Frankenstein Mistaken Judgment Essay

Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel Frankenstein dives into a gloomy atmosphere to explore the effects of mistaken judgment. Her titular character, Victor Frankenstein, is a college student exploring the science of life at the opening of the novel; he sets out to assemble and animate a creature from human body parts, but he is shocked and horrified when he sees what he has created. The being he brings to life is a monster whose appearance terrifies Victor, and the young scientist flees and abandons the innocent creature to what will ultimately be a tragic life. The monster leaves his creator’s laboratory and wanders alone, shunned by those he meets because of his appearances only, and he becomes a murderer because of how he is treated. This concept

aligns with that of the TED talk given by Egyptian engineer Dalia Mogahed, “What It’s Like to be Muslim in America”. Post-9/11 America is wrought with fear of the unknown, and this is particularly directed towards people who looked like terrorists, i.e. a Muslim person with darker skin and a head covering. The shame, guilt, fear, and lack of acceptance that the Islamic population faces as a result of such stereotyping in the US drive radicalization and, sometimes, terrorism. Comparing Frankenstein’s relationship with his creature to the plight of post-9/11 Muslim Americans, if the monster had felt a higher sense of belonging and acceptance, he would not have acted violently against the scientist.
In Frankenstein, a main part of the story is how the monster is treated because of his physical appearances.

He begins his journey as a well-meaning, kind-hearted individual who wants to be accepted and welcomed into the human world he has been abandoned in. He carries some anger with him, lamenting over Frankenstein’s hatred and rejection of him. Regardless, he has a spark of compassion that drives him to save the life of a young girl who nearly falls into a rapid stream. She probably would have died had he not caught her first, but when her father sees him holding her, he fires a gun and shoots the creature in the shoulder. As the creature’s wound heals, his view on humankind festers. “This then was the reward of my benevolence!” he cries at one point (Shelley 126). The monster is aware that the only reason he was shot is because his features scared the girls father and drove him to act without thinking. In simple terms, he is harmed because of a split second judgment someone forms and acts on. Similarly, Mogahed talks about how when she was seventeen, she became a practicing member of the Muslim faith and “decided to start wearing the hijab … [her] friends were aghast” (Mogahed 1:30). She underwent judgment from day one of practicing her religion without anyone asking her for reasoning, information, or education about Islamic practices or beliefs. People, even her friends, looked and judged, and the thought process went no

further.
When judgment is cast unaided by fact and driven only by visual first impression, it can push those being judged to become what they are initially condemned for.

Frankenstein’s monster bemoans that he is “malicious because [he is] miserable” and vows that he will work at the destruction of humans if he cannot win them over to his side (Shelley 130-31). Although when he is brought to life, he is compassionate and caring, the months of ill treatment he suffers at the hands of humanity convert him to a different mindset entirely. He is dead set on seeking revenge for the pain he has felt, and nothing at this point will keep him from that vengeance. In her discussion about radical religious practices, Mogahed discusses how people become radicalized when they are “cut off from their community, from even their family” and do not have a support network, others they can go to, or any solidarity in what they feel (Mogahed 7:11). Radicalization is a process that relies on its victims being disconnected from others who they could seek communication and support from. It preys on shame, guilt, and helplessness and leads people into a false sense of community within a radical group, telling them they can find there the power to fix the problems they see. While Frankenstein’s monster is not in a radical terrorist group, the principals of his homicidal actions follow the same pattern. He is consistently turned away with violence from everyone he tries to get solace or comfort from, and he

feels “cut off from all the world” (Shelley 131). This heartless rejection and sense of isolation push him toward violence of his own, in order to feel a sense of power and fight back against the cruelty he has faced.
One of Mogahed’s main points in her speech is that people at risk for exploitation by radical groups have “nowhere to channel and make sense of … anger” and can be led away from that risk by being reconnected to support networks and community (Mogahed 9:23). Throughout the plot of Frankenstein, the monster’s focus is finding a companion, someone who will travel alongside him and accept him with his physical flaws. He goes so far as to plead Frankenstein to create for him a female of his species to be his partner, but the scientist denies him this, ordering him to “cease to argue the point” (Shelley 132). It is then that the monster starts to really act on his homicidal threats against Frankenstein and his loved ones, whereas before the rejection he is willing to compromise and negotiate with his creator.
If Frankenstein had handled his monster’s request differently and created a mate for him, the creature would have had a positive relationship to counter his anger and could have lived in peace with his partner. However, the scientist’s immediate refusal to make a female pushes his monster into a pit of even deeper loneliness and despair and drives him to commit multiple homicides.