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Examples Of Prejudice In Frankenstein

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Prejudice in Frankenstein The creature in Frankenstein tells us, “I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man” (Shelley 85). Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a man named Victor from a rich family, who passionately wanted to create a new species of men. He ends up creating a creature that he is disgusted by, and he abandons him. The creature learns how to survive on his own, and is treated horribly by humanity, which leads him to kill people too. The people that Victor cared for were killed by the creature. In Frankenstein the novel shows us the way that you look affects the way that you are treated. In life, people often mistreat others based on their appearance. When …show more content…

This explains that the first thing Victor notices is the creature's awful appearance.Victor does not want to develop a relationship with him because he looks so ugly. Because of this, he no longer wants the creature to be a part of his life because he is embarrassed by the way he looks. It's important to show that Victor is disappointed in his creature because he is not beautiful or appealing in any way. Victor wants nothing to do with his grotesque-looking creature. The majority of people are judgemental when it comes to first glance. When the creature goes to a village, objects, rocks, everything is thrown at him. The creature states, “The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (Shelley 74). He is not welcome because the villagers are afraid of his frighteningly large features. He is very tall and wears a dark cloak. Because of his looks, the people thought he was dangerous and immediately attacked him out of fear. Although the creature did not do anything wrong or start trouble, the villagers were threatened by his scary looks and reacted with

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The creature is wondering why they would attack him as he was kind and shown it through helping the cottagers and not killing Felix even though he could have. The creature's experiences with society show that it did not matter if the person is kind to society, what matters was being like society and in the creature’s case it is his appearance that gets him outcasted even though he did many kind deeds to the

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In Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (The Modern Prometheus), there is a creature that gains life after its creator, Victor Frankenstein, creates him with the purpose to gain fame by discovering the secrets of life and death. Horrified by the looks of his creation, Victor would abandon his project leaving the creature susceptible to the threats of the world. The creature becomes victim to society’s belief in physiognomy, belief in which a person’s character traits are determined by one’s physical appearance. These quick criticisms by society including its own creator would leave the creature abandoned, attacked, and neglected from happiness.

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The novel Frankenstein brings to light many problems and situations that shed light on the faults of mankind. Cruelty was a huge factor in the novel; throughout Frankenstein is cruel to his body and to his creation. When he first makes the creature he runs from it, leaving the creature to fend for himself; even when reuniting with the creature he continues displays cruelty. The creature, in turn exhibits Victor cruelty right back. Within Frankenstein cruelty can be attributed, often affecting both Victor and the creature; serving as a crucial motivator and revealing their anger, pain, frustration till eventually both die.

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The Consequences of Physical Appearance in Frankenstein The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a science fiction story about a creature created from non-living matter, by a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The conflict between society and Frankenstein’s creature is largely perpetuated by a split between those considered attractive, and those who are not. The conflict and language use in Frankenstein demonstrate that most of society judges others based on their physical appearance, which leads to excluding those who fall outside the accepted definition of beauty and sometimes life-threatening consequences for both groups.

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Society is well-known for pushing those who are outsiders or strange away from society. This is prevalent to the examples in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein. The monster who was created by Victor Frankenstein who wanted to be the first to create life was appalled by the sights of the his creation. Frankenstein’s monster is judged based on his appearances and is often ostracized by society, just as anyone in modern day society can be shunned or pushed away due to their looks or how they think. The most outstanding example of ostracism that occurred throughout the novel is based on the monster’s physical features and structure.

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In the film Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein the theme of mistreatment based off physical appearance is portrayed through Frankenstein 's monster. The society is often fearful of the creature and made judgements of his actions based solely off his disturbing physical appearance, without knowing his true characteristics. Even Victor, the man who created the fearful monster eventually abandons him because he is is appalled by his creation. He believed that by creating a being made of the finest parts, the end result would be of equal quality, but when the monster awakens, Victor can see what he has created and recognises that he has done wrong. The creation of an unnatural being, by unnatural means ultimately disgusts Victor.

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(Ch.8) and without the acceptance he yearned for, he became bitter and resentful, acting out ruthlessly. The monster was completely misunderstood and at no stage a welcome guest. In spite of his benevolent and kind spirit, he was beaten up and even shot at. No one was willing to attempt to understand him except for Agathe who was blind, but even that was short lived as Felix was quick to attack the creature. Although labelled as a horrifying monster, nothing but his exterior fit this description, until he was discriminated by society.

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The creature’s mental knowledge is very small-minded and intolerant, causing his understanding of justice to be exceedingly narrow. The monster’s isolation from society is forced by its fate. Nobody could with handle the hideous looks given by the creature 's appearance, this made it nearly impossible for the creature to have any interaction with any sort of human. To illustrate, the creation said while reciting his tale to Victor “And what was I?

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The creature desires human interactions to acquire companionship, but later met with violent reactions leading him to depart. The monster recounted,”...but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was aroused: some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons”(Shelley 103). This reaction is natural in humans since they have instincts to judge by appearance rather than personality. As the monster stood in their village, they had never seen such a monstrosity, so they reacted with fear.

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When he reached a village, immediately: children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. 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 and fearfully took refuge" (Shelley 95). Initially the being had been delighted by the sight of the village, but he was brutally driven from it for no reason other than his appearance. Because he appeared abnormal, they assumed he was evil. Just as society fears the creature, the creature fears society.

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Stereotyping in today’s society exists in many forms and is part of our daily lives no matter who we are. This is true even in literature and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein expertly shows the effects of stereotyping. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein’s creature experiences rejection due to society judging the creature based on his appearance. This leads to Victor’s creature separating himself from society to distance himself from abuse. This abuse is undeserved as the creature proves himself to be a capable and very intelligent contradicting the stereotypes made against him.

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Joyce Carol Oates states in her essay Frankenstein Fallen Angel, “…he (Victor) seems blind to the fact that is apparent to any reader – that he has loosed a fearful power into the world, whether it strikes his eye as aesthetically pleasing or not, and he must take responsibility for it.” Victor is unwilling to care for the creature, because he finds him dreadful, so he takes the easy way out and leaves the creature to take care of himself, which he is not capable of doing. Victor’s obsession to act superhuman blinded him while he was creating the creature because he had a desire to assemble the creature from makeshift parts so that the creature would be hideous and therefore inferior to Victor. The creature is formed as an ugly being so that it is easier for Victor to walk away from. Victor is willing to abandon his own creation because he views the creature as a, “… filthy mass that moved and talked” (136).

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The creatures first encounter with a human being only proves how humane it is, despite his horrid appearance as the old man is delighted with him "I am blind, and cannot judge of your countenance but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere". However, the younger citizens of the cottage enter and the creature is back to square one as they immediately react defensively against it- conveying how the creature will never be accepted with such distorted appearance since it is immediately identified as inhumane and

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The gothic fiction novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley centralizes on humanity and the qualifications that make someone human. The content of the novel Frankenstein depicts a monster displaying human traits that his creator Victor does not possess: empathy, a need for companionship, and a will to learn and fit in. Throughout the novel Shelley emphasizes empathy as a critical humanistic trait. The monster displays his ability to empathize with people even though they are strangers. On the other hand Victor, fails to show empathy throughout the novel even when it relates to his own family and friends.

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The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a science fiction story about a creature created from non-living matter, by a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein. The conflict between society and Frankenstein’s creature is largely perpetuated by a split between those considered attractive, and those who are not. The conflict and language use in Frankenstein demonstrate that most of society judges others based on their physical appearance, which leads to excluding those who fall outside the accepted definition of beauty and sometimes life-threatening consequences for both groups. Frankenstein and his parents demonstrate that they also fall victim to the habit of judging others initially based off of their appearance. The Frankenstein parents first

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