The Role Of Vanity In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

What society deems taboo can be a determining factor for compassion and humanity, this is evident in the world every day. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the Creature to bring to light how society should reevaluate what it constitutes a monster and take responsibility for committing truly monstrous acts. While mankind's reaction has changed and has become more accepting of that which is seemingly different, there are still questions raised about the general public: What value do we put on vanity and how does this affect how we treat others? How does vanity affect our humanity and can it lead to real monsters? Vanity as a central theme in Frankenstein is a constant fuel for conflict; the society the Creature is exposed to deem him unworthy

Peter Brooks states in his article “What Is A Monster? (According to Frankenstein)”, “Frankenstein’s immediate reaction to the monster is to tell it to go away” but Frankenstein is eventually persuaded with the Creature’s language and the fact the Creature knows to feed into Victor’s ego in order to get his attention (Brooks). Similar to Victor’s reaction is the De Lacey old man. He, however, is blind and cannot judge the Creature on his appearance, but is simply impressed by the Creatures intellect. “"I am blind… and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere" (Shelley, 122). It is the De Lacey family physically seeing the creature that cause him to be shunned. The creature is able to diminish his monstrousness using his language skills and therefore can introduce his own narrative (Brooks) and explain his demands, as long as no one has to look at him, apparently. Language helps the Creature to embrace himself how society could not. He reads Milton’s Paradise Lost , believing it to be non-fiction, but finds his reflection in biblical terms that he is similar to Adam and Satan. “In the manner of Adam, he appears to be a unique creation, "united by no link to any other being in existence" (p. 124). Yet, "wretched, helpless, and alone," he is unlike Adam” (Brooks). "’Many times I

A doppelganger is “a look-alike or double of a living person, sometimes portrayed as a paranormal phenomenon, and is usually seen as a harbinger of bad luck” (Wikipedia). It is used by writers to force a character or society to see themselves from an outside point of view. In “Monstrous Image: The Fantasy Antagonist”, R.E. Foust explains Sigmund Freud’s “Uncanny” or “doubling, dividing, and interchanging of the self” (Foust). The doppelganger concept is then applied to the Creature and to Victor Frankenstein. The creature sees himself in Victor, and vice versa. “Slowly Victor comes to identify with the Monster, whom he calls "my own vampire, my own spirit let loose from the grave" (p. 76); he begins to think of himself as "the true murderer" of William (p. 87); cries that Clerval has "fallen a victim to me and the monster of my creation" (p. 183); and blames himself for Elizabeth's death (p. 185)” (Foust). Victor also hates the Creature because he believes he is a failure that is haunting him. The novel's interest lies in Victor's gradual realization that his true relationship to the Monster is that of the doppelgänger, rather than that of creator and created. The fantasy conflict is structured upon an implicit assumption of the binary, rather than the unilateral, relationship between nature and culture. The rational man is eventually possessed by his dybbuk-like