The True Monster
Sometimes monsters are not the normal, scary looking creatures that everyone makes them out to be in movies and books, they can be normal looking people that walk among us everyday. In the gothic novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley, Victor Frankenstein is the greater monster, than the creature he created. Although the creature acts with rage and aggression, Victor is the greater monster because he thought that by abandoning his creature and letting it try to survive on its own, all his problems would go away, but Victor’s decision has come back to haunt him.
The creature is misunderstood and does not want to be a monster; he just wants to be accepted by people. When the creature first encounters humans, they are terrified by his appearances. For example, when humans saw the creature, they were frightened by him and they threw “stones and many other missile weapons” at him (74). The creature knows he looks different than everyone else, but he does not understand why people are so afraid of him. All the creature wants is a human companion but people get too afraid of him before they even know him which causes him to feel rejected. Although humans have rejected him, the creature still has compassion for humans. Forinstance, when the creature saves a little girl from drowning, he had “rushed from [his] hiding place… saved her and dragged her to the shore” (101). The creature is not horrible and does not want to kill people; however he is so full of rage because Victor abandoned him, that he does anyways. However, even after humans have treated him horribly, the creature still saves the little girl’s life. The creature is tired of being alone and has discovered a way to get what he wants from Victor. Specifically, when the creature speaks to Victor for the first time, he demands and threatens Victor to make him a companion “of the same species, and have the same defects” (104). All the creature has wanted all along is a...