Loss Of Innocence In Frankenstein

The creature in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, is trying to fit into the human community, but is neglected and rejected by society solely on his physical appearance, deformity. “The demon is (sub) human consciousness-in-the-making, naturally benevolent as Milton’s Satan is not, and received with horror and contempt solely because of his physical appearance” (Oates 32). Abandoned by his creator, Victor Frankenstein, the creature ventures off on his own, and shows through experiences that indeed he is benevolent. However, his benevolence soon turns into vengeance, as he is constantly mistreated by the human race; the creature commits heinous acts. I disagree with Lawrence Lipking’s statement that “the novel is ambiguous on whether we

should see the creature as a monster or not.” Mary Shelley, I believe, does not portray the creature as a monster, but as a victim of prejudice. His mistreatment leads to him becoming malicious.
From the very beginning of his existence, the creature experiences prejudice. Directly after creating the creature, Victor Frankenstein becomes abhorred at the site of his creation and later abandons the creature at his apartment. “But now that I had 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” (Shelley 47). Victor, without examining the creature’s behavior closely, quickly judges the creature as a monster by his physical appearance. Mary Shelley is showing a constant theme in the book, where humanity shuns the creature, without giving him a chance to prove himself to them.
The monster, confused by his interaction with Victor, wanders off to a village, where once again he is mistreated because of his deformity. When the creature comes across the villagers, some of the villagers fled in horror and others threw stones and fired “missile weapons” at the creature. Violently beaten by the villagers, the bruised creature runs back to the forest. Mary Shelley shows how society makes the creature an outcast because of his horrid appearance. Though the creature did not cause any harm, he was unjustly beaten because he looked “ugly”.
Wandering through the forest, the creature encounters a cottage.

The creature becomes hesitant to interact with the De Lacey family, inhabitants of the cottage, because of his experience at the previous village. Thus, the creature observes the cottagers from afar, without revealing himself. Through his numerous observations, the creature becomes to admire their kindness and the affection they give each other. Shelley shows the compassionate side of the creature where he sympathizes with the De Lacey family’s problems. The creature stops consuming the De Lacey family’s food, once he realizes that they are often left hungry. Also, the creature secretly starts to help the family by borrowing their tools to cut them wood, doing the heavier chores for the family. He begins to become hopeful that the De Lacey family would look past his appearance and longs for their acceptance. Unfortunately, his hopes were crushed. As he asks the old man, Felix’s father, for protection and shelter, he was struck by Felix with a stick, who believed that the creature was at the cottage to hurt his father. Mary Shelley shows that even the most virtuous humane people have a prejudice. Felix’s first instinct was to strike the creature rather than to listen to the creature. Even as the creature is being beaten by Felix, the creature refrains from striking back, showing his benevolence. “I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere

I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded” (Shelley 84). Mary Shelley is showing how the creature is unreasonably excluded from society, and how unjustly he is forced to be lonely and miserable. She shows that the creature is a being capable of emotions, kindness, and reasoning, but because solely of his deformity he is completely excluded from any type of compassion or interaction.
The creature later leaves and seeks his creator, following the paper he found in the coat he took from Victor’s apartment. On his way to meet Victor, the creature encounters a young girl drowning in a rapid river; he saves her and drags her to shore, and is repaid by getting shot by the girl’s father. “This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and, as recompense, I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound, which shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I have entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind” (Shelley 121). Shelley shows the reader of the continual prejudice that the creature endures. Because of the creature’s physical appearance, the father assumes that he is trying to murder his daughter instead of rescuing her. Instead of being thanked, the creature is shot.
Two months later, he finally reached Geneva, and spots a child, William Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s younger brother.

Because of his desire for a companion and a friend, the creature grabs the boy and attempts to kidnap him. He believed that the child would be too young to be prejudice to his deformity. The creature was mistaken. As he carries William, the child screams and calls the creature a monster. However, what provokes the creature to murder the child is when William tells the creature that his father is Frankenstein. Hearing the name of his creator, whom he despised and blamed for his misery, the creature suffocates William to death. On William’s dead body, the creature picks out a necklace, with a portrait of a gorgeous woman. Later, the creature enters a barn, where he encounters a sleeping Justine Moritz. He places the necklace on Justine and frames her for the murder of William. Later she becomes condemned to death, and is executed. This marks the beginning of the creature’s misdeeds and evil

doings.
After telling Victor of his journey and hardships, the creature asks Victor for a mate. “If I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice must be my portion; the love of another will destroy the cause of my crimes, and I shall become a thing of whose existence everyone will be ignorant. My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal. I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of existence and events from which I am now excluded” (Shelley 127). The creature makes a desperate plea for a companion, realizing he will never be accepted by the human community. He also tells Victor that if he receives no love or affection, hate and malice will replace those feelings. In this scene, Shelley emphasizes the creature’s last hope for a companion and happiness. Victor temporarily sympathizes with the creature and agrees with the creature’s demands. However, when the creature comes to check on Victor’s progress on his female mate, Victor destroys her in front of the creature, changing his mind on the promise he made to the creature. All of the creature’s hopes of obtaining happiness were destroyed. Enraged, the creature then retaliates and begins his vengeful path, after dealing too long with undeserved neglect. Shelley provides a major turning point in the creature’s character in this scene. The creature is taught that there is no point in being good, since he is always judged by his hideous appearance no matter how kindly he acts.
Deprived of any type of love or compassion, the creature begins his vengeful path. The creature first targets Henry Clerval, Victor’s dearest friend. The creature follows Henry to an Irish village and strangles him to death with his bare hands. Later, the creature targets his last victim, Elizabeth, Frankenstein’s wife. After fulfilling his promise to Victor of his revenge, the creature becomes chased by Victor northward to Arctic regions. As he is being chased the creature is helping Victor in his search. He leaves Frankenstein food, inscribed indications of his route, and signs motivating him to continue his pursuit. Mary Shelley is showing a compassionate side of the creature, which were once the creature’s virtues. Though he hates Frankenstein, he leaves food for him, and ultimately takes care of Victor in his chase.
After Victor’s death, the creature boards Walton’s fleet and mourns his creator’s death. Through his conversation with Walton, the creature shows his guilt for the heinous acts he committed and contemplates his death. The creature plans to burn himself, so that no one can create another like him, and no can experience what he experienced. “Which of us, in Frankenstein’s position, would not invite the Creature home, give him a good hot meal, plug him into Sesame Street, enter him in the Special Olympics, fix him up with a mate, and tell him how much we love him? Surely such treatment would result not only in a better Creature but in a happier ending for everyone- especially the innocent victims” (Lipking 42). Lipking is stating that if the creature was treated and nurtured better, he would be a much kinder and better creature. This is shown with the monster’s experience with the De Lacey family. By indirectly teaching the creature how to speak and read, the creature provides the family with wood. But when the creature is rejected by the family based on prejudice, the creature burns their cottage.
Throughout the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley shows the reader how continued neglect and rejection can lead a virtuous being into becoming malevolent. The creature did not ask to be created nor did he deserve the mistreatment he received. However, his creator, Victor, thoughtlessly brought the creature to life, and later abandons him, without adhering to his responsibility of taking care of the creature. The creature was continually judged on his physical appearance and not on his benevolence. “Throughout the Monster’s story, the human and natural world was a kind of Paradise from which it alone excluded” (Tropp 24). Mary Shelley shows that the creature was not a monster but a being that yearned for compassion, which was constantly denied to him. The creature was virtuous at first, but it is human society that corrupts him.