Multiple characters from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or Modern Prometheus, novel can be considered a ‘monster’, as can Mary Shelley family and all of society. By carefully analyzing key resources, such as the novel itself and online articles, one can come to certain conclusions as to who was the true ‘monster’.
A person’s experience with death in their family can have a large influence over their life and a great deal of death occurred in Mary Shelley’s. A few days after giving birth to Mary, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, passed away. It was common for women in the 19th century to die shortly after giving birth. She had suffered from blood poisoning. Despite their short time spent together, Mary idealized her mother. Wollstonecraft was
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Wollstonecraft was a strong advocate for women and equality and strove to achieve that in 18th century Britain. Though their time spent together was short lived, the death of Mary’s mother had a toll on Mary. In the novel, Victor’s mother dies after contracting scarlet fever from Elizabeth. “She attended her sickbed; her watchful attentions triumphed over the malignity of the distemper — Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver” (Shelley, chapter 3). Her mother died taking care of her child, a duty of a mother. Because of this, Elizabeth is without a maternal figure and role model, similar to the creature in the novel. In a nightmare about his mother’s death, Victor “thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel” (Shelley, chapter 5). His mother died before he had left for Ingolstadt, leaving a void in his life. The dream that Frankenstein has is similar to one that Shelley has about her children. “A journal entry in 1815 reads, “Dream that my little baby came to life again; that it had only …show more content…
According to Dictionary.com, a monster is “any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character” (Dictionary). The creature fits this criteria. Victor describes the creature as having his yellow skin [that] scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath” (Shelley, chapter 5). The creatures skin was an odd shade, while his teeth were incredibly white. He had a shriveled face and straight black lips. Moreover, the creature was of “gigantic stature, and the deformity of its aspect more hideous than belongs to humanity” (Shelley, chapter 7). Despite fitting the part, the creature is not the true monster. Victor created this creature and then abandoned him. Like a lost child, the creature tried to conform to society, but unfortunately failed. All the townspeople were afraid of him, and close-minded towards him. The creature does make attempts to connect with people, but as was his creator, they all are opposed to it. They find him ugly and unworthy of their attention. Because of this, the creature is forced to live in the wilderness. As a child learns to speak from watching those around him, while hiding by a cabin, the creature learned to speak by watching and listening to the inhabitants. It is important to note that while the creature did kill William, he had a
Born as a free woman in London, England Mary argued for education along with unjust laws for women that subjected them to a form of slavery. As the world around her at the time was facing a political breakthrough with the United States using idea’s formed by philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes theories in the social contract, to break free from England, she hoped the French Revolution would create an era of equality and reason. Wollstonecraft places her opinion that the condition of adult women is caused by the neglect of education for girls. Most of the essay is based on her argument for education of
Victor Frankenstein and the others who have encountered the creature all recoiled in horror at the mere sight of him. He is described by Victor: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!—Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and straight black lips” (Shelley, 35). Even his creator shuns him based solely on his looks. Another attribute of the creature that makes him monstrous is his thirst for revenge against Victor and the hateful attitude he develops toward humans throughout the book. While he has not developed the emotional intelligence and experience of other human beings, he has learned to differentiate between right and wrong. Therefore, the murders he has committed are taken into consideration when labeling the creature as a monster. If anything, as I will later demonstrate, the creature is an antihero. He is mostly monstrous in appearance but his thoughts, feelings and circumstances create the ingredients of an antihero, who has doubtlessly committed
Puchner, Martin. Mary Wollstonecraft. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 133. Print.
The creature was created with the intention of goodness and purity but because of this, he wasn’t equipped to deal with the rejection of his creator. After Victor Frankenstein’s death, Robert Walton walks in to see the creature standing over his friend’s lifeless body.
A monster can be characterized by an extreme deviation from the normal standards of society including an internal or external wickedness. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Creature, his appearance overwhelms those who lay eyes upon him. A mere glance can send a villager running for the hills. It was not until the Creature caught a glance of his own reflection that he understood why villagers were so afraid of him. The realization of his ghastly appearance began the monster’s journey into hopelessness. In Peter Brooks’ article he writes, “Self recognition as the ‘filthy type’ completes the mirror stage of the Monsters development.” (Brooks 377). Seeing oneself as ugly and slovenly can cast shadows on even the most compassionate of hearts.
Mary Wollstonecraft was as revolutionary in her writings as Thomas Paine. They were both very effective writers and conveyed the messages of their ideas quite well even though both only had only the most basic education. Wollstonecraft was a woman writing about women's rights at a time when these rights were simply non-existent and this made her different from Paine because she was breaking new ground, thus making her unique. Throughout her lifetime, Wollstonecraft wrote about the misconception that women did not need an education, but were only meant to be submissive to man. Women were treated like a decoration that had no real function except to amuse and beguile. Wollstonecraft was the true leader in women's rights, advocating a partnership in relationships and marriage rather than a dictatorship. She was firm in her conviction that education would give women the ability to take a more active role in life itself.
Throughout the novel, Shelley investigates the idea of monstrosity. She makes the point that a monster does not have to be genuinely evil in order to be considered monstrous. Shelley presents two characteristics of mankind in order to prove her case. The first example is Frankenstein’s creation. Upon first being introduced to his creation, the reader initially labels him as a monster because of his physical appearance. He is portrayed as a man with “…yellow skin scarcely cover[ing] the work of muscles and arteries beneath…watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set…shrivelled complexion and straight black lips” (Shelley 58). Not only does the reader view him as...
Shelley also shows us, in Frankenstein, that although juxtaposing terms, the monstrous being everything human is not, they are also intertwined, in that you can not have one without the other. There is also an overwhelming desire to know the monstrous, if only temporarily, and this calls into question the influence the monstrous has on the human definition. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) describes ‘human’ as being ‘Of, belonging to, or characteristic of mankind, distinguished from animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright posture.’ (OED). The term ‘monstrous’ is described as ‘The condition or fact of being abnormally developed or grossly malformed.’
Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women with Structures on Political and Moral
“His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips,” would be classified as a monster.
Mary Wollstonecraft was a self-educated, radical philosopher who wrote about liberation, and empowering women. She had a powerful voice on her views of the rights of women to get good education and career opportunities. She pioneered the debate for women’s rights inspiring many of the 19th and the 20th century’s writers and philosophers to fight for women’s rights, as well. She did not only criticize men for not giving women their rights, she also put a blame on women for being voiceless and subservient. Her life and, the surrounding events of her time, accompanied by the strong will of her, had surely affected the way she chose to live her life, and to form her own philosophies.
All praises bestowed on her I received as made to a possession of my own’, Frankenstein’s very possessive nature on Elizabeth is exhibited. She is objectified by him only to be seen as his ‘possession’ and nothing more. ‘She left me, and I continued some time walking up and down the passages of the house and inspecting every corner that might afford a retreat to my adversary…when suddenly I heard a shrill and dreadful scream’, the ellipsis creates the tension that leads up to the sudden death of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is used as a revenge tactic against Victor, in which her death is inevitable, as he did not create the female companion that the ‘daemon’ desired, therefore consequences were
Another female life is lost, but not in vain. Shelley uses Elizabeth’s death to create a turning point in the story and add speculation that perhaps women are not as inferior as men think. It can be argued that Victor’s sworn revenge for his wife’s death was well won by the ultimate sacrifice Elizabeth (unwillingly) makes. This also exemplifies the foreshadowing of Elizabeth’s fate as stated previously, “till death”. Elizabeth could merely be viewed as property that the monster has taken for himself, thus overstepping his boundaries of Victor’s masculine
The “Monster” is Not the Monster The definition of a monster is one who contrasts from normal or acceptable behavior or character .Victor Frankenstein’s creation,in the novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, is referred to as a monster, yet throughout the novel the reader is made aware of the compassion and morality that the creature possesses. The only reason it is seen or called a monster is because of appearance of not being human. The creature of Victor has no time to realize who or what he is before victor labeled him as a monster.
In this excerpt, Maria wants her daughter to know that she is the one whom she truly wants to educate, and to show her how to be strong in order to not be influenced and harmed by others, especially men. The fact that Maria’s daughter has not been given a name in the novel may mean that she can be seen as a representation of all young women of future generations. In that case, the conversation between Mary and her daughter is, in fact, a conversation between Wollstonecraft and all her female readers. Maria tries to inform her daughter on everything concerning a woman’s life, in an attempt to prepare her daughter for the miseries and injustices women experience, as well as to secure her happiness. Seemingly, Wollstonecraft argues that women