The Monster in the Novel by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

At the time he is last seen in the novel, the monster describes his predicament in these words "I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on".(Chapter 24, Walton's letter continued). The word "abortion" defines the rejection faced by an unwanted child, better dead than alive, which tormented him and led him to acts of unspeakable cruelty. The monster was no monster at heart to begin with, he gradually became so after a lifetime of violent rejection and spite, first from his creator, and then from all other human beings, even those he had tried to befriend. Through the entire novel, he is given no name, and one is forced to call him a "monster" from the beginning to the end. He is built from the body parts of various dead people. His complexion is ghastly and his aspect terrifying, not as a mark of past evil deeds, but merely of his unnatural birth. Even at the moment of creation, he looks so horrifying that even Victor, his creator, is afraid of him and abandons him. Victor does not understand that he has to take the responsibility for his actions and is obliged to understand and care for the hideous-looking new life he has created. Of his own admission, the monster is just the result of an experiment in his quest for knowledge, and he just wishes it out of his life. The monster blunders into the world in pain; cold, miserable, hungry and clueless, through no fault of his own. His suffering knows no bounds, he is at the mercy of nature, with no idea on how to cope with his situation. This is how he describes his foray into the world to Victor, later in the course of the novel: "I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept". (Chapter 11) The reader encounters a pitiable creature, abject and pathetic, and here the concept of multiple narration helps the reader understand the monster better, because the reader gets to hear his plight in his own words. In the beginning, the monster is terrified of the villagers on being persecuted, and escapes with a readiness totally at odds with his great size and menacing appearance : "The whole village was mused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel...."(Chapter 11). What further moves the reader is the tenderness of the monster's first descriptions of the De Lacey family, where he displays a very human quality, even noble refinement and understanding: ".... He raised her, and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature: they were a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger or cold, warmth or food; and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions". ( Chapter 11) When living undetected in the vicinity of the De Lacey family, he was full of benign emotions, innocent even of the very concept of shedding blood. The future ruthless murderer was not born in him yet, because so far his interaction with the human race had been unpleasant but limited. He had no concept of who or what he was, how different from the human race, and the nature of his own creation. He knew by now that his appearance inspired fear and loathing in human beings, but he had as yet no one to blame for his present horrible appearance. The very mention of slaughter or murder moved him to deep disgust, just as it would any other gentle human being: " For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and governments; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing". (Chapter 13) He actually feels sorry for his "protectors", and tries to help them by chopping firewood for them, and on witnessing Felix and his sister's virtuous and compassionate behavior, he does not rob them further of their meager resources. At this point of his life, the monster has a conscience, and a very active one at that. This conscience torments him throughout his tumultuous life, to the point of Victor's death, but is never sufficient to prevent him from committing the grisly murders in vengeance against his creator. The seeds of his murderous intent lie in the repeated rejections he received, especially from those he longed so hard to to please and be part of, the DeLaceys. The rejection from the DeLacey family who did not have the opportunity to know the man behind the monster, dealt a big blow to the monster's faith in human nature. The unwarranted blow from Felix which the monster had done nothing to merit and had not repelled despite knowing that he could easily do so, cut the monster to the very core of his being, especially because by this time the monster knew about his own origins in great detail from Victor's records. He knew that it was his grotesque appearance that blinded the De Laceys against him, and he traced the cause of his misery back to Victor, his creator, against whom he swore dire vengeance: "There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery". (Chapter 16) In the course of his travels the monster has another encounter with the human species, and is shot and wounded while trying to rescue a girl. The girl's companion shot at him, thinking perhaps that it was the monster that had harmed her, whereas this could not be further from the truth. Once again, the loathsome appearance of the monster proves to be his undoing. This incident of another violent repulsion and an almost mortal injury in exchange for his great kindness received at human hands renews his resolve to hold mankind as his deadly enemy. "The feelings of kindness and gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind".(Chapter 16) In this rabid frame of mind the monster makes his way towards the home of his creator, and in a twist of ironic destiny unknowingly chances upon the brother of his hated creator, and hopes to find love and acceptance from a small boy's unprejudiced breast. But that was not to be and the monster is again venomously spurned by the child, who boasts of his family name of Frankenstein and dares the monster to harm him. The dormant devil inside the monster finally awakes under the long stress of real and perceived injuries, and he sheds blood for the first time. On recognizing the boy and in trying to silence his insults, the monster strangles the boy to death. What is worse, the thought of all the things denied him, including female companionship, introduce cunning into the formerly naive heart of the monster. He plants the evidence of the boy's murder, the locket, on a girl he chances upon, and the girl is sentenced to death for the murder of the boy. The monster is now slowly sinking into the quicksand of evil. At this stage, Victor has a belated sense of his responsibilities and an attack of conscience, and he refuses to create a female monster. The monster then promises to ruin Victor's wedding night as a punishment for his refusal to furnish the monster with a mate."Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn......Are you to be happy while I grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness"(Chapter 20). The monster degenerates from bad to worse, cold-bloodedly murdering Victor's innocent friend Henry Clerval in revenge for Victor refusing to create him a suitable monstrous mate. He, of course, also makes true his dread promise, and dispatches off Elizabeth, Victor's innocent wife, on the wedding night itself. The transformation from a pitiful, ugly, timid, gentle giant to a confident, formidable, articulate and fulsome creature who is nothing but a machinery for rage and revenge is thus gradual, and a result of the series of painful incidents inflicted on him since birth. He is smitten by remorse throughout, the murder of Henry Clerval causes him infinite guilt, but his vengefulness is fanned anew when he sees that his creator is planning to get married and be happy, where he, the creation can never hope for happiness. The murder of Elizabeth seals the transformation, the monster finally realizes that he is now an ogre inside and out, tormented into becoming the very opposite of his original noble inner self. " I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly chosen.((Chapter 24, Walton's letter continued) The devil has made its permanent home in the monster after his horrific deeds, but even now it is clear that it was vengeance that drove him, and not wanton cruelty, because after the death of Victor, the monster does not want to harm anyone further, resolves to destroy himself, and is never seen or heard of again. " My work is nearly complete. Neither yours nor any man's death is needed to consummate the series of my being and accomplish that which must be done, but it requires my own". (Chapter 24, Walton's letter continued)The monster indeed is not born evil, but in his birth lay the tragic cause of his rejections and subsequent fall from good nature, which slowly compelled him to vengeance, hatred and infernal deeds. Works Cited: Shelley, M. Frankenstein. Retrieved on 17 April, 2006 from Read More