Rejection And Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Nearly all actions stereotypically considered unethical result from a vicious cycle. The perpetuation of violence and abuse stem from a person’s previous observations and contact with others. These occurrences shape one’s identity above all else. In her novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley portrays the relationship between past experiences and present choices by illustrating the effects of rejection and isolation during the creature’s early life on his future decisions.

The creature is born as a product of Victor Frankenstein’s insatiable thirst for knowledge. Victor yearns to elicit life out of nothing, and the monster that results from his experimentation represents the dangers of such ambition. The creature is both ugly and terrifying, and

upon seeing what he has created, Victor himself flees in terror. However, the creature searches and finds his maker and reaches out for him as a child would, but is immediately rejected. It is this betrayal - this first human interaction - that instills the first sense of unbelonging within the creature. Shelley uses Victor’s negligence and shallowness to depict the results of segregation on any living being, for the creature must always bear within him the knowledge of rejection from one who was supposed to care for him. This notion is perpetuated when the creature seeks out Victor and accuses him of his failure to see through his experiment, for he declares, “I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather thy fallen angel.” The creature takes it upon himself to punish Victor for attempting to play the role of God as he seeks to harm all those close to his creator. He no longer trusts anyone, for even his producer cannot accept him. Shelley suggests that the early childhood encounters that people face determine their character and their fate. If one is inherently separate from all others, he has no reason to even try to gain real recognition because there will always be a distinct separateness, and the creature embodies that very concept.
Furthermore, Shelley introduces the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy based on the beliefs of others. The creature’s entire period of “childhood” consists of a constant fear and disgust from those who see him. Even when he does good works, he is punished. This idea is present when he saves a drowning girl but is promptly shot in response. Because the community treats him as a monster, he becomes one. The creature only commits intentional, premeditated harm when he frames Justine for the murder of William. Prior to the event, his actions were done out of hope - hope for assimilation. However, as a result of society’s perception of his evil, the creature finds a shift occurring within his moral code. He turns into what others deem him to be - inhuman. His past of continuous and unending isolation leads him to act the part of an outlaw. Shelley’s story is just as much about the creature as it is about Victor, for through him she warns people of the dangers of instilling their presumptions inside the minds of others. Often, a person becomes the very thing that he is called. The creature’s decision to destroy all that is close to Victor and to control Victor for the rest of his life serves as a manifestation of and retaliation for all of the harms done against him in the past.
Shelley shows how quickly the roles of master and servant can alter. A single act of wrongdoing leads the creature to devote his life to revenge in hopes of rectifying the injustices of the past. This desire only grows as he is further rejected by all those who encounter him, reshaping his original internal system of ethics. The creature begins as an innocent victim of the abuses of society, but these events change him into a vigilante, desperate to find some sort of acceptance and equity. Through the relationships of the creature with the everyday people, Shelley forces the entire world to consider the possible impacts of its actions on others because mankind is such a vulnerable and malleable race.