Examples Of Discrimination In Frankenstein

Kristen Cashore once said, “When a monster stopped behaving like a monster, did it stop being a monster? Did it become something else?” A society that aggressively outcasts a being creates an individual with angry and revengeful ideals. In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, a creature created by a scientist named Victor Frankenstein is thrown into a realistic 19th-century society and experiences torment and abhorrence forcing him to make sinful actions for attention. Society creates a monster through prejudice and hate from the assumptions made due to physical appearance and the actions taken from those beliefs.

Discrimination is noticeable in both current society and in the novel, Frankenstein. In the novel, the creature arrives into the

world with no knowledge of his surroundings. This is similar to Locke’s theory, a tabula rasa meaning “blank slate.”As he goes on his independent journey to discover his environment, the monster had his first encounter with an old man who “shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable” (73).

Although the monster ignored the encounter due to starvation, his second encounter occurs when he tries to enter a house where “children shrieked, and one of the women fainted” leading to “the village” “rouse- [...] in which he was “grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (74). This was the moment when the creation realized that he is different from the rest of society and that people will view him negatively because of his “disgusting features,” forcing him to live in secrecy. The reason for all the hate towards a non-violent “monster” is due to the difference and discrimination of his physical features. The citizens from the village assumed that Frankenstein’s experiment was harmful and dangerous without understanding his point of view just because of the way Frankenstein’s fabrication looked. This occurs in modern day society as well. Because of past

conflicts concerning race and color of skin, “the force of discrimination shows up in every aspect of life” like ”job equality, education, health insurance, and housing” for minorities (Eric Dollins). This student claims that due to physical and background differences, people will outcast members from society and forcefully try to conform them into a certain or “right” way. Due to such disadvantages, society leads many of these individuals to a life of crime to make a living or to make them noticeable. Society is the true monster because it tries to force people to adapt to a certain way and reject the “outsiders”.
The actions that an unfair society force upon an individual leads to a myriad of downfalls.

After the betrayal of humanity continues due to the unreasonable conclusion society makes because of its physical features, the creature's “feelings of kindness and gentleness [...] gave place to hellish rage and gnashing teeth” (101). Even though he continues to do heroic acts like when he “had saved a human being from destruction” (101), the creation was rewarded with a gunshot wound and isolation. The monster continues to go through terrible events over and over but he still exclaims that “life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it” (68). For a moment, the creation is seen as inferior and helpless asking for help proving that society has made this monster feel unwanted and

grotesque.
The real disaster that the creature creates is due to societies continuous rejection of acceptance towards the monster. When Frankenstein destroys and refuses to keep the promise of creating a bride for the creature, the creation entirely gives up his morals and acts of humanity. Because society and even his father continues to denounce him, the creation lashes evil onto his peers just like the Greek Mythology, Pandora Box in which all bad things in the world are unleashed. “Just as society fears the creature, the creature fears society. The only difference is that the being has a reason to fear society; it attacked him” (Christy Knorr). Society is insensitive and unreasonable towards their actions which created the demon the creation became. Although the creation was innocent and naive, society troubled the creation with harsh treatments later shaping the monster into a horrifying being. In a realistic scenario of modern society, bullying is still a large problem. Because of so many bullying occurrences, victims take vicious actions which leads to large disasters like school shootings. Although everyone has qualities like anger, sadness and depression, society that continues to peck these emotions can trigger something dangerous. The main assumption that was made throughout the book was the horrifying qualities of the creature leading his environment to outcast him for being different. The actions taken because of these ridiculous beliefs was through violence and outcast making the creature see no way to get attention unless through sinful behavior.
Being treated as a pariah in society forces that individual to lead a dejected and angry life because of hateful assumptions and unreasonable conclusions made by their peers. In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, the book represents how society, from different eras, can destroy a person’s moral values because of the unfair actions toward that person. Society drives people to take immoral actions because of the dejection and hateful judgement they experience. If society labeled an individual who has done nothing to danger others as a monster, they should not be considered a monstrous being but instead as a living soul who needs acceptance from their environment.