Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Companionship is highly similar to oxygen. They are both needed to survive draw humans to them. Just like oxygen, without friendship or a place in society, this isolation creates unwanted effects. Examples of these dangerous effects can be evil or depression, which can lead to suicide. Not to mention, the novel, Frankenstein, proves these facts of solitude to be true. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley paints the picture of a monster created by a self-isolated man, but the monster is not loved or cared for. The man, Victor Frankenstein, runs away from his monstrous creation and gives his life to finding and destroying it. However, the monster tells a different story, where he keeps himself in isolation because of the human’s scornful response to

his physical appearance. In the end, the monster terrorizes all those loved by Frankenstein, as Frankenstein will not love and make a female companion for his creation. Furthermore, in Mary Shelley’s novella Frankenstein, she uses similar language between Victor Frankenstein and his creation to prove that isolation results in destructive behaviors, such as selfishness, evilness, and depressive, ultimately illustrating that conscious actions define the human nature.
In Frankenstein, Shelley utilizes immortal allusions to Victor Frankenstein and the monster to prove that selfishness rather results from conscious activity due to isolation and not inscribed in human nature,.

One such example occurs when Frankenstein, while travelling with Clerval, his best friend, thinks back to the monster’s violence, pondering to himself, “I felt as if I have committed some great crime, the consciousness of which haunted me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn down a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of crime” (175-176). Here, Shelley incorporates immortal allusions to Frankenstein’s thoughts to illustrate that isolation results in selfishness. Shelley applies words like “curse” and “mortal” to emphasize Frankenstein’s selfishness to the point of unnatural and evil. Because Frankenstein isolates himself from the world and his friends and family, he has become extremely selfish, as he believes he is guiltless and is not willing to admit that he killed multiple people. Frankenstein is relating his pain and suffering to that of everyone else’s, but the monster that is causing all of the pain is his creation. In like manner, Shelley employs the same egotistic language through the monster to further prove that selfishness is not inherent. The monster strangles William, Frankenstein’s little brother, after William enrages the monster by admitting his dad is Mr. Frankenstein, when he reflects to himself, “I gazed on my victim and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (153). Shelley utilizes immortal imagery to reveal the monster’s connection with Frankenstein, as they both are selfish because of their isolation from the world. Shelley portrays the monster as immortal and godlike, when he states “I too can create desolation”,

hinting at his selfishness turning into evil. The monster, by all means, tries to find a companion or someone willing to listen to him, but, because he remained isolated, his selfishness for a companion leads to the murder of William, a young child. Unlike Frankenstein, the monster is willing to admit he has killed William and not hide from his selfishness. He also calls on a “thousand other miseries” to Frankenstein, emphasizing this selfishness as his loneliness is now in full control of him. Thus, in comparing Frankenstein and his monster, Shelley presents immortal imagery to argue that conscious alienation creates self-serving thoughts, not the human nature.
To illustrate the grasping and captivating sides of solitude, Shelley uses slave and master imagery in the account to Frankenstein and the monster to emphasize that human nature is a slave to it’s emotions, leading to evil. An example of this is when Frankenstein is back at his home in Geneva and contemplating whether or not he should leave to go back to work and ponders, “Through the whole period during which I was the slave of my creature I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of the moment; and my present sensations strongly intimidated that the fiend would follow me and exempt my family from the danger of his machinations” (166). Through Shelley’s application of slave imagery to Frankenstein, she argues that emotions enslave human nature. “Slave of my creature” is an example of this slave imagery, as Frankenstein’s emotions toward the creature he has created are enslaving him for his passion of revenge. Shelley further adds to her argument with “governed by the impulses of the moment” to directly illustrate that Frankenstein’s emotions are holding him captive because of his isolation from the world, which leads to him choosing to create a monster. Frankenstein did not start out as a slave to his passion, but because of his prolonged isolation from the world and interactions with his creation, his passionate revenge took hold of him. In the same fashion, Shelley continues to prove her point through the monster, as his vengeful, master language mirrors that of Frankenstein’s slave of passion language. Frankenstein decides to destroy his work of the female companion, which was a request from the monster. After the monster observes this awful act of destruction, he sneaks inside and commands to Frankenstein, “Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!” (181). In Shelley’s incorporation of master imagery, she illustrates that, because of isolation, the monster has become a slave to his passion: revenge. The monster directly calls Frankenstein his slave and continues to say “but I am your master; obey!”, which emphasizes Shelley’s point as the monster drives on the passion of revenge to Frankenstein. Because of the monster’s isolation, he calls Frankenstein his slave and states he is his master, showing that his passion has enslaved him into revenge, just like Frankenstein’s passion has also enslaved him. Shelley matches the monster’s language to that of Frankenstein’s to support her argument, as they both become slaves to their passions, which only causes evil. Therefore, Shelley draws on mirroring language between both Frankenstein and his creation to prove that human nature is a slave to passion.
In highlighting the distraught and sadness caused by alienation, Shelley uses suicidal imagery through both Frankenstein and the monster to show how isolation causes these depressing emotions in human nature. One such example occurs when Frankenstein walks into a room where Clerval lays dead right in front of him. Realizing his best friend’s death is his fault, Frankenstein questions to himself, “Why did I not die? More miserable than man ever was before, why did I not sink into forgetfulness and rest? Death snatches away many blooming children, the only hopes of their doting parents; how many brides and youthful lovers have been one day in the bloom of health and hope, and the next a prey for worms and the decay of the tomb!” (192). Here, Shelley incorporates suicidal imagery in Frankenstein’s language to illustrate how his happiness has turned into depression and heartbreak because of his isolation from the world. Frankenstein is depressed to the level that he asks himself “Why did I not die?”, which shows his sadness to the level of suicide. As a result of the evil he created during his isolation, his emotions have turned to that of evil and sadness, not good and hopefulness. Frankenstein wants to “sink into forgetfulness and rest”, forgetting all he has done and all the misery he has endured. By the same token, Shelley applies the same language for the monster, as he also questions himself worthy of life. As the monster is talking to Mr. DeLacy, his blind, human neighbor, his children barge in and witness the monster, running and screaming. The monster runs away and back to his hut, where he naggs, "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge" (146). Through Shelley’s utilization of the monster’s suicidal imagery, she highlights how misery and pain come from actions of isolation, instead of human nature. Just like Frankenstein, the monster asks himself whether he should live or die when he questions, “Why did I live?” Because of the monster’s rejection, he becomes depressed to the point of even suicide, and revenge on Frankenstein is the only reason that he is still alive. The monster was not inheritably miserable and evil, but instead pleased and good as his existence is a “a spark of existence”. The monster’s isolation is fueling his depressiveness, as not even his own creator will acknowledge him. Consequently, Shelley uses mirroring language between Frankenstein and the monster to illustrate how isolation results in the miserable and suicidal sides of human nature.
Thus, in her novella, Shelley uses mirroring language between Frankenstein and the monster to emphasize that conscious actions define the human nature, as isolation leads to selfishness, evil emotions, and depressive behavior. Shelley first incorporates immortal allusions through both Frankenstein and his creation, proving that isolation creates selfishness; that it is not in human nature. Continuously, Shelley argues that isolation results in slavery to passion through her use of slave imagery in both Frankenstein’s and the monster’s speech. Lastly, in using suicidal imagery to the account of Frankenstein and the monster, Shelley illustrates the depressive side of the human nature once isolated. Through these three unwanted results of isolation, Shelley reveals the main truth of her novel: without companionship, evil is foredooming.