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Figurative language in frankenstein from mary shelley
Dr. Frankenstein and the creature as one
Nature of prejudice and discrimination
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Prejudice is an unjustified opinion for another human being that can be sparked for the simplest reasons. Throughout history, prejudice has plagued the world- in fact, in the eighteenth hundreds, it was detrimental to have a darker skin color. In literature, the idea of prejudice is incessant especially in the famous story of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly. Victor fashions together unused decayed body parts to create his creature. Nearly everyone assumes he is horrible dangerous based off his appearance. At first appearance, the creature is terrifying, but eventually we learn he is warm-hearted. From start to finish, he is hit with endless amounts of prejudice and as a result of the author’s work, Shelly was able to show the world the psychological …show more content…
and physiological effects of prejudice on not only the creature but also in today’s society. After months of hard work, Victor finally creates his creature, but at first glance, he is horrified.
Right off the bat, the creature is introduced to prejudice; from his own creator. Victor is disgusted by the creature and himself! In fact, in chapter five, it says “But now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and the breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bed-chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep (Shelly 42)”. In today’s society the thought process is much like how Victor reacted. If we see someone who dresses, looks, or acts a certain way, most people will immediately feel disgusted with the individual. Without even knowing the person. These thoughts are incredibly unfair and is a reference to modern-day racism. As you can tell even though Frankenstein was written over two hundred years ago, prejudice is still in …show more content…
effect. From there, the creatures prejudice lingered.
Eventually, he spoke to someone other than Victor. In chapter 15, he spoke to a family member of the De Lacy family. He intelligently made the decision to speak to a blind old man after drawing the conclusion that his appearance was repulsive. He thought that if the blind man couldn’t see him, the creature wouldn’t be prejudiced. After a brief conversation, the plan failed as the man’s family walked in on him talking to the creature. Felix, the old man’s son, “darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father. He dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. (Shelly 114)” The creature was beaten while trying to escape. The creature described his encounter with “Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage.” In today’s age, we can see the same themes. If you were to see an African-American driving a nice car or living in a luxurious house, he will be instantly assumed to be a drug dealer. This isn’t only linked to racism too! Women are thought of to be inferior to men, so as a result, they are paid, unfairly, less than a man would. Prejudice is truly inescapable, wherever you go someone will, sadly, judge you based off appearance and most likely, be
outraged. The creature acts just like a human, he has all the desires an ordinary man has, yet he still faces discrimination. The creature is fluent is speech and has a warm heart, but the world refuses to give him a chance. When the creature entered a distant village [in chapter 11], he was pelted with stones and lashed with sticks, as if he were a terrifying beast. The creature explained “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 and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare and making a wretched appearance after the places I had beheld in the village (Shelly 86) Once again, the creature is faced with terrible amounts of discrimination and was incredibly frightened. I actually see this happening in my life. If a white person were to walk in a neighborhood primarily composed of African-Americans, they would be petrified at the sight of a black man. Immediately, they would assume he was going to get robbed, or worse die. Meanwhile, the black man is just going about his day without even noticing the white man. In today’s age, the world is increasingly becoming more prejudice based upon a person’s appearance and it’s dangerous thinking! Modern society and Frankenstein have very similar characteristics and almost all of them are based solely on appearance. Throughout the story, the creature is prejudiced because of his appearance countless number of times. The same goes for the modern world. If you have a darker skin color or act a certain way, you are automatically subject to prejudice. The world we live in, along with ancient stories, are full of discrimination in some way. Perhaps if we were all blind like the blind old man from the cottage, then maybe prejudice would disappear because we would all be alike. Unfortunately, this is exactly what it will take to eliminate prejudice. The world will forever be riddled with prejudice.
There are many examples throughout “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” that show that prejudice is a human flaw. According to Les Goodman, “You were so quick to kill, Charlie, and you were so quick to tell us who we had to be careful off. Well maybe you had to kill. Maybe Peter there was trying to tell us something. Maybe he’d found out something
Rejection is one of the issues associated with social prejudice in Shelly’s novel. The monster in Frankenstein is abandoned because of his hideous features. Victor, who was his creator, cannot look upon what he has brought to life. Victor explains, “I beheld the wretch-- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs” (Shelly chapter 5 p 43). The monster responds to Victor as a child who looks to his father for reassurance and acceptance. Though the monster was not a child in his physical appearance, his emotional state was that of young child. Since the 1890s, researchers have conducted studies called Parental acceptance-rejections t...
Victor Frankenstein and the others who have encountered the creature all recoiled in horror at the mere sight of him. He is described by Victor: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and straight black lips” (Shelley, 35). Even his creator shuns him based solely on his looks. Another attribute of the creature that makes him monstrous is his thirst for revenge against Victor and the hateful attitude he develops toward humans throughout the book. While he has not developed the emotional intelligence and experience of other human beings, he has learned to differentiate between right and wrong. Therefore, the murders he has committed are taken into consideration when labeling the creature as a monster. If anything, as I will later demonstrate, the creature is an antihero. He is mostly monstrous in appearance but his thoughts, feelings and circumstances create the ingredients of an antihero, who has doubtlessly committed
As a tragic hero, Victor’s tragedies begin with his overly obsessive thirst for knowledge. Throughout his life, Victor has always been looking for new things to learn in the areas of science and philosophy. He goes so far with his knowledge that he ends up creating a living creature. Victor has extremely high expectations for his creation but is highly disappointed with the outcome. He says, “I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 35). Frankenstein neglects the creature because of his horrifying looks, which spark the beginning of numerous conflicts and tragedies. At this point, the creature becomes a monster because of Victor’s neglect and irresponsibility. The monster is forced to learn to survive on his own, without anyone or anything to guide him along the way. Plus, the monster’s ugly looks cause society to turn against him, ad...
While Frankenstein’s monster is presented as the villain of the novel, his savagery and viciousness only mirrors that hate and isolation he experiences because of the evil that is within every human alive. Before the creature even understands how he is different from the rest pf humanity (his creator and, for all intensive purposes-his God) abandons him because he is physically deformed and frightening to look at. For Victor Frankenstein to desert his own creation is an act of evil driven by a heart-stopping fear of his monster. Then, when the monster seeks refuge in a town of strangers, they all denounce him and either attack or run away from him. This cold reception to a being that needs help is not the response of individuals who are in their hearts kind and loving, this savagery is the result of selfish and cruel beings contorted by society into gentler animals. In addition, the viciousness of human nature is clearly evident when Felix beats the weeping monster off his father's knees even though the creature does nothing to harm him.The creature is clearly not a threat, he is defenseless at the feet of an old man, yet Felix still attacks. This instinctive reaction to reject the unknown reflects the violence that is inherent in all of humanity. Finally, when the monster saves a little girl from drowning in a river, her father does not embrace the creature for saving his flesh
Although the Creature later went on to commit crimes, he was not instinctively bad. Victor’s Creature was brought into this world with a child-like innocence. He was abandoned at birth and left to learn about life on his own. After first seeing his creation, Victor “escaped and rushed downstairs.” (Frankenstein, 59) A Creator has the duty to teach his Creature about life, as well as to love and nurture him. However, Victor did not do any of these; he did not take responsibility for his creature. One of the first things that the creature speaks of is that he was a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, (he) sat ...
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein written in 1817, and published in 1818. Almost 200 years later the novel is still being printed and sold around the world. The novel is due to its science fiction and horror themes, as well as its great messages about inner beauty. Frankenstein also includes the theme of injustice, which effects almost all of the characters. The injustice in the novel is mainly felt by the two main characters, Victor Frankenstein and his Monster. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein the theme of injustice is the direct cause of the sympathy that readers’ feel towards Frankenstein and his Monster.
Victor finds his monster absolutely repulsive, and even nauseating. This seen in the following quotation, “A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch.” (Shelley 36) Dr. Frankenstein has never seen anything so horrible and soon falls ill both from the sight of it and the realization that his monster is now out in the world and it could be doing anything. This shows how his drive for knowledge to be able to create life is damaging his health both mentally and physically. Furthermore, when the monster escapes from Victor’s laboratory it stangles Victor’s brother, William Frankenstein, to death. Victor must now bear the guilt knowing that he is responsible for the death because he created the monster and allowed it to escape. He must also keep the beast a secret from everyone else for fear the he would be held responsible for his brother’s death or they will believe he has gone insane, both of which results in Vict...
In the 1818 text of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, various forms of human exploitation and oppression lead to the dehumanization of two major characters in the novel: the creature which Victor Frankenstein brings to life, and Victor himself. The creature is deemed an outcast just by his very existence. Victor oppresses his creation solely based on the creature’s grotesque features. Although the creature shares qualities, feelings, and emotions that categorize him as a human, Victor’s oppressive behavior and rejection of the his creation immediately lead to the creature’s dehumanization. Victor is driven by human exploitation, and treads on the laws of nature as he successfully attempts to cheat death and create an artificial being.
Prejudice, the act of judging someone based on outward appearance or social standing. In the 1960’s Harper Lee wrote a book called To Kill a Mockingbird, about prejudice and how hard the times were. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there are many examples of prejudice showing how morally wrong it was. There are several examples of prejudice in the book: Tom Robinson because he is African American, Boo Radley because of his standing in their society, and the Cunningham Family because of how poor they were. The following paragraphs will discuss these examples.
Victor stated in the novel, “a new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. I might in process of time, renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption” (pg. 52). This quote portrays the reason why Frankenstein created the monster. At first, Victor views his monster as a beautiful creation but later when he first lays eyes on the monster he starts to fear and rejects the monster and no longer took interest in the
People are defined by their environment and how they react to their environment. Environments that appear to be perfect on the outside may very well be the cause of misery in man's life because one must be able to cope with their environment. Victor could not cope with his environment and lashed out at the world by trying to attain power. However, things do not always go as planned, and sometime this may be beneficial. One should not judge by external appearance alone. It is what is on the inside that counts. Had Victor Frankenstein been taught ethics such as this, his life, as well as the lives of those he loved, could have been saved. Also, the life of the creature could have been free of pain and hatred. The monster is a symbol for the outcasts and rejected of society. He is also a reflection of Victor, meaning that Victor was also considered an outcast. The reality of an animated object reflecting something that one does not want to see, combined with being alone in the world, is enough to drive man mad. The monster, in some ways, creates a harsh reality for Victor. Either love what you create or be destroyed by it.
“Frankenstein’s creature, in visioned to be a beautiful being with larger features then humans turned out to be a grotesque monster. Once it came to life, Victor Frankenstein himself could not even bear the sight of it, his own creation” (Watkins). Victor hoped the creature would exceed his expectations, but it does the opposite instead. He describes the horrible monster from which he made with his two hands as revolting and an abomination to the Earth. Shelley gives an eerie description of the creature that tells of just how disturbing it looks. “His limbs were in proportion, I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost the same colour of the dun white sockets in which they were set, his drivel led complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 36). When he looks onto the atrocity, he is not only sickened with it, but himself as well for bringing life to it. Victor knew better than to interfere with the unknown. From the beginning, he regrets his selfish intentions and became so carried away with his scientific breakthrough, that he loses sight of his
“Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first breakthrough, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of a child so completely as I should deserve theirs.” (Shelley 39).
It is when Frankenstein realizes how different he is to other people that he realizes his uniqueness and individualism. “I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon a coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?” (Frankenstein, 150). While Frankenstein is by no means a human, he is made up of human parts and still craves love and affection. His rejection from everyone he sees, including his creator makes him feel like an outcast. It was because of Victor that Frankenstein couldn’t bear to be who he was made to be and felt a need to run into isolation. Victor not only created a monster physically, but also mentally turned him into someone he didn’t have to be. Both Frankenstein and Victor struggle with balancing their personal wants and needs with societies expectations and the people around them. That is one of the true struggles of being one person living in a world of many, you have to do what makes you happy while making sure it doesn’t effect other peoples happiness negatively. Victor doesn’t do a good job of