The Character of the Monster in Frankenstein

Explore the ways Mary Shelley presents the character of the monster in

Frankenstein

We are prepared for the arrival of the monster in many different ways,

before he is created we know the monster is going to be a repulsive

figure of a human being, but the reader is still intrigued into

reading further, and because of Shelley's descriptive language we

already feel disgust towards victors creation, and in doing so, we

our-selves become just as callous as those people in the book that

neglect Frankenstein's monster.

Also because the monster was created by Victor using parts dug up from

graves and morgues, and we associate graveyards with horror and death,

there is immediately something sinister about the monster and to a

point, Victor.

The reader can already see the problems with creating artificial life

in this way, and in the beginning of the novel, the reader is almost

willing victor not to pursue his quest for knowledge, but victor is

blinded by his own arrogance to stop and think carefully about what he

is about to do. This is when Victor the man becomes separated from

Frankenstein the scientist.

"I saw how the fine form of man was degraded and wasted" Victor

despises death, and his mind is occupied incessantly with it, and

after the demise of his mother, victor cannot escape it, and

subconsciously he dedicates his life towards combating the process.

The instant Victor gives life to his monster, he feels a tremendous

fit of loathing towards 'his child'. When the monster awakes, so does

Victor, he suddenly realises what he has done, and that he has not

fully thought his actions through and consequently rejects his

creation, instantly damming it, to a life of misery, Victor must have

known thi...

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...er leaves vowing to kill himself on his

own funeral pyre, and this proves the monster's level of misery "I

shall no longer feel the agonies which now consume me"

The reader reacts in many different ways towards the monster, first

there is sympathy because of his dreadful up-bringing but then that

sympathy I lost because of the monster's violent nature. The main

question is would the monster have turned out so evil if Victor had

given it a caring home and an education? The monster's 'child-hood' is

of great contrast to Victor's but not of Mary Shelley's, who had a

traumatic up-bringing, her mother died at an early age, and her

step-mother neglected and abused her. Victor's was one of happy

memories and fun, he was never pressured into doing anything, this

shows the necessity of a good up-bringing, but it begs the question,

are some people inherently bad?