Frankenstein Social Acceptance Essay

Humans are very complex in many ways including how we think, how we love, and how we accept the people around us. Throughout history and even over recent years, acceptance is something that we as humans, crave possibly more than anything. We are surrounded by other humans every day, some beautiful and others maybe not so much. But is an appealing appearance the only characteristic one must have to be socially accepted? The creature in Joel Ferrell's play, Frankenstein, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, shows how the world views social acceptance and how rejection affects people mentally and physically. This is portrayed when the creature feels the slightest amount of acceptance from De Lacey and Elizabeth due to similarities, yet is constantly

knocked down by society.
The moment the creature was brought to life in Joel Ferrell's production of Frankenstein, it seemed that he could never gain acceptance from anyone until he met some extraordinary individuals.

The creature was completely neglected by his creator, Victor Frankenstein, and was left on his own to fight off other villagers who were both scared and disgusted by the creature's appearance. The creature came across a house in the woods owned by the De Lacey family. De Lacey was a poor man but was also extraordinary in that he was blind in both eyes. This meant that the creature was not judged on his appearance for once, but for his true identity and character. This corresponds to society nowadays because we are all taught at a young age to not judge a book by its cover and to learn more about a person before we judge them harshly and reject them. Even though this is what we are taught, the creature was rejected by society time after time by everyone who looked at him until he met a man who could not see his face but sees the potential he holds. De Lacey goes on to teach the creature how to speak, read, and write so that he could hopefully fit into society one day. The creature was becoming more confident in himself until everything took a turn for the worst and De Lacey's son Felix, attacked the creature and the creature once again felt rejection and isolation. This causes him to seek revenge and he killed the De Lacey family. This is found in today's society when a person is so

lonely and feels heavy isolation that they might lash out and hurt someone or even themselves by committing suicide.
The creature left De Lacey with an educated mind and sought acceptance more and more, yet never gained any.

On Victor Frankenstein's wedding night, the creature snuck into Victor's room where his wife Elizabeth was in bed. At first, Elizabeth was frightened and scared like everyone else was. But, after a short amount of time, Elizabeth started talking to the creature about her life and the creature's life. Prior to their encounter, Elizabeth had felt neglected by Victor as well. Victor seemed to choose his work over her every time. She wanted to be loved, touched and cared for. Elizabeth found that the creature was desiring much of the same, and therefore did not neglect him, she accepted him and his needs. We can see this type of behavior in society today when people feel so alone and depressed that all they really need is people to talk to them and find similarities between their lives to show that they are not alone. Similar to the creature's encounter with De Lacey. He is reminded of all the things that people have done to him and how his creator, Victor, of all people was the one who started this by neglecting him from the beginning. The creature kills Elizabeth as a result and flees back into his lonely life. We can find similar instances in today's society where this may occur. People are bullied, and their self-esteem is knocked down every day. These are the outcasts which society has chosen, and they carry the heavy weight of loneliness and rejection. As a result,

they stop wanting help from people and they see everyone as an enemy. This causes them to act in a socially unacceptable way which in this case with the creature, was to hurt the people that were even trying to help. These outcasts are similar to the creature in that if society had accepted them early on instead of rejecting them due to their appearance, horrible consequences could have been avoided.
Society needs to be more accepting in order for the world to be a better place for everyone. Dhruv Khullar, a Doctor at the Massachusetts General Hospital wrote "How Isolation Is Killing Us," where he discussed his experiences with patients who were lonely, and what he concluded from all the information he had found. Similar to the creature in Joel Ferrell's play, Khullar saw that his patients that experienced an excess amount isolation and rejection from family and friends due to their condition were more likely to have low self-esteem and higher stress (Dhruv). From Ferrell's Frankenstein, we know what this could lead to and it is important that as a society we prevent these things from occurring. "Since the 1980s, the percentage of American adults who say they're lonely has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent (Dhruv)." This is not a good sign and needs to be corrected in order for the world to be a better place for all people. Instead of creating a group full of outcasts that have unpredictable decisions and can cause mayhem, why not forget about the appearance of others and just accept them for who they are like Elizabeth tried to do for the creature in Ferrell's play.
A central part of our lives is rejection, exclusion, and acceptance according to Nathan DeWall, a psychologist at the University of Kentucky. In his article, "Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter," DeWall discusses the importance of acceptance and how rejection is increasingly dangerous to humans. DeWall believes that one of the reasons we as humans need acceptance is due to our ancestor's needs for a group in order to feel safe and protected in harsh environments (DeWall). Perhaps this is one of the reasons the creature craved acceptance from Victor. The creature needed to be protected and taught about humankind before being forced into society unprepared, and alone. Moreover, DeWall's research found that people who have been excluded often lash out towards themselves or others. An analysis of fifteen school shooters found that thirteen of them have been socially rejected prior to their violent crimes (DeWall). This helps prove that the creature's actions in Joel Ferrell's play have multiple parallels to today's society. The creature was constantly excluded by people, not knowing that their actions would end up causing multiple people to lose their lives.
Although the creature in Joel Ferrell's play had the strong body of a man, he was brought into this world with the mind of a child. There were instances at the beginning of the play where his mind would wander off into the forest, and he would be chirping like a bird or letting the sun hit him directly like he was soaking it all in. Since this was the case, the effect of Victor neglecting this child-like creature and leaving him alone was greater. Diana J. English, the chief of research at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, wrote an article on the effects of child maltreatment which corresponds with the way the creature acted a result of his rejection by Victor and society. English believes that as these children get older, they are more likely to engage in physical aggression, commit crimes, and inflict injuries on oneself or others (English). In the play, as the creature got wiser and more educated, he realized what was happening and how he was being treated which caused him to react in a negative way towards society. Similar to kids wanting to lash out at the ones who caused emotional distress on them, the creature was aiming to hurt society and cause others to feel the same loneliness and neglect that he did.
People in isolation and who experience loneliness are less likely to receive help when they are in need. Erin York Cornwell from Cornell University and Linda J. Waite from The University of Chicago studies the effects of isolation on people's health. Cornwell and Waite found that, compared to people who do not experience loneliness, those that experience high rates of isolation are less likely to be socially connected. This may lead to them not receiving assistance in stressful situations which would end up causing a decrease in that person's active coping skills (Cornwell). This helps show the side of the creature in Ferrell's play that at times may have been hard to see. The creature needed help, he needed help from anyone who could give it to him, especially Victor. The creature needed the assistance that Cornwell and Waite found was necessary for people to overcome stressful situations. A stressful situation is quite an understatement when discussing the story of Frankenstein, nevertheless, if the creature would have gotten the help that he needed, then deep isolation would not have been the outcome of his life. Since it was, he was left with huge burdens and sad thoughts that could only be fixed with revenge.
Throughout Joel Ferrell's play of Frankenstein, the creature's self-esteem is consistently knocked down, and people are always pushing him away causing him to be in deep isolation and loneliness. Even when De Lacey and Elizabeth care for the creature and show that they want to help him, the weight of everyone else's hatred towards him, causes him to constantly seek revenge. Researchers have found a relationship between extreme isolation and violence along with health issues. Joel Ferrell's creature is a perfect example of how people in the world today are affected by isolation and loneliness caused by rejection from others.