Creature Toward Frankenstein example essay topic

The Creator's Faults in the Creation Often the actions of children are reflective of the attitudes of those who raised them. In the novel Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is the sole being that can take responsibility for the creature that he has created, as he is the only one that had any part in bringing it into being. While the actions of thecreation are the ones that are the illegal and deadly their roots a retraced back to the flaws of Frankenstein as a creator. Many of Frankenstein's faults are evident in the appearance of his creation. It is described as having yellow skin, dark black hair, eyes sunk into their sockets, and black lips (Shelly 56). Frankenstein, having chosen the parts for his creature, is the only one possible to blame forts appearance.

Martin Tropp states that the monster is "designed to be beautiful and loving, it is loathsome and unloved" (64). Clearly it isFrankenstein's lack of foresight in the creation process to allow for creature that Frankenstein "had selected his features as beautiful", (56) to become something which the very sight of causes its creator to say " breathless horror and disgust filled my heart" (56). He overlooks the seemingly obvious fact that ugliness is the natural result when something is made from parts of different corpses and put together. Were he thinking more clearly he would have noticed monster's hideousness. Another physical aspect of the monster which shows a fault in Frankenstein is its immense size.

The reason that Frankenstein gives for creating so large a creature is his own haste. He states that", As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make a being gigantic in stature... ". (52). Had Frankenstein not had been so rushed to complete his project he would not have had to deal with such a physically intimidating creature Tropp however states that ambition may have had a role in the size of thecreation. He says that the creation is "born of Frankenstein " 's megalomania" (81).

This may indeed be true as the inventor states "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (52). Frankenstein seems obsessed with being the father of this new race, so he makes the creature large in order to assure its dominance. The more important defect within Frankenstein is not so much shown inthe appearance that he gave his creation, but the manner in which he responds to it. The first thing that Frankenstein notices upon the activation of his creation is one of being appalled (56). Frankenstein sees the creature's physical appearance only, taking no time to attempt to acknowledge its mental nature. He cannot accept it simply because it looks too far removed from his view of beautiful (Oates 77).

Because of this he drives the creature away, abandoning it. The creature is "in one sense an infant-a comically monstrous eight foot baby- whose progenitor rejects him immediately after creating him... ". (Oates 70). It is due to this abandonment that the monster develops the murderous tendencies displayed later in the novel. Even when the creature is shown to be naturally good, its physical form never allows it acceptance.

Whenever the creation attempts to be rational with Frankenstein it is rejected, with in almost all cases Frankenstein sighting its appearance as one of the reasons. "Frankenstein's response to the 'thing' he has created is solely in aesthetic terms... ". (Oates 75).

Throughout the novel Frankenstein continually insists that "The tortures of Hell are too mild a vengeance for all [the creature's] crimes" (95). Frankenstein is incorrect, however in assuming that the creature is inherently evil. Mary Lowe-Evans states that", Nothing in Frankenstein is more unexpected than the Creature's sensitivity" (52). His benevolent nature described in his story is meant to show that he is not the beast that Frankenstein has made him out to be (Lowe-Evans 52).

The creature is intrigued by the lives of the people that he finds living in a small cabin, the De Laceys. The creature loves everything about these people and attempts to aid them by gathering for them much needed firewood. This action is described by Tropp as, "a last attempt to enter its [Paradise's}gates" (75). He also sympathizes with the plights of other unfortunate people that he hears of such as the Native Americans (Lowe-Evans 53). Itis only upon being again rejected because of his appearance that thecreature becomes the monster that Frankenstein sees him as.

Just as the creature's love of the De Laceys show that he is not a nevil being and that Frankenstein has caused him to become this way, so does the creature's constant longing for companionship. The creature says in regard to originally capturing Frankenstein's brother William, "If I could, therefore seize him... I should not be so desolate in this peopled earth". (136). He only murders him upon realizing that he is a relative ofFrankenstein. The creature's ultimate plea for companionship comes when he requests that Frankenstein creates another monster to be his mate, and thatthe two monsters would live in isolation.

Tropp acknowledges that this is truly meant to do no harm to the race of man, and simply to comfort thecreature. He also states, however, that it is in the creation's nature to look for acceptance by humans, and will if given the chance, return to human civilization (78). The most major crime committed by the creature in the eyes ofFrankenstein is the murder of his wife Elizabeth. The roots of the killing can be traced back not only to the malice displayed by the creature toward Frankenstein, but also to Frankenstein's own self-centered attitude.

Thecreature pronounces his threat on Elizabeth's life, after Frankenstein has done what Oates calls "The cruelest act of all" (78), destroying the partially finished monster that was to be the mate of his first creation. She also states that Frankenstein, "in 'mangling' the flesh of his demon " 's bride, he is murdering the pious and rather too perfect Elizabeth... ". (78). Frankenstein wishes for his own happiness through companionship in marriage, but denies the same right to his creation. Frankenstein can also be viewed as being responsible for the death of Elizabeth by assuming that when the creature states "I shall be with you on your wedding night" (161) he is going to be killed rather than Elizabeth, even when all of thecreature's prior killings point to the fact that he would attempt to makeFrankenstein's life miserable rather than actually kill him (Lowe-Evans 61).

In fact if the creature actually wanted Frankenstein to die, it had the perfect opportunity to kill him the second Frankenstein destroyed his would be wife. Lowe-Evans points out that this can be attributed toFrankenstein's own selfish attitude. She says he "might feel that even the attention implied in the Creature's warning rightfully belongs to him" (62). This fits the spoiled childhood life of Frankenstein, detailed inthe works early chapters (Lowe-Evans 62). It is stated by Oates that", The monsters that we create... 'are " ourselves as we cannot hope to see ourselves... ".

(75). This statement is perfectly applicable to Frankenstein. The qualities that he would most like to deny are shown through the results that they have had on the being which he has brought into existence. The results of his flaws take on physical aspect, destroying those around him, until he finally dies seeking revenge on something that he himself has brought about. Lowe-Evans, Mary. Frankenstein: Mary Shelly's Wedding Guest.

New York: T wayne Publishers, 1993. Oates, Joyce Carol. "Frankenstein: Creation as Catastrophe". Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Ed. Harold Bloom.

New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus. New York: Penguin Books, 1978. Tropp, Martin. Mary Shelly's Monster.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.