Research Paper On Frankenstein Wretch

A fictional novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, tells the story of a monster created by a mad scientist named Victor Frankenstein. Since a young age, Victor has been captivated by natural philosophy, which has given him a deep-rooted passion for and interest in making something come to life. As a result of two years' work, Victor was able to animate a creature made entirely of dead tissue and limbs, which he named "Wretch." The wretch is described as having yellow eyes, yellow skin with muscles and arteries, black lustrous hair, pearly white teeth, and black lips. Horrified by the sight of the wretch, Victor decides to abandon it, causing the wretch to perform very violent acts that would cause regular humans severe punishments. Having committed

Shelley describes his appearance by stating that "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.” (Shelley 26). Just from this description, Wretch is not human-like in the slightest. The wretch’s skin is barely hanging on, making him appear unnatural in comparison to a human. Furthermore, the wretch is described to be eight feet tall, making him a giant. Victor believed that it would be easier to make a human proportionally larger, rather than smaller. In Frankenstein, Shelley describes how the De Lacey family saw his shadow. First, the wretch decides to talk to the blind De Lacey in hopes that he will not be judged for his appearance. The scene quickly shifts from a tranquil conversation to a moment of fear and terror when Felix, Agatha, and Safie De Lacey walked in on the wretch and the blind De Lacey talking. All in all, this scene portrays how appearance affects the wretch due to his lack of human-like physical

Some of the violent acts the wretch has committed consist of murdering three people and arson. It was common for serious crimes like murder to be punishable by death during the 1800s. Considering the wretch has some emotional awareness, he should know how to control his actions, and act rationally. Even though this is an animalistic response to human ‘threats’ he should have enough mental capabilities to think things through as opposed to acting quickly. One example was the death of William, Victor’s brother. Being continuously made fun of by William, the wretch had had enough and decided to act impulsively and kill