Isolation In Frankenstein Essay

Once said by Neil Hilborn, “Isolation is not safety, it is death. If no one knows you’re alive, you aren’t. If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, it does make a sound; but then that sound is gone. I’m not saying you’ll find the meaning of life in other people. I’m saying other people are the life to which you provide the meaning to.” In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley takes us into the life of a scientist whose commitment of creating life through science overtake him and forces him into isolation from his family and society. As well as a creature who tries to interact with others but is shunned by all who see him since he isn’t attractive. Eventually, the creature becomes a killer having a desire for revenge

against his creator and all of humans for rejecting him. Mary Shelley expresses through Frankenstein and the Monster the sense of isolation bestowed from one’s appearance and ambitions.
The Monster is isolated from society not because of his nature but of his appearance.

Society shunned him because he didn’t meet the standards of classifying as good looking. One example is on pg.86 when the Monster was roaming a village when he stumbled across human existence. “ The huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by turns. The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite. One of the best of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. 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 palaces I had beheld in the village.” This example shows that society rejected the Monster for his appearance since it wasn’t pleasing, forcing him into isolation. Another example is on pg.101 when the Monster explains to Victor what he believes what he is and what others think. “ And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man.” This implies that the creature is aware that he is a

monster with nothing to his name, turning him into an outcast not welcomed in any society. He is an outcast because he doesn’t look “normal” and is not part of the same nature as man, which leads him into isolation.
In addition Victor Frankenstein brings isolation upon himself because he is too caught up in his work about manipulating human nature which resulted in him cutting off all human contact that affected his studies.

An example of Frankenstein isolating himself is on pg. 47 when Victor was describing his condition and the weather to Walton when he was conducting his experiments, “ The leaves of that year had withered before my work drew to a close; and now every day showed me more plainly how well i had succeeded. But my enthusiasm was checked by my anxiety, and appeared rather like one doomed by slavery to toil in the mines. Or any other unwholesome trade than an artist occupied by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow-creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime. This demonstrates that the isolation portrayed by Victor is now moving from not only psychological but physical as well. Countless hours that Victor has spent creating this monster has caused him to become ill, malnourished, and deprived of sleep. Since he has isolated himself from human interactions he has fallen sick, confining himself to even more isolation. As well as on pg. 42 when Victor was talking about how his condition was to Walton and how time had passed while he was working on his creation. “As I applied so closely, it may be easily conceived that my progress was rapid. My ardour was indeed that astonishment of the

students, and my proficiency that of the masters. Professor Krempe often asked me, with a sly smile, how Cornelius Agrippa went on? Whilst M. Waldman expresses the most heartfelt exultation in my progress. Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hope to make.” This example proves that Victor brought isolation upon himself because he cut off communication from his family and society.
Overall Mary Shelley expresses through Frankenstein and the Monster the sense of isolation bestowed from one’s appearance and ambitions. The evidence proves that Victor was isolated from the decision’s he brought upon himself. In addition the Monster is isolated because of the treatment society gave him since he. isn't attractive. Frankenstein's isolation differs from the Monsters because he brought it upon himself to isolate himself from society. While the Monster was just trying to interact with others. Proving that a character’s decisions and actions are the cause of their isolation showing they choose to isolate themselves from society. Although others were forced into isolation for reasons that aren’t in their control. Isolation is the complete separation from others of a person suffering from prejudicial treatment and being ambitious.