Vengeance And Rage In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Roya K. Mazloum
Ms. Sutton
English Language Arts 20-1
22th April 2023
Is it possible to create something so powerful that it becomes a threat to its creator? Frankenstein is a novel by Mary Shelley about a young scientist who creates a sapient creature but is horrified by the result and abandons it, leading to disastrous consequences. Vengeance and rage are very powerful feelings that can easily corrupt one's mind. The ending of "Frankenstein" is a cautionary tale about the dangers of seeking vengeance and how rage can completely blind a person from their true nature.
Initially, the monster is shown to be a sweet and caring being. At the start of his monologue, the monster is talking about how unfair it is that he is judged only by his looks

He explains to Victor after learning about the social classes of humans that he realized how deeply alone he was proclaiming, “When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”(Shelly 141). As Bartholomew notices how lonely the camaraderie within the family that he has been stalking he starts to realize how alone he is. Bartholomew can tell that despite the fact that the family is poor they have each other to lean on and get from when dealing with a bad situation. Bartholomew is then made acutely aware that he doesn't have that relationship with anyone, he is the only one of his kind, no one will talk to him, and his own Creator abandoned him. He does not have anyone to help him and he knows he will never get close enough to anyone for them to help him. In addition to this, he states that “I admired virtue and good feelings and loved the gentle manners and amiable qualities of my cottagers, but I was shut out from intercourse with them, except through means which I obtained by stealth, when I was unseen and unknown, and which rather increased than satisfied the desire I had of becoming one among my fellows,”(Shelly 142). Bartholomew once again reflects on his lack of ability to have a relationship, humans run away screaming at the mere sight of him

After being shunned and fought by the family that the monster had been observing the monster feels truly frenzied and he admits, “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death,”(Shelly 165). After trying and failing to show that he is a good person and not a monster Bartholomew gives up on diplomacy and kindness, two traits that he was sure would grant him companionship. After this failure Bartholomew gave up so, he lets his feelings of revenge and hatred take over and he burns down the house of the family that he had been observing, recounting, “I lighted the dry branch of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage, my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which the moon nearly touched. A part of its orb was at length hid, and I waved my brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I fired the straw, and heath, and bushes, which I had collected. The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and licked it with their forked and destroying tongues,”(Shelly 166). This is when Bartholomew becomes a monster, he becomes what everyone sees him as. Finally deciding to get revenge the monster happens upon Victor Frankensteins’ brother and decides that