Comparison Of Frankenstein In The Picture Of Dorian Gray And Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

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A monster is defined as an imaginary creature that is typically large, ugly, and frightening; so, how can a man be considered a monster? In Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein, Dorian and the monster contain overpowering characteristics including the desire to obtain a masculine, physical appearance while maintaining skewed views on inward beauty in which both can be seen as monstrous if taken too far. Dorian and the monster strive for societal acceptance; meanwhile, they do not know how to act in order to receive this acceptance due to underdevelopment in emotion and mental masculinity. Therefore, they end up hurting those people around them. Dorian is obsessed with appearances: not just his own, but …show more content…

Dorian uses his appearance as a facade of masculinity. Because he lacks self confidence in who he is as a person, he sells his soul for a lifetime of youth. He offers the one part of himself that makes a human an individual in order to save the wrapping paper that masks the true gift of personality. He becomes so focused on hiding his lack of self confidence that he wastes the time he could have discovering inward manly traits such as trust, compassion and loyalty. This lack of inward traits allows him to only see the outward beauty of those around him. As he “falls in love” with Sybil Vane, he is mesmerized by her art of acting, not her as a person. Because she searches for love in Dorian in ways not involving only appearance, she loses her ability to act. Her ability to act is the aspect that Dorian falls in love with: not her personality. She loses the trait Dorian has fallen for causing a loss of attraction; “unlike Dorian she prefers the real to the artificial . …show more content…

Because he feels a sense of inferiority due to his frightening physical appearance, he uses the strength of his structure in order to prove his masculinity. His brawn becomes his security; therefore, he uses this comfort zone regardless of the pain it inflicts on others. The monster recognizes “feelings of affection” as he asks Victor “do you dare destroy my hopes” (Shelley 205). Referring to Victor refusing him of a mate, the monster sees that he does feel emotions, but lacks the knowledge on using them. Consequently, the monster begins to rely on the emotion of anger as it is the one that becomes easy to recognize and express. If the monster cannot satisfy his want for love, acceptance and affection, he admits he “will cause fear, and chiefly towards [Victor] archenemy” (Shelley 175). In order to cope with his emotional struggles, he relies heavily on proving to others the destruction he is capable of; since anger becomes his focal point of emotion, he abuses it: causing his emotional frustration to be inflicted upon others resulting in their physical carnage. His mental and emotional inabilities create physical destruction as he proves his masculinity through

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