Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (1818)

“Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow-creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me. The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge” (Shelley, Vol. II Chapter II).

In this section, Frankenstein’s creation describes his story of struggle, experience, education, and growth. Here, he explains how feelings of rejection, abandonment, and solitude can alter humanity. Frankenstein’s creation has gone through the stages of maturation over a very short interval of time. While people normally have many years during childhood and adolescence to learn about the world and themselves, the creation was thrown into life with no guidance or teachers except himself. He learns about how cruel people can be through his interactions with the villagers, the beauty of love and companionship through observing the family, and about literature through the books he finds. Frankenstein develops empathy and compassion, he realized that stealing a part of the cottagers food supply for himself “inflicted pain on [them], [he] abstained, and satisfied [himself] with berries, nuts and roots” (Vol. II, Chapter IV). He even provides them with wood that he gathered himself to assist them (Vol. II, Chapter IV). These acts of kindness and thoughtfulness demonstrate the creation’s humanity. However, his appearance does not represent his complexity of emotions and thoughts. Through consistent responses of disgust, violence, and terror to his efforts to assimilate into the human world, the creation begins to lose hope for Frankenstein’s “fellow creatures”. He takes refuge in the mountains and glaciers to hide himself from the world. Frankenstein’s creation is similar to a rejected child, with no parent to guide him through the world and the process of growing up, he’s left to harsh realities and navigating all of it on his own. Although he acts out with violence and murder, his “soul glowed with love and humanity” before twisted by the pains of being “miserably alone”. Even this is a display of his humanity, solitary confinement can alter the psychology of any human. Frankenstein’s creature demonstrates humanity even in abandonment and exile.

“In this description of our domestic circle I include Henry Clerval; for he was constantly with us. He went to school with me, and generally passed the afternoon at our house; for being an only child, and destitute of companions at home, his father was well pleased that he should find associates at our house; and we were never completely happy when Clerval was absent” (Shelley, Vol. 1 Chapter 1).

I think this quote helps to guide through both Victor’s life, providing a further description of his life at university and at home, and the consequences of his actions in the later portions of the text—in which Henry is killed by the monster as part of Victor’s punishment for betrayal of the deal they had made. In a way, this comment in which Victor states “we were never completely happy when Clerval was absent” almost alludes to the fact that Henry will be absent later on, foreshadowing his death, and acting as a symbol for Victor's eternal unhappiness after his deception towards the monster. This quote strikes me as important, and worth remembering and thinking about, because it shows the calm before the storm. It gives Victor a sense of human-ness. Though we know he is in fact human, the fact that he creates life and a ‘monster’ presents the world, itself, as not fully human. By giving Victor this backstory that puts him in a very normal situation, as some of the first chapter of Vol. 1 does, he is set up to be a rather regular person that has ambitions to become something greater than himself—which puts readers in a comfortable spot. This is such an important part of the text because it allows more room for the uncomfortable events that follow to plague the reader and thus have further impact on their thoughts and progression of it.

“…misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood.” (150)

Frankenstein is a book largely concerned with ideas of humanity and inhumanity, or - as it’s often framed – good and evil. Depending on the point of view, the book repeatedly juxtaposes evil with humanity (Frankenstein) good with inhumanity (the creature), with the intention of commenting on prejudice and morality. The titular character, Victor Frankenstein, sought to craft a creature from human parts, but upon seeing the warped version of humanity that his hands had created he abandoned his creation in disgust: “now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” (84) The scorn and biased hatred the creature receives causes him to turn from kind and gentle to violent and “evil”: eventually murdering William (Frankenstein’s young brother) and indirectly causing the death of another innocent.

It’s obvious that the interactions between Frankenstein and the creature are meant to be read as man versus monster, or archetypically, as good versus evil. Which is why it’s interesting when Elizabeth – Frankenstein’s cousin and staunchest supporter – says this: “…misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood.” (150) Frankenstein spends its first hundred-odd pages driving home the despicable-ness of “inhumanity”, and in a strange turn, Mary Shelly utilizes Elizabeth, who thus far has acted as a two-dimensional support for her cousin, to explicitly state what some would say is a main theme of the novel: man is as monstrous as any genuine monster.

"After what I have said, I dare say you well remember the heroine of my little tale: for Justine was a great favourite of yours; and I recollect you once remarked, that if you were in an ill-humour, one glance from Justine could dissipate it, for the same reason that Ariosto gives concerning the beauty of Angelica—she looked so frank-hearted and happy. " (Shelley, Chapter V.)

Frankenstein utilizes foreshadowing in numerous places throughout the book as to forewarn of a few notable characters' deaths. In the above quote from Elizabeth's letter to Victor, she mentions Victor's lover, Justine, to make her appear important. She has also mentioned Justine in other paragraphs of her letter. This is a subtle foreshadowing technique used to elevate Justine's character so her eventual death would have a greater impact on the reader. This also signifies that Justine would be a shallow character since she was introduced in thorough detail through another character and not from her own words. As we now know, later in the story, Justine gets wrongly blamed for William's murder and is executed, but the murder was actually done by the Monster.

“I am malicious because I am miserable; am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (79)

The theme of appearances in both Robert Kroetsch’s Seed Catalogue and in Frankenstein hold almost a similar reaction leading to opposite consequences.

The idea behind Frankenstein’s monster was to create the uncreatable, a new being or species that was to shock the world. But it ended up being an ugly tall guy that no one thought to understand, eventually turning into the very thing that was expected of him: a monster. Robert Kroetsch’s poem also had a weird, arguably ugly, and frantic appearance. The speaker of the poem wanted to be a poet, whereas the father wanted the speaker to follow family tradition and take over the farm. Both were hard to understand because no one thought to try to understand them.

Frankenstein to the monster can be compared to, in a less drastic fashion in Seed Catalogue, father to the speaker. They choose not to understand their “children,” instead choosing to judge them, and hate in Frankenstein’s case, from afar. The similarities in these two parts of different pieces lead to present the two variations of how this judgement could result.

In Seed Catalogue, the speaker chooses to face the judgement and do what they want to do: write poetry. They face their obstacles by realizing that what is expected of them is not who they are and that it will not make them happy or who they want to be. However, in Frankenstein, it can be argued that the other variation, of conforming to what is expected, is presented. The monster, being shunned by society, realizes how society sees him and becomes what he knows is expected of him. The creature knows that murdering and vile acts are not who he is, yet he does it anyway because the judgement of people was too much to bear. The circumstances may differ, one being an extreme case, however the situation of both present the two consequences of facing judgement from society.

“Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay.” (Milton, 743-745)

Shelley, using this line from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, suggests an allusion, portraying a strong correlation between Adam and the creature. A connection is made between the creature’s abandonment and how God “abandons” Adam, rejecting him for his sin in eating the forbidden fruit (although in a Christian perspective, it is clear that this interpretation of the bible is unquestionably false). The creature’s sin is simply his terrifying appearance. The role of a creator (idealistic) and the neglecting action (reality) causes the juxtaposition of the role of a creation (to admire and praise the creator) and the devastating truth, hence the creation blaming the creator for bringing him to life. He is not made due to his own will, but the greed of Victor. Knowing that it is impossible to establish an untainted relationship with Victor, he is with rage and sadness, cursing and threatening. The debate regarding the weight of responsibility among creators and the independence of creation rises.

“If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows” (Shelley, 128)

Ironically, Frankenstein reflects on the insatiable quest for innovation that pushes society forward, yet ultimately harms it. He suggests that if we fixated on the simplest aspects of life—passion, survival, and love—we might finally know the true bliss and joy of living. Our desire to understand “every wind that blows” or rather any trivial curiosity, is what blinds us from the fundaments of life (128). This is directly exemplified in Frankenstein’s quest to create a living human which cultivates his physical, mental, emotional, and eventually mortal demise. While incapable of following his own philosophy, his ideals hold truth in our modern world.

There was a time when humans were solely motivated through primitive survival: hunt, gather, eat, sleep, bathe, etc. Then came trade, and technology and art and politics, and humanity became aware of just how brilliant we can be. We’ve since entered an infinite marathon of outdoing our last innovation; we believe ourselves a species able to discover and conquer all the unknown, so therefore we must—albeit the sacrifices. When Facebook launched our culture shifted for the better and worse, transpiring a world oppressed by social media. Yes, in a matter of seconds social media can connect someone in Argentina all the way to another in Zimbabwe, but it’s also desensitized us to reality. Volcanoes don’t erupt through a 4k lens to rising music, nobody wakes up with styled hair, and acne is normal, but we can’t see that through the perfect lens of social media. In our endeavours to better humanity, we have simultaneously catalogued perfection, and reinforced that we can achieve this perfection (or rather the impossible). In the pursuit to perfect the mechanics of our life we have forgotten how to perfect the fundaments of love, and passion that make a life worth living.

“I thank you, Walton,” he said, “for your kind intentions towards so miserable a wretch; but when you speak of new ties and fresh affections, think you that any can replace those who are gone? Can any man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth? Even where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds which hardly any later friend can obtain. They know our infantine dispositions, which, however they may be afterwards modified, are never eradicated; and they can judge of our actions with more certain conclusions as to integrity of our motives…” (Shelley, 188)

Every so often, the mind will catch on to a fleeting moment, with it a flash of a feeling once so familiar, a feeling never completely dormant. Never completely “eradicated.” (188). Images of nostalgia flood the mind's eye; for a mere second, you feel captured by time. This quote struck with the bittersweetness of nostalgia. I appreciated the heartfelt candour in which it was presented. The smallest inkling of the day can awaken the mind’s memory to a past season of life, with its characters still very much alive. The passage prompts the reader to reflect upon those dearest to their hearts and ever-present in their minds, regardless of their current attendance. Nostalgia allows for the “companions of our childhood to always possess a certain power over our minds.” (188). This feeling is either warmly accepted as an easter egg, appreciating the invisible strings bounding the connection of two souls. Or brings forth a renewed sense of grief, remembering the vacancy of those spirits within your life. Never to be replicated, never again to be fully felt as it was.

A major theme that this passage represents is companionship. He thanks Walton, as neighbourly care is usually appreciated, but is greatly offended by the offering of affection when one implicitly knows the irreplaceability of a relationship. I too would be offended as Victor was if one claimed to be capable of taking the place of the individuals I care for so fondly. Through the diminishing of his companions, Victor learns that one can never have the same love twice. He asks: “Can any man be to me as Clerval was, or any woman another Elizabeth?” (188). Victor, just as a child to their first teddy, attaches himself to the people who introduced new feelings of connection. Elizabeth with love, Clerval with friendship, his Professor with mentorship, each a form of companionship. Each relationship, an intricate web woven uniquely custom to those people. Similar to the notion of motherly love: no person can love you in the way that your mother does. For Victor, this is understood after the death of his own mother.

A phrase that caught my attention was the mentioning of “infantine dispositions.” (188). I felt that it was a more than appropriate description of a companion. A companion, at times, knows you better than you know yourself. They have witnessed your growth and change, noticed your mannerisms and habits, see far beyond the surface, can forecast your thoughts, and simply know the makings of your person. One can truly live alongside a companion without need for explanation. I believe this is what makes companionship so sought after, which helps to understand the perspective and feelings of the Creature. Both Victor and the Creature have a void in companionship. Victor experiencing the loss of companionship and the Creature experiencing the absence of it entirely. When the pang of nostalgia hits Victor, the flash of feeling is the familiar affections of companionship. Sweet with the remembrance of the connection, but bitter as the mind realizes those affections are no longer existent.

“Was man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base?” (Shelley 135)

This quote is spoken by the creature that Frankenstein has created and abandoned. It expresses his realization of a truth about humanity, one that he comes to after learning something of human history. It is concerned with many of the central themes of Frankenstein, such as humanity and inhumanity and good and evil (themes that one of the above entries has discussed). While we (and many characters at many points in the novel) tend to see these as mutually exclusive extremes and associate evil with inhumanity, as this quote points out, it is perhaps the combination of both good and evil that best defines humanity. Interestingly, this definition of humanity would allow the conclusion that the creature is, in fact, a part of humanity.

The quote expresses the creature’s surprise at his realization and is indicative of something of a loss of innocence. It also seems to express a disbelief that these so disparate moral states could both be found within the same species, or even the same person. This idea is difficult to come to terms with even for humans who intellectually know it must be true. Who hasn’t had the experience of being surprised and disappointed to find that someone whom they thought of as a good person has done something bad?

“Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” (Shelley, P. 80)

Throughout Frankenstein, the novel is engaged with the prejudiced misinterpretation of the creature. Although it could be asserted that the creature's adaptation into a monster was derived from his own innate monstrosity, I would argue that the creature’s spiteful actions was a response to the constant neglect presented by his creator—Victor Frankenstein.

“I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me; for you do not reflect that you are the cause of its excess.” (Shelley, P. 121). The monster states Victor’s refusal to realize the source of his vengeance, indicating that his desire for violence is a reflection of Frankenstein’s absence of parental guidance. Upon seeing the wretchedness of his creation, the creature’s hideous demeanour causes Frankenstein to abandon him completely—there his creation was, an embodiment of tabula rasa—the absence of preconceived ideas.” The monster’s intentions parallels the theory, conveying Victor’s failure to establish a parent-child relationship, consequently serving as the primary influence of the monster’s vengeful goals. According to the attachment theory, this concept heavily impacts the development of a child’s interactions and abilities to form relationships. As the monster’s basic needs for growth were never consistently satisfied by a caregiver, it presents an aspect of his emotional immaturity. Despite the creature’s capacity for literary intellect, his actions are a desperate plea to gain the attention of Victor. Later on in the novel, the monster’s demand for a companion projects his irrevocable loneliness, displaying a juvenile attempt at negotiation: “Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” This begs the question of nature versus nurture. In combination with the creature’s continuous experience of prejudice through his attempts to convey his benevolent intentions and the absence of nurturing guidance, the monster realizes the “barbarity of man”: “Every where I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” (Shelley, P. 80).

“I had worked hard for nearly two years for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health.” (37)

Victor Frankenstein is a person that is motivated by discovery and the pursuit of knowledge. We see this throughout his life in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818 version) in his hobbies, interests and schooling. While it is incredibly healthy to have a passion, it can be harmful to one’s mental (and physical) health if it is the only source of joy and fulfillment in ones life. For Victor, this is the case. After university, he spent over 2 years working towards his goal of giving “life into an inanimate” (37) , and throughout that time he isolated himself from the outdoors, society and his relationships, spending all his time creating the creature. His whole life revolved around giving this inanimate combination of human and animal parts and organs life, and nothing else.

For context, this quote was immediately said by Victor after the creature opened its eyes for the first time, coming to life. Directly after he says this quote, he experiences an immediate and overwhelming sense of regret for what he had created. After at least two years of deprivation of his physical, social and mental health pursuing something he placed on a pedestal, it ended up not bringing him the joy, fulfillment, or glory he explained to Walton he had hoped for.

What I find interesting about this quote is that though he made no attempt to create any balance in his life during his experiment, immediately after the fact, he admits the unhealthy lack of self care (as seen in the second half of the quote). He specifies a deprivation of specifically “rest” and “health.” These are two very broad terms, and each encompasses many meanings. As per the Oxford English Dictionary, “rest” can mean a break from activity or labour, sleep, freedom from labour and in some cases spiritual and mental tranquility. Similarly, “health” can be defined as spiritual, moral or mental well-being in addition to bodily soundness. Victor, either consciously or unconsciously recognized that the pursuit of bringing life to the lifeless would (and did) hurt his health on many levels. The first step in improving one’s mental health is recognition, and in small ways we see Victor later engage in things that used to bring him joy, like spending time in nature and investing in his relationship with his friend Clerval.

I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear (Shelley, 69)

The Creature struggles throughout the entirety of the novel for the want of a ‘normal’ life, yet his is always being turned down on that prospect. The Creature, once humbled by humanity from watching from a distance, however is introduced to a world of harshness based on his appearance. These experiences shape the mindset of loathing his own image, and anger towards his creator, Victor Frankenstein.

Shortly before the ending of Volume II, the Creature comes to the realization that if he has no one to love or have companionship with, the only option is to reject the possibility of living an honest life. It is in this quote he voices that if he is not granted love, he will have no choice but to cause fear, for it is the only thing that humans show upon interaction. This quote shows his thinking that if he is treated like the terrifying creature that everyone perceives him to be, what’s stopping him from acting like one? The fact is the Creature has a choice like any human, however at this time in the novel the Creature no longer feels he can live similarly to a human, therefore why should he try to be one? The frustration between his good intentions morphing into bad is something the Creature has grown accustomed to. Which can lead him to believe nothing he says or does could change the mindset of those who meet him.

I find this quote extremely important as it shows a critical turning point in the novel for the Creature. Seeing the shift from a creature of interest to a creature of hate in one sentence, which will lead him to the unhappy life Mary Shelley writes for him. The Creature thinks that if there is no love, then fear is the answer, yet it doesn’t occur to him that his mindset is flawed. For it may have never occurred to him that perhaps instead of turning your anger into fear, turning it into something positive is just as much an option. Shortly after this, the Creature strays to the act of killing to get even with Victor. Fueled by his anger of being brought into this world, and being denied the small happiness of a companion, we never do see the inquisitive creature we once saw. Unfortunately to the extent of the novel, we never get the opportunity to see the creature living a life of bliss. However, who is to say if he had not chosen revenge, would his life have turned out different?

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? 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 shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips."

(Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, Chapter IV)

Victor Frankenstein, the titular protagonist of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is portrayed as many things throughout the course of the novel; a man of science, a recluse, a single-minded genius (or perhaps a madman), and a self-pitying ass. All of these traits combined result in a rather self-centered character. Victor consistently fixates on details warranted and unwarranted, never noticing the bigger picture until it's too late, and the quote as mentioned only accentuates this as it addresses Victor's fateful decision to give life to the Creature. Consumed by the process of his obsession, Victor meticulously picked out physical features that, individually, could be regarded as pleasant, failing to consider how they may look when stitched together as a final product, and as a consequence of his shortsightedness, Victor is immediately repulsed from the first moment the Creature stirs and he is forced to truly confront what he has created. This same sort of tunnel vision is what indirectly leads to the deaths of his loved ones -- for one example, Victor becomes so convinced that the Creature is out to murder him next after the deaths of William Frankenstein and Henry Clerval, that when the Creature is in reality strangling Elizabeth right beside him in bed, he is so paralyzed by fear that the Creature succeeds in killing her instead and escaping pretty much scot-free.

For a man who spends so much of his time sickly and half-crazed, Victor is incredibly vain. Imagine going through the trouble of solely (and illegally) digging up body parts you might consider beautiful, only to turn your nose up at your finished creation despite its miraculous context because you find it aesthetically unattractive. I do believe that the appearance of the Creature is the main factor in Victor's aversion to connecting with it, because if he honestly had any ethical issues or crises of faith regarding the Creature's animation, you'd think he would have acknowledged it during the stage of research. But then again, maybe that would contradict his obsessive nature.

“Cursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God in pity made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid from its very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and detested.” (Shelley, Vol. II Chapter VII)

Throughout Frankenstein, the Creature experiences feelings of rejection, anger, and a deep loathing of his creator, who abandoned him and condemned him to a life of loneliness. Despite his desire to be loved and experience companionship, he is repeatedly turned away by others because of his "monstrous" appearance. He feels a deep sense of isolation because he is ostracized by society. He believes himself to be the loneliest creature alive; no one, not even his own creator, is willing to accept him. In this way, the Creature suffers not only from social loneliness due to a lack of companionship, but also from an existential loneliness, as his state of being is different from that of everyone around him. He demonstrates this in this quote, lamenting how his own creator has forsaken him and comparing his own situation with that of people who he believes were created by God. While other people can believe that their creator cares about them and sought to make them beautiful, the Creature's own creator made him look like a hideous variant of a regular human, so that his similarities to other people only serve to make him more horrifying.

This quote also references the connections that the Creature makes between his own existence and John Milton's Paradise Lost. When the Creature first reads this book, he feels that there are similarities between himself and Adam, specifically in regards to their creation; however, he comes to find that he has more in common with Satan. This emphasizes how the Creature's state of being is unlike that of regular people. In this case, Adam and his situation can be representative of humanity as a whole, as he is the first human. Meanwhile, Satan can be representative of the Creature; their existences are different from those of the Adams of the world, they harbour feelings of bitterness towards their creators, and they are considered to be evil and monstrous. However, the Creature feels that his own existence is even more miserable than that of Satan's. While Satan had other devils on his side to support him and provide him with companionship, the Creature is completely alone, with nobody to help him face a world that despises him.

“You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself I look on the hands which executed the deed; think on the heart in which the imagination of it was conceived, and long for the moment when they will meet my eyes, when it will haunt my thoughts no more.” (Shelley, 135)

In this passage from the very last page of Frankenstein, the creature reflects on his short lived existence before he is lost to “darkness and distance.” (136) This quote is an excellent example of how Shelley humanizes the creature, his expression of remorse and regret suggests that the creature has a sense of morality which is an innate aspect of being human. The creature is self aware, and recognizes the harm his action has imposed until others. The only way the creature would be able to rid himself of the burdens of his past is through death or isolation, only then will it “haunt [his] thoughts no more.” (135)

“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their beings to me (80).”

To what extent was Victor’s imprudent creation of the Creature the result of societal gender roles of parenting? The heteronormative stereotypes of parenting – the mother being the ‘nurturer’ and the father being the ‘pillar’ – is represented with Victor’s relationship with the Creature. To see Victor as the parent, or the father of the Creature, reflects the idea that fathers are not required to nurture there child; that it is a purely biological or monetary relationship. This falsity can be completely damaging to the development of any life form. The Creature, extremely nurture-deficient from his creator Victor, turns into the ‘monster’ that was labeled upon him rather than the medical marvel he really is.This passage above, shows the ramification of Victor’s egocentriism as he thinks of himself of a God rather than a father – believing that he should be worshiped rather than, vice-versa, he should worship his creation.

Shelley could also be extending this analogy to her fellow male authors of the Enlightenment period. During this time, male poets received little responsibility for their creations and art. A female author at that same time, like Shelley, predicted she would receive such serious deprecations for art because she was a woman. Victor not receiving any backlash from his society and the Creature facing the most of it symbolizes this biased prejudice of society based on trivial matters like appearance.

"Nothing is more painful to the human mind, than, after the feelings have been worked up by a quick succession of events, the dead calmness of inaction and certainty which follows, and deprives the soul both of hope and fear." (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, p. 111, Volume II, Chapter I)

In just a single statement, this quotation conveys a wide variety of thoughts, experiences, and emotions. The fact that this is the first sentence of a new chapter lets the reader know that calm has finally arrived after all of these agonising conflicts with Victor's ideas and the struggle between what must be done. But not the peace that comes after the triumph and envelops us with joy and warmth, but the sorrow of understanding that there is nothing more to believe in, that all attempts are futile, and that all hopes have died. Not the calmness that comes after the victory and envelops it with joy and warmth. These kinds of phrases and concepts slowly empty your head while continuing to force you to contemplate your existence. Anyone who found themselves in the same predicament as Victor would blame themselves and believe themselves to be a murderer, especially if they failed to accept their guilt and were responsible for destroying and defiling the soul of another person. However, Victor continues to believe that he is the unhappiest person in the world and that it would be preferable for him not to be alive. In addition, the fact that Victor considers what he is going through at the moment to be the most dreadful thing that a person is capable of experiencing is brought to light by this passage.

This quotation has connections to not only the past but also the present and the future. When we think about the past, we can think of a series of awful things that happened to Victor, such as him realising who he created, his brother being murdered, and him realising that he is the primary reason for all of this. In the description of his feelings and the suffering he is experiencing right now, there are references to the present and the future, which makes it obvious to the reader that Justin was executed even before it was written about directly. In addition, this comment demonstrates how self-centred Victor is, the fact that he views himself as the primary victim, and the fact that he has now come to terms with the consequences of his actions, which has led him to finally realise the consequences of his actions; fear and loss of hope begin to overtake him.

"[A]nd instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable; am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me?" (Pg. 131, Vol. II., Chapter IX)

These are the creature's words when him and his creator, Victor Frankenstein, meet for the first time. Before this, the creature has been narrating the story of his travels. He goes on to tell Frankenstein of all the bad occurrences he has encountered, and the way people have treated him along the way and how his hatred towards Frankenstein led him to kill his brother. He then tells him to create a companion for him. After Frankenstein refuses, the creature says these lines.

This statement that the creature makes, is a very powerful and bone-chilling one. It creates a sense of sympathy for the creature because of the pain that is so clearly the reason for most of his actions up until this point. The creature is simply telling Frankenstein where all of his anger is coming from and is saying that his actions are justified because of the way circumstances have played out for him (i.e., Frankenstein abandoning him at the first sight of him, etc.). The creature does not want to harm him yet. Instead, he is willing to reason with him and appeal for the creation of his companion in a fair manner. He has seen people shun him and be disgusted by him for no fault of his. Solely based on his appearance, he has experienced prejudice and has been mistreated, and his entire being is the fault of the creator’s. The creature is perceptive enough to assume, just by Victor’s reaction to him thus far, that if he wanted, Victor could tear him up to pieces and triumph. The creature has no reason to pity man because no one pities him for Victor’s doing and abandonment; no one feels sorry for the creature, but everyone fears him. So, through this statement, he is simply telling Victor the truth and saying everything that Victor, and the readers already know.

"His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him, and sometimes felt a wish to console him; but when I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, my heart sickened, and my feelings were altered to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle these sensations; I thought, that as I could not sympathize with him, I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow." (Shelley, Vol. II., Chapter IX.)

This quote, taken from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is of Victor Frankenstein's inner thoughts upon hearing the creature's life story after it left Victor's university dormitory. In this quote, Victor is shown to feel a glimpse of compassion and sympathy for the creature, as its story is quite heartbreaking. This compassion and sympathy, however, is quickly wiped away and replaced with hatred and horror when he is once again reminded of the creature's putrid appearance. Despite Victor's compassion and sympathy being immediately wiped away, the fact that he is able to feel these feelings, even for a moment, demonstrates the undeniable, yet often overshadowed, humanistic nature of feeling compassion towards others.

Victor's ability to feel compassion and sympathy opens up the possibility of other humans being able to feel the same compassion towards the creature. This possibility leads to the idea that, if Victor was able to feel compassion for the creature, whom condemned many of his loved ones to the same, gruesome fate of death, it is possible that, given better circumstances, the De Lacey family could have felt the same compassion for the creature, unknowingly preventing the chaos and murder that the creature causes later on. Should the creature have been given more time with the old blind man and had been able to explain himself and tell his story in more detail, and should the other members of the De Lacey family had entered later on, it is possible that the De Lacey family, especially the old blind man, would have felt the same compassion towards the creature the Victor did, despite his ghastly appearance. As the circumstances cannot be changed, and the past cannot be altered, however, we will never truly be able to know if that could have been a possibility.

"Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity: but am I not alone, miserably alone?" (Shelley, Vol. II Chapter II)

This quote from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein really stood out to me. Throughout the first part of the story, the creature goes on a journey of self-discovery, which ends in the creature learning of human's disgust and fear of him. He says this to Victor Frankenstein upon their reunion, but I find it a bit hypocritical with the hindsight of the creature's later actions. With the murders he later goes on to commit, he directly opposes this statement. If his love and humanity purely rests on the need to receive that love from others, was he truly a good person? That he is "miserably alone", I don't dispute, and I fully agree with the creature's sentiment that Victor Frankenstein did not give him the attention and love he desperately needed. However, I don't believe the creature was every truly "benevolent", due to his later actions. In my opinion, his 'better' nature earlier on in the story is likely more due to his naivety, and was never his true personality trait.

I don't make this argument based on Victor, I believe Victor Frankenstein could have altered the course of the novel had he taken responsibility for his own creation, but then again the creature's turn to evil leads me to believe that he was always destined to turn out that way. There would always be people that would have been rude to the creature at some point, even if he had not had the appearance he did. If the creature's first reaction to rejection from society is to place blame, and then murder without remorse, I find it hard to sympathize with him. How much of his self-proclaimed "benevolence" was real? I believe that even had Victor shown him love and compassion, at some point in his life he would have not received that same appreciation, and spiralled towards violence regardless.