Friday, June 21, 2019

how does mary shelley present the monster in frankenstein?

Perhaps the most interesting element in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is her presentation of the Creature, who is neither the docile, obedient son Frankenstein had imagined, nor the "monster" he appears to be. On the contrary, Shelley allows the Creature the opportunity to tell his story in his own voice, in which he shows himself to be exceptionally erudite and intelligent, and possessed of a deep-rooted pain deriving from the fact that he is, in fact, too human.
What wounds the Creature and drives him to act violently is the knowledge that he can never be loved. He is "unable to bear" the emotions of the people he sees because he knows that he, "an imperfect and solitary being," is unnatural and cannot expect the same sort of love. He has seen his own reflection, and knows he is grotesque; as time goes on, he begins to grow angry with his creator for having brought him into the world: he declares that Frankenstein shall "repent of the injuries" he has inflected upon his creation. The creature may have become violent, but the reader is left feeling that, perhaps, he is justified in his feelings.

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