Frankenstein: Who Should Be Judged and Who Should Receive Sympathy? In 1818, Mary Shelley published her first novel, Frankenstein. We have all heard of the tales of Victor Frankenstein. He was man who crossed a line between playing scientist and God. He created a living being out of various body parts of human corpuses. Even though his creation was already breathing, he realized the error in his ways. Instead of terminating the living being, he cast the monster out into the harsh world. Some audiences might judge Frankenstein for this action. Others might be sympathetic and think that life is better than death.
Readers experience the situations that the monster goes through in his daily survival. Again, it is easy to either feel judgment or sympathy. The monster had to learn right from wrong on his own. The image of a parental figure was nonexistent. This starts to create feelings of sorrow and sympathy. However, just because the monster was abandoned does not make it right for him to kill people. This is when judgment comes in. By understanding the role of the monsters pedagogy, a decision can be made. Who should receive sympathy, and who should be judged?
In order to make an educated decision, the monster’s pedagogy needs to be understood. Since Frankenstein abandoned his creation, he had to learn everything on his own. Like most in the world, his education was informal and formal. Not only did the monster learn lessons for the books he read, but also from daily life. The first thing he experiences in his life is rejection. Frankenstein “dreaded to behold [the] monster… ” but was more afraid of other seeing him (Shelley 67). He expresses that “the form of the monster on whom [he] had bestowed existence was forever before his [eyes)” (69).
So, he abandons him. After this incident, the monster experiences rejection on numerous occasions. Another example is when he comes across a young boy. The monster wants the boy because he was “unprejudiced and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity” (185). Little did he know, the little boy’s conception of beauty had already been tainted. When the monster seized the little boy, he boy “struggled violently” and called the monster an “ugly wretch” (185). These incidents of rejection are just a few informal experiences that the monster endured.
When the monster is rejected numerous times, he realizes something needs to change. If he attempts to “become a master of their language, which knowledge might enable [him] to make them overlook [his] deformity of [his] figure” (143). This is where his formal education starts. After he learns their language, he is still not fully accepted. However, he does discover books that make him realize that he will never be accepted by society. The books he discovers are the Sorrows of Werter, a volume of Plutarch’s Lives, Paradise Lost, and Volney’s Ruins of the Empire. When he read Sorrows of Werter, he discovered his private experience.
He began to question who he was, what he was, and where he came from. Questions that he was unable to solve. The monster then moves on to Plutarch’s Lives. He expresses that the book “had a far different effect upon [him] from the Sorrow of Werter” (166). The volume “elevated [him] above the wretched sphere of [his] own reflection, to admire and love the heroes of the past ages” (166). Before reading this volume, the “only school in which [he] had studied human nature [was the cottage that he was protecting], but this book had developed new and mightier scenes of action” (166).
The monster moves on to Paradise Lost. He had “far deeper emotions” from this work (166). This is where he learns of good from evil. He learns about Satan, and how God cast him out, and of Adam, and how God forgave him. He wants to be like Adam, but the monster creator did cast him out. Even though he is more like Satan, Satan at least has companions. When the monster read Volney’s Ruins of the Empire, he learns that he is not rich and has no noble family. Without these things, it is unlikely that he would be accepted as a normal human, let alone be someone that everyone is afraid of.
These books are a part of his formal education. Through learning a language and reading these books, the monster realized that he might not ever be accepted into society. It is easy for readers to feel sympathy for the monster. He had no choice when Frankenstein decided to bring him to life. He had no choice when Frankenstein abandoned him. The monster had to go out into society and learn lessons that a parent should have taught him. Of course he was going to have issues. It is easy to feel sympathy because readers can often relate. There are things in life that affect who we are when we are grown.
Experience that happen where no choice was given. Often times when one’s parent abandons them, that person will have issues for the rest of their life. Readers can relate to the pain that the monster experience. Another reason why many readers find it easy to feel sympathy with the monster is because there are accounts of the monster himself retelling events. He shares with his own words that he wants to be accepted. He shares that he stopped stealing food from a family because they did not have much. Not only did he stop taking their food, but he also went out to look for food for them.
It is easy to see that the monster starts off good and innocent. He wants to please people and have relationships. It is not his fault that his innocence was stolen from him. If Frankenstein had taken care of his creation, the monster’s education might not have been so harsh. A child is not worried about learning languages or are they reading extensive books. Children do not care about wealth or wars. When the monster learns these lessons, it changes him. Readers also might feel sympathy for him because of his education.
If the monster was just simply loved by anyone, it would have not aused him to seek knowledge until later on in his new life. When sympathy is felt for the monster, disgust and judgment usually falls upon Frankenstein. Frankenstein deals with a lot throughout his life. After the death of his mother, he dives into his science. He becomes invested in the supernatural. Frankenstein claims “to examine the causes of life, we must first have a recourse with death” (139). He discovers a way to bring a body back from the dead. When he does this, at the time he does not fully understand the consequences of his actions.
The creation is not appealing to the eye, and soon Frankenstein regrets his actions. Later, he abandons the monster. Again, readers can relate, but not in a sympathetic way. When someone has a child, from then on they have a responsibility to that child. Their responsibility is to make sure the child or dependent is taken care of. When Frankenstein abandoned his creation, he abandoned his responsibility. The monster had no way of knowing right from wrong. He had to learn it from the harshness of society. It is not the monster’s fault for the horrible things that he did.
It is Frankenstein’s fault, because he could have prevented all of it. On the other side of the spectrum, some audiences might place judgment upon the monster. Blame falls upon him because of his education. Yes, he had no control when he was created and abandoned. It was sad when he was mistreated for the simple fact of his looks. It was sad that he had to learn lessons harshly. The point is that he did understand. He learned a language and read extensive books. He understood right from wrong. The monster came to the conclusion that he was once innocent, and that Frankenstein was responsible for his corruption.
But, he still had a choice. His will was never taken from him. Frankenstein’s creation let his emotions get the better of him. The perfect example is with William, Frankenstein’s brother. The boy called him ugly and struggled to get away. Then, when the monster discovers who the boy’s father was, he kills William. After William’s death, he frames Justine and she is executed. He understood what he was doing, therefore he should have no sympathy. Frankenstein had lost his mother. He wanted to figure out some way to keep people from dying. He could not do that, but he could bring them back to life.
When Frankenstein created his monster, he did not know the monster would be like a child. He also was unaware that the monster would look unappealing. So, he decided to leave. Instead of killing his creation, Frankenstein just leave his monster behind. Being alive is better than being dead. It would have been cruel for Frankenstein to have brought a creature back to life to only end it. So, who should judgement fall upon, and who should receive sympathy? There is not a correct answer. It all depends on the reader’s specific morals, the experiences in their lives and the lessons that they h learned.
Some readers may be sympathetic for the monster, and others may feel the same for Frankenstein. Personally, my opinion is balanced. I feel sympathy for both, and I judge both. No one in this world is perfect. We all make mistakes. It is about what you do after the mistakes that tell what kind of person you are. The monster of Frankenstein had no choice, up until he learned a language and read the four books. Frankenstein wanted to prevent death, and that is honorable. However, he should not have abandoned his responsibility. There is not right or wrong answer to the question.
That is the great thing about literature. I can take one lesson from this novel while someone else might take another. Everyone has their own lesson to learn. One event could have happened differently in the novel, and the ending could be completely different. But, this cannot be taken into consideration. Feelings are not scientific. They cannot be put into a formula and result in a correct answer. Therefore, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to who should receive sympathy, and who should receive punishment. It depends of the readers life and their feelings.