36/40 To what extent do you agree with the view that the humans are more monstrous than the monster in ‘Frankenstein’?

To what extent do you agree with the view that the humans are more monstrous than the monster in ‘Frankenstein’?

The humans in Frankenstein are much less sympathised with in Frankenstein, being of unlikable or unrealistic dispositions and although cruel to the Monster, are not monstrous. Although the monster commits terrible crimes, it is a result of an unloving society which makes him apparently ‘monstrous’, and his sympathetic portrayal makes it likely that it was Mary Shelley’s intention to depict society as monstrous, rather than any character in particular.

 The cruelty shown to the Monster could suggest that ‘humans are more monstrous than the monster’. He is unnamed, going by “wretch”, “devil” and “fiend”, and dehumanised- leading to his ‘monstrosity’. He has no true identity except that he is his maker’s creation- perhaps alluding to the feelings Mary Shelley has about her own identity and that of her infamous mother’s. The Monster then states that he will refuse to be the “abject of slavery”. During the 18^th century, Mary Shelley had witnessed the cruelty shown to African slaves in Bristol. The monster is therefore also a voice for these people in history, lacking freedom and also dehumanised. However, this term is used when persuading Victor Frankenstein to make him a mate “as hideous” as himself. Likening himself to a slave may well have been used as a rhetoric to appeal to Victor’s ego; that Victor is his master and God, the creature the slave making a base request. Victor doesn’t grant the monster his only wish, as God has granted all other creatures out of sympathy. Here, Victor is portrayed as ‘monstrous’. The monster, as an infant, is “bruised by stones” thrown at him by a village. This cruelty shown by humans is unwarranted, having been judged solely on appearance and having committed no crime. This prosecution based on his ‘monstrous’ appearance happens throughout the novel, emphasised by Frankenstein’s immediate abandonment and the character of the blind man as the only one who accepts him. Mary Shelley criticises humanity’s obsession with aesthetics through the unjust penalisation of the monster. “Bruised by stones” also has religious imagery- alluding to Christ’s betrayal and prosecution. The Monster is abandoned by his creator and prosecuted much like Christ is apparently abandoned by his Father and crucified. By the end of the novel, Frankenstein identifies with ‘Paradise Lost’ s Satan. The monstrous nature of humanity is seen even to turn God’s son into a demon.

It could be said that the monster is the most monstrous, murdering and destroying everything dear to his creator or that angers him. Justine, “grateful little creature”, William, a “smiling babe”, Elizabeth, “living gold” and “self-sacrificing”, are all murdered by the monster’s own hands. William dies with “the print of the murderer’s finger…on his neck”. A print suggests an immovable, permanent mark maybe on the monster’s conscience- being labelled as a “devil” forever- or even on Frankenstein’s conscience- these murders are an immovable stain on his life too. The theme of responsibility is explored using these deaths in Frankenstein, questioning whether the parent or offspring is to blame for a crime. Perhaps it is Frankenstein who is the most monstrous, failing to love and care for his creation. Furthering this interpretation, these characters are all flat and stereotypical- The women are all idolised and common to the Gothic stereotype of victim and domestic, William likened to a cherub. These characters therefore do not ring true, and the readers are not especially sympathetic. The effect of their deaths on the readers and, strangely, Frankenstein are muted by second-hand accounts of their deaths through letters and being smoothed over. Because of the lack of realism in these stereotypes, it is likely that it was not Shelley’s intention for us to sympathise with them. Instead allowing us to maintain our feelings for the Monster despite his horrendous crimes. Conclusively, the deaths of the minor characters do not make the monster more monstrous and the monster could therefore be more human than the humans, being the least flat and more realistic.

The issue of responsibility in Frankenstein questions whether the monster is more monstrous than the humans; the definition of monstrous as “inhumanly evil or wrong”. Frankenstein’s narrative begins with a childlike tone, expressing vulnerability and nativity at the world- “a poor, helpless, miserable wretch” who “weeps”. He gazes “with a kind of wonder” at the sun and has “no distinct ideas”. His first few moments on earth are marked with infantile awe at all things he experiences. His voice evokes sympathy within the readers as well as blame; Victor’s abandonment of his creature is made more unforgivable.  This abandonment and lack of parental love later fuels his resentment and hopelessness- “I ought to be thy Adam”. This could be an echo of Mary Shelley’s feelings of abandonment towards her dead mother, who she had never met yet was still widely acclaimed- strangers knew her own mother more than she did herself.  The rage felt by the monster makes him commit the murders of innocent people. However, he is not “inhumanly evil”. The deaths, arguably, are a result of a lack of human nurture and responsibility. In the monster’s voice, the voices of neglected children are often heard, and so the crimes he commits as a response to this treatment can never be inhuman. Shelley is exploring whether a criminal is born or made, the dehumanisation and bad treatment of the monster acting as the motor for his ‘monstrous’ actions.

Mary Shelley’s use of the Sublime is proficient in communicating to the reader that in fact, humans are as monstrous as the monster. The monster’s perception of the sublime is very similar to Frankenstein’s. At the monster’s first experience of the sun, he “gazes with a sense of wonder”, and his delight at a spiritually restorative spring is similar to Victor’s after his first bout of illness- the “divine spring…contributed greatly to my convalescence”.  The sublime is a place which both Victor and The Creature experience. The sublime is a liminal threshold where the divine and mortal are closer- it reminds the characters of the nature and limitations of being human. In this way, the sublime acts as an equalizer between the characters, with both Victor and the monster being reduced to mere humans no matter how they came into being or their transcendent aspirations.

The use of the Doppelgänger trope, conventional to the Gothic, also reminds the reader that the Monster is not as abhuman as he appears- and that the monstrosity of the monster is just an extension of Victor. Victor’s need to “pour a torrent of light into our dark world” using science, his desire for isolation and intellect contrasts the monster’s need for love, society and his desire to be human. This duality of human nature is used to “speak to the mysterious fears of our nature”, the monster represents Victor’s unaccepted, darker and ‘monstrous’ side of himself in the eyes of society. Mary Shelley employs intertextuality within Frankenstein to show how this side of his character haunts Victor in a physical manifestation. In Chapter Five, Victor quotes Coleridge’s ‘The rime of The Ancient Mariner’ to communicate Victor’s feelings of dread evoke feelings of terror within the reader; “because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread”. Although demonstrating the fear of his doppelgänger, this reference could contrastingly drive the theme of responsibility home. Frankenstein, like the mariner, leaves behind his responsibilities and runs away from his human duties. In this instance, Frankenstein is more monstrous than the monster and that the creature himself is only a produce of this lack of care.

Frankenstein does not have any ‘monstrous characters’, only misled and ‘miserable’ ones. I feel that even if you could argue that there are, they are as monstrous as each other. One of the main objects of the novel is to warn the readers of the dangers of being human- responsibility and ambition for example- and Mary Shelley leaves blame ambiguous in order to allow the reader to question their own morality and society.