between an individual and society is
present throughout the whole novel. There is a relationship between Victor
and outside world, the way the world viewed his obsessions, and how people
viewed each other through the lens of social correctness. However the
prejudice the society has towards individuals is clearly seen throughout the
novel. The society judges people by certain acceptable standards and when
those standards are not met members that person gets disowned. It is a sad
but true practice that existed throughout the ages. People who have been
born with certain defects in their appearance or speech have to go through a
lot in their lifetimes to achieve anything at all. It is an impossible task for a
person to solely judge the other one by their personality only. However, I
believe that it is worth the shot. People would avoid many problems if they
didn?t accent their looks and looks of the other people. There is something
Darwinian about the exclusion of the individual by the society. He believed
that people affiliated, contacted only with individuals who possess a healthy
gene pool, so it could be an another explanation for the way people behave
themselves. Frankenstein?s monster was not only abandoned by society, but
by his creator himself. I believe if his master accepted him for who he was,
then there wouldn?t be so much anger and resentment in the monster.
However, the monster didn?t have anybody who would understand and
understandingly he sought revenge against Frankenstein and the rest of the
society. He declared war on humankind.