The Creature – A Gothic Antagonist
Explain how the creature learns about the world around him in the text. Support your answer with quotations from the text.
With the monster, from the start, he is very alone and abandoned. Frankenstein disowned him from the moment he came to life. He learnt everything from the world around him. Most of his learning is made from the cottagers he stumbled across in a village. By listening to them speak to one another, as well as listening to them teach Safie English. He manages to start understanding the language and learning to speak it. He also steals books from the cottage and reads those so teaches himself to read. “this was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it”. The monster said this about speaking, so he told himself he wanted to learn such a “godlike science”, something he had never seen before. Just by listening he learnt basic words like: fire, milk, bread and wood.
Describe the reaction that people often have to the Creature. How does this reaction seem unfair? Do the Creature’s intentions deserve the response he gets from people?
The reaction people have when seeing the monster is pure fear. Every different reaction is sprouted from the fear of a creature that is so unknown. One of the biggest reactions is anger, people try to attack and kill the monster because they assume he is a threat because of his appearance. “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country”, said the monster when he first entered a village. It’s important to note the fact that all those who didn’t attack, fled. People are scared of him and run away and don’t give him a chance whatsoever. This reaction from people is unfair because they know nothing about the monster. How would they possibly know what he is like on the inside, they judge purely based on his appearance. This is a common thing within society that we judge books by their covers and don’t give people a chance to show their true colours. The creature doesn’t deserve this because on the inside he has nothing but pure intentions, just wants to talk to other people and feel loved. He began life “benevolent and good” it was “misery made me a fiend.” This shows that when he was brought to life he was good and kind, and only wanted good for mankind. It was only after he was rejected and disowned by his own creator and society, he sought revenge upon man.
Describe three moments for the Creature that shape him into the vengeful monster he becomes. Explain how these moments would cause an individual to lose hope in humanity and turn against them. Use quotations from the text to support your answer.
- When he was first accepted by the blind man, and then rejected and attacked by the other cottagers. The monster spent many months watching the people for far, and ultimately decided it was time to approach the man and try to seek acceptance. At first, he was accepted, the blind man showed sympathy to the monster, purely based on the monster as a person because his opinion was unprejudiced by his appearance. When the children got home however Safie fainted, and Felix attacked the creature. His “heart sunk with bitter sickness”, and refrained from attacking back. He escaped the cottage and into his hovel, and was once again alone. This experience as a major shaping point of the monster. He has spent a year alone, wanting to be accepted by other men, and finally tried. The blind man accepted, giving the monster hope of having a family and being loved, just for the children to come home and remind the monster that that will never happen because of his appearance. As a person, this would cause you to lose hope in humanity, because you feel as if there is no hope to be loved. And a world where you are not loved by a single being is a world you wouldn’t want to live in. This would make you want to seek revenge against who brought you into the world because ultimately, all that person did was make you endure a lifetime of misery and loneliness.
- When he saved the drowning girl just to get shot. He was down by the stream and a young girl came along singing and laughing. Suddenly, she fell into the stream. he rushed out of hiding and saved her from the river, and tried to bring her back to life. Then a man approached, and saw him and fired a shot. He ran away into the woods and spoke of his anger. “This was the reward of my benevolence!”, this shows that he’s starting to believe that no matter how much good he does, he will always be punished. He had saved a young girls life, just to get punished for it. This would cause someone to lose faith in humanity because if he couldn’t even be thanked for doing something good, how could he ever earn the acceptance of man. It was at this time that he “vowed eternal; hatred and vengeance to all mankind”. He was tired of being hated and attacked purely based on his outward appearance, and decided that it was mankind’s fault for his misery. All benevolent parts of himself were converted to hatred and vengeance to man.
- His encounter with William Frankenstein. For many months following the last encounter, he was against mankind. Until one day on the outskirts of Geneva, he saw a child. A child he hoped would be unprejudiced and would accept his appearance. He was wrong. “Urged by impulse”, he revealed himself to the boy, only for him to cover his eyes in disgust and scream. The creature tried to be kind and ask why he was reacting this way. Foolishly the boy mentioned his father’s name, M. Frankenstein. Overcome by rage towards the boy and his creator, he strangled the boy killing him. “I too can create desolation”, said the monster. This is showing that he will not refrain from causing pain anymore. In the past, the creature had always run away from attackers avoiding a fight, but no more. This murder was the first of many to make V.F suffer.
Other ideas: Through all these moments, you see different aspects of rejection from prejudice. He is rejected from man because of the way he looks, not only from adults but also by children. This is interesting because from a young age we are taught what a “monster” is, and how we should be scared of it. When have we been told of a creature who has a goo personality. Why are we more scared of appearances than personalities? He made many attempts to show his good and kind heart, but was rejected every time because of his appearance.