Through out the novel we are under the assumption that the demon in the novel is
the man who is disfigured and hideous on the outside. While we view Victor
Frankenstein as the handsome and caring victim, even though sometimes a monster
can not be seen but heard. Looks can be deceiving but actions are always true.
We first view Frankenstein's ignorance while he busy in his work. He had not
visited his family for two straight years. These are the people that love and
care about him, yet he does not go home. Not even to visit his own father, the
man who pays for his schooling and necessities. We again view his ignorance and
irresponsibility when after spending two years of work on his creature he
disowns and abandons the creature. He runs out of the room after seeing the
creature come to life. He fled the room because he thought the creature was so
hideous, even though he had chosen all the best body parts for its creation.
When Frankenstein returns to the house when he "became assured that my
enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy"(55). Even after all his
work he is ecstatic that this horrible beast has left him. Victors' ignorance is
viewed again when he does not tell anyone that he has created this monster, and
that he is the murderer of William. He does not tell of this creature until his
own welfare is on the line. He could have stopped these evil deeds the monster
was doing if he would have finished producing his mate, but Victor makes up
reasons so that he does not. The monster on the other hand is the opposite of
Victor Frankenstein. The feelings that the monster has are shown when he is
first created. He tries to speak to Frankenstein and he smiles and reaches out a
hand, just like a child reaching for their parent. The monster's feelings are
again displayed while he is living with the family. He replenishes their supply
of firewood very often, and when the monster discovers that their food supply is
running low he refrains from eating some of their food. The strongest feeling he
displays is after the only people he cared for despise him, and he swears
revenge on all mankind he saves a girl that falls into a river and almost
drowns. The monster did not like performing the horrible deeds that he did, but
he was provoked by Victor's irresponsibility and his ignorance. The monster
reveals his feelings to Walton while they stand over the corpse of Victor. He
stated, "Think you that the groans of Clerval were music to my ears? My
heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and when wrenched by
misery to vice and hatred it did not endure the violence of the change without
torture such as you cannot even imagine"(238). The monster acts with more
respectable and reasonable decisions than Victor does. He has a right for
revenge. He has been abandoned, exiled, despised, and denied any form of
happiness. He has wants and needs that any human desires; care, love, and
friendship.
Bibliography
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993