Truman
Jessica Truman
Pre-IB English II Period 1
25 May 2018
The Transformation of The Monster
In the novel, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley develops the character of the monster as a unnatural creature. The monster is described to have a complicated life as he is created by the hands of Victor Frankenstein. Victor isolates himself from his family and friends as he desired to discover the creation of life. Through many trial and errors, he is able to accomplish his goal, yet what he poses in his lab was a “yellow skin” wretch instead of a beautiful human (Shelley 45). In the beginning of the novel, the monster is unexposed to all of the things life has to offer and is left with curiosity of knowledge and is able to start to thinking abstractly. This leads to the emotions of hope for love and sympathy despite his horrific demeanor, however he ends his life with vengeance and anger towards his creator, Victor Frankenstein, as he abandons the monster .
The monster is born into a life filled with curiosity towards the world and wanted to understand it. He was able to learn how to use his senses to help him distinguish objects. One of the first encounters of obtaining knowledge was a fire left burning in the harsh cold winter by wandering beggars.He quickly learned that it “gave light as well as heat” (Shelley 75) as he had never seen this kind of light other than the light provided from the sun. He discovered that the fire “was useful in [his] food” as it was able to persevere “[his] berries and nuts” during his long and tiring travels (Shelley 75). He continued to observe and discover new and improved ways to survive out in the woods. Although, the one concept that the monster could never fully grasped was the fear that human beings experience when they encountered him. During his travels, he notices a cottage with food and decided to satisfy his hunger by asking for some from the cottagers, but before he could step in “children shriek” and “[villagers] fled and attacked [him]” (Shelley 76). He did not understand why but he knew the cause was because of his horrendous demeanor presence. This lack of knowledge brought him such terrible misery and distress as he just wanted to wanted to feel loved by other beings.
As the monster continues his travels, he distinguishes a single cottage on the outer boundary of the community. The monster is able to acquire the feeling of love through the cottagers as it is a blind father taking care of his two children, Agatha and Felix. The monster receives great pleasure observing them as he recognizes new emotions of happiness, love and affection as he felt “mixture of pain and pleasure” (Shelley 77) something he had never felt before. The monster was a reflections of the cottagers emotions as “they were unhappy, [he] was depressed” (Shelley 79). The monster gains hope for acceptance by the family during the cottagers state of despair. As he learns the family were not entirely happy due to their poverty. He decides to help the family from their troubles by collecting wood during the night. The thirst of knowledge for “the art of language” (Shelley 81) encouraged the monster to “discover [himself] to the cottagers” (Shelley 81) for they acceptance. He truly believe since they cared for each other that he too would receive “their protection and kindness” (Shelley 91) despite his heinous countenance. The monster had been practicing and working on his language to be able to communicate with the family and believe he deserve their acceptance. When he finally expresses himself to the cottagers, Felix “struck [him] violently” and the family flee in an act of fear towards the alliened monster. They were horrified and had never seen a creature as the monster. This brought such rage towards the monster as not even the ones he believed would accept him had abandoned him. He returned to the root of the problem, Victor Frankenstein and his creation and wanted revenge for the despair and melancholy that Victor had created.
The monster seeked revenge from his creator as he had created the monster with such a distorted face, it brought the monster neglect from the world. As the monster runs away from the cottage he, he questions “why did i live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?” (Shelley 94). This portrays the hatred and exasperation that the monster experiences in his heart towards his own existence and his creator has it only given him misery and distress. He decides to act on this hatred by killing the brother of Victor, William, to bring him misery to experience for himself. However, the monster request Victor to create another monster companion to resolve the feelings of isolation and loneliness. Victor refuses his request and this enrages the monster as he ask for one request to end the evil. The monster threatens Victor “revenge shall curse the sun that gazes on your misery” (Shelley 114) as he will get pay back from the misery that Victor has created to the monster. The anger of the monster encourages him to kill the friend Henry Clerval and his beloved wife, Elizabeth. As the monster found Victor on his bed, the monsters “work [was] nearly complete”(Shelley 148) as he had to now kill himself. He had no purpose in the world and shall not live in agonies anymore. He jumps out of the window and lets his body and misery float away in the sea.
The monster had fulfilled the curiosity of knowledge of the world and expressed the feelings of love and sympathy. Although, he quickly turned to veneg and rage towards his creator. The monster expanded his knowledge about the world, language and survival. Yet as he acquired more knowledge, veneangees and rage intensified as he realized Victor’s emotions towards him.The monster went through all cycles of humane qualities.
Work Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Millennium Publication, 2014
