Frankenstein: The Creature's Attempt At Humanization

Saying that the Creature from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been misrepresented is an understatement. It’s almost as if his character has split into two very flat characters. Often he is represented as a devilish monster who terrorizes all of humanity. He is also said to be a helpless victim, cursed to live out his days as a wretch because his creator, Victor Frankenstein, tried to play god. Depicting the Creature as either good or evil goes against the entire point of the book. Despite what Victor may think about his creation, the Creature is very complex and deserves a better analysis of his actions and character. Just like any good character, the Creature’s story begins at the very beginning: his birth. Except he is not necessarily

His dream has become a nightmare. Victor realizes that he has failed in creating the “perfect” species and he takes it out on the Creature. In her research paper, "Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Creature’s Attempt at Humanization" Noelle Webster says, “Victor calls the creation a ‘lifeless thing’. A description such as this is extremely cold and could be describing anything from a table Victor has in his house to a piece of garbage. He does not even say it is a lifeless body, but merely a thing” (Webster 5). Even from the beginning, Victor refuses to acknowledge the Creature as anything other than a thing. Not human,--though he is made from human parts--just a thing he put life into. Later on in the story, Victor rejects the Creature once more. The Creature reveals to Victor through his tale that all he wants is a community and to be welcomed instead of chased away by fear and hatred. So the Creature asks Victor for a mate that is as hideous as him in exchange for the Creature quitting mankind forever. Victor agrees at first, but his conscience tells him to stop because he knows making another creature will only make matters worse. Another article by Ben Florman says that by doing this, “Victor has eliminated the possibility of companionship and love in the Monster's life once and for all: in consequence, revenge becomes the Monster's only motivating desire” (Florman "Frankenstein Characters: The Monster"). Victor refusing to make the Creature a mate not only rejects the Creature, but also rejects any possibility the Creature has of being accepted, even if the odds were against him in the first place. This shows the Creature that even though Victor created him, he was no better than the rest of society that loathed his very