Frankenstein Persuasive Essay

Present in even the oldest writings, the monster is an archetype that has existed in human literature since its conception. Over the centuries, the monster has evolved and taken many forms, but no matter how much time passes, certain characteristics remain. It is for this reason that whether it be Humbaba, the monster that started the character archetype in the Epic of Gilgamesh, or a more modern monster, like Voldemort, they can each be easily recognized as the monsters of their respective stories. A key to this recognition is the terrifying and frightening nature shared by monsters across literature. There are many factors that can make a monster horrific, but whether it be the concern of not knowing what the “monster” is going to do or

Film and entertainment are full of villains and monsters with mysterious or horrific origins, and it is precisely due to their ambiguous origins that these characters are so effective at being frightening. Knowing where a character comes from allows the reader to ground that character in their own experiences, and as a result, that character becomes less scary, but when you eliminate the reader’s ability to familiarize themselves with the character, they lose that step, causing the character in question to seem more foreign. A perfect example of a character whose fear factor is increased by an unclear origin is the Creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Shelley is intentionally vague about the Creature’s creation when she writes Frankenstein’s point of view in which he states, “It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet...my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (Chapter 5). In not describing how Frankenstein was able to bring life into the Creature, Shelley creates an air of mystique and foreboding. The Creature seems more

Insanity is a very common trope present in many monstrous characters in which the inability to guess what the character will do next is what makes them chilling, but an oftentimes overlooked use of uncertainty when it comes to characters’ actions is the uncertainty of why they are doing the things they are. A character that truly reveals the full effect of not being privy to the reasoning behind a monster’s action is Grendel from Beowulf. In his portrayal in Beowulf, Grendel appears to be a pretty standard monster with no reasoning behind his actions besides the desire to kill. This depiction is made clear when it states, “The monster’s/ Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws:/ He slipped through the door and there in the silence/ Snatched up thirty men, smashed them, Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies/ The blood dripping behind him” (34-39). Grendel’s actions are so chilling because they seem so thoughtless and unprompted. In Beowulf, it is very unclear as to why Grendel decides to attack and eat the Dains, and this lack of justification for his actions makes them that much more terrifying. Anyone who would argue that Grendel’s actions are not scarier because they are seemingly unprompted would be proven incorrect with a reading of John Gardner’s Grendel. Grendel gives Grendel’s backstory and