Cadin Vu Mrs. Sweney English 8 P3 26 April 2023 The Truth of the Creature’s Story Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein uses the theme reality vs. imagination and social contract to reveal to the reader that people should deal with their consequences and they should not judge people by their looks. The theme reality vs. imagination in the book demonstrates to the reader to not be fearful of their problems and to deal with the consequences of their actions. This is illustrated when Victor creates the creature, it kills his family, and has an imaginary presence near Victor. To start, Victor Frankenstein makes a creature with dead body parts and stitches, while isolating himself from his family and society. Then he considers that, “now that I had finished, …show more content…
This immediate regret proves that even working day and night, losing his time and sanity, only now does he realize the major mistake he has been created. Frankenstein was so focused on creating the creature that he never thought what he would do with it afterwards. Another example is when the creature kills William, Victor’s adopted brother, and Justine, his adopted sister, is sentenced to death: “Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me which nothing could extinguish. . .And on the morrow, Justine died” (75). This consequencial guilt highlights how, when Victor symbolizes the creature as “a hell within me”, he sees the creature as the pure evil monster that represents his bad side. He also does not tell the court that the creature killed William because he is afraid people think he is crazy, and it will only lead to more deaths of his loved ones. The last reason is when Victor promises to make a female creature for the original creature to …show more content…
In the book, the creature is mustreated and harmed because of his looks, including when Victor leaves the creature, the Delacey family beats him, and during the conversation with Robert Walton. Firstly, when Victor makes near the start of the book, he disaproves in what he has created, and runs away: “I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house, which I uninhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night” (). Victor’s unreasonable fleeing quickly demonstrates to the reader how people will immediately react to the creature, even his creator quickly decides to run. It was not the creature’s fault that he was left malnourished and unraised, which started the everlasting rivalry between his creator. Another example is when the creature observes the Delaceys for over a year, learning and surviving in a hovel. When he understands the rough times they go through, he stops stealing their food, and even helps them collect firewood. Then when he tries to get a chance to talk to them, “Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung; in a transport of fury, he clashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick” (123-124). This violent attck illustrates how even when helping them survive, he still gets rejected. No matter what he does, nothing will change his appearance, and, even with a kind heart