Justice As Depicted In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein, a critique on society composed by Mary Shelley in the nineteenth century, depicts the tumultuous tribulations that Victor Frankenstein must endure during his quest to subdue the horrors of his creation, an endeavor to brilliantly reincarnate the deceased. Shelley through the story of Dr. Frankenstein, paints strong criticisms against current culture: depicting social constructs and actions such as justice, everyday activity, and revenge as flawed and shallow, too dependent and altered by bias; the author’s commentary on a functioning society also manifests the dominance that prejudice and bias plays into life, thus creating a space for improved introspection, as well as advanced philosophical ideologies.
The justice system within

The bias that humans hold against the creature, based off of appearance, an aspect of his for which he is blameless, causes him to turn evil: “I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (2.2.68). He furthers John Locke’s philosophy of tabula rasa, by claiming that others’ actions changed his demeanor, and prior to his introduction to society, his charitable disposition was uncorrupted. The creature adopts his own wreckage due to his wish to reciprocate the damage that humans irrevocably plunged unto him. Moretti, a Marxist critic, argues that the creature lacks the ability to expand past the horizon; he is trapped within society’s clutches. As he is constantly rejected, his absence of self-governing ability weakens, rendering him unavailable for the present and beyond (Moretti 71). His final attempts to connect with the De Lacy family fail, leaving him heartbroken and discontent, desperate to wreak havoc upon his creator. He blames Victor for this predicament due to his abandonment of him and the fatherly roles. He threatens Victor, claiming that “[he] will be with [him] on [his] wedding-night” (3.3.121). The creature typically held back feelings of distress; however, “for the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled [his] bosom, and [he] did not strive to controul them; but, allowing [him]self to be borne away by the stream, [he] bent [his] mind towards injury and death” (2.8.97). Victor’s creation wishes to extract revenge as a product of his mistreatment, not due to controllable actions, but instead due to Victor’s and the community’s faults. Narrow-minded behavior towards the creature drives him to hysteria, eventually leading him to destroy all those close to Victor.