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Maria Loren October 15, 2000 Professor Green English 220 The relationship between an individual and society in Mary Shelleys novel Frankenstein The relationship between an individual and society is always difficult. It becomes even more difficult when that individual is a monster. Society has certain standards and those standards include our physical appearance. When those standards are not met, then the society starts reacting to it. Usually the reactions are the refusal of normal members of society to communicate with a person who doesnt meet the criteria of acceptable physical appearance. No matter how good of personality that monster possesses, people will still be scared of it.
However, I believe if given a chance and some period of time, people can get over the physical abhorrence of an individual and accept that being as an equal. But it is a fact, that people first judge by the appearance at first when they have met the person. (clothes, manner in which that person behaves). It might seem shallow, but thats the way human beings behave and react to each other. The effect of social disown ment on that monster can be catastrophic.
The monster doesnt know that these people despise his appearance, not his personality, so he reacts angrily to this society. The true identity of his cannot be seen to people, however he will believe that they hate him for him, for true him, which is not true at all. In Mary Shelleys Frankenstein relationship between an individual and society is very important. The appearance of the monster, created by Frankenstein, is the biggest problem that monster had. He realized that the society would never accept him for who he is because of his awful appearance.
Even the master himself, Frankenstein, is abhorred by his creation. After all, Frankenstein was the one that sewed the monster up from all the body parts that he was digging up. After all, he was supposed to help the monster live and function. That wasnt the case. Frankenstein himself was absolutely mortified when he saw the monster running to him.
I trembled with rage and horror He (monster) approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it too horrible for human eyes. (65) The description of the monster is truly horrible. That is why he will never be accepted into human society, no matter how he tried to please those members of society. The passage from the novel that clearly illustrated the relationship between the society and an individual was when Frankenstein's monster was observing the family of three: young man, his wife and an old man. The monster was astonished by how beautiful these strangers were. Even the old man was beautiful to him. Old man, taking up an instrument, began to play, and to produce sounds, sweeter than the voice of the thrush It was a lovely sight, even to me, poor wretch!
who had never beheld aught beautiful before (72) The monster never saw anything before that capture him so. The sight of these people gave him pleasure. He was amazed how caring the people in the cottage were to each other. Poor wretch only was treated badly by people and this caring way of dealing with each other was new and fresh to him. He became gentler, in a way.
As he kept observing the people in the cottage, he realized that he has to learn more about them, that he has to learn how to speak and be able to express himself, his emotions, maybe even his gentler side. So he continues to observe the family. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not. I remembered too well the treatment I had suffered the night before from the barbarous villagers. (73) The monster saw that family was poor. That a lot of times the young man and woman would put food in front of the old man, and reserve none for themselves. The monster started feeling bad about stealing food from them, he abstained and ate what he found in the forest.
This act of kindness from the side of Frankenstein's creation, shows that he has a consciousness, not completely spoiled by society's violent reaction to him. The monster didnt stop there. He realized that the young man spends a lot of time gathering wood in the forest, so what the monster proceeded to do was taking the mans tools and gathering the woods for them. The young woman and the young man were happy to see the wood in front of their house, and also it brought pleasure of satisfaction to the monster to see them happy. Frankenstein's monster wanted to get accepted by people. That is obvious when he will start studying the language to be able to communicate with people better.
For him it was a godlike science, and he wanted to learn it. First he learned the basics of it, but when he finally got to reading he learned his entire new vocabulary and greatly expanded his knowledge of the language. He now was able to express himself. He learned of the ways of society, and that helped him in understanding the people better. The strange system of human society was explained to me. I heard of the division of property, of immense wealth and squalid poverty; of rank, descent, noble blood. (80) The monster now wanted to introduce himself to the family (society).
He felt that he needed their love and their protection. He also felt, that with time, he feels outcast more and more. Finally monster decided to introduce himself to the father; the old, blind man. The old man was kind to, he advised him not to lose his hope, since there is brotherly love out there for him. However, monsters hopes were crushed when Felix and Agatha entered the cottage.
They were abhorred by monsters looks. Agatha fainted and Felix hit the monster with a stick. Even though the monster could have easily hurt Felix, he didnt do it because there was still love for them in his heart. Soon afterwards De Lacy's left the cottage.
In this instance, we can clearly see what have happened. The family (society) was prejudiced against the monster because of his outer features. They judged him by the way he looked, but not by the way he was. At that time, Frankenstein's creature, made an impression of a very kind, open, and intelligent individual and the unfairness of the family really hurt him.
I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a state of utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed, and had broken the only link that held me to the world. For the first time the feelings o revenge and hatred filled my bosom. (93) The emotional reaction of the monster to this kind of treatment was normal. It would have been not normal to have him be indifferent to the cruelties of people. He was angry at them, and his creator. However these feelings turned him on the path of anger and revenge.
First he set the cottage on fire and then danced with fury around it. (94) It brought him pleasure to cause destruction, because his life was destroyed, and his fate miserable. The theme of the relationship between an individual and society is present throughout the whole novel. There is a relationship between Victor and outside world, the way the world viewed his obsessions, and how people viewed each other through the lens of social correctness. However the prejudice the society has towards individuals is clearly seen throughout the novel. The society judges people by certain acceptable standards and when those standards are not met members that person gets disowned. It is a sad but true practice that existed throughout the ages.
People who have been born with certain defects in their appearance or speech have to go through a lot in their lifetimes to achieve anything at all. It is an impossible task for a person to solely judge the other one by their personality only. However, I believe that it is worth the shot. People would avoid many problems if they didnt accent their looks and looks of the other people. There is something Darwinian about the exclusion of the individual by the society. He believed that people affiliated, contacted only with individuals who possess a healthy gene pool, so it could be an another explanation for the way people behave themselves.
Frankenstein's monster was not only abandoned by society, but by his creator himself. I believe if his master accepted him for who he was, then there wouldnt be so much anger and resentment in the monster. However, the monster didnt have anybody who would understand and understandingly he sought revenge against Frankenstein and the rest of the society. He declared war on humankind.
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