Essay

Matt Stigliano

English            2-9-04

Essay

           

            In Frankenstein, the monster essentially displays two sides. In the beginning of the book, he shows how destructive he can be, when he was killing off Victor’s loved ones. As the story progresses and the monster tells his side of the story, I was able to view him as more of a compassionate and logical thinker.

            In the beginning of Frankenstein, the monster is created by Victor Frankenstein. Disgusted at the hideousness of the creation which he wrought, he decided to run off. From then, the monster began to develop his thoughts. He slowly becomes more hostile towards humans, as his experiences with them are awful. I was able to see the intelligence of this creature, how he only acted from his experiences. The first part of the story showed how his gruesome behavior was only a result of his would be “childhood”.

            Later in the story, the monster confronts Victor Frankenstein. He wishes to tell him his side of the story, and out of curiosity Victor listens. The monster explains how he never realized his hideousness until recently, and that he did not want to be an outcast of society. He begged Victor to make him a significant other which would be as ugly as he, so he could live the rest of his life peacefully with someone else to be with.

            The monster showed his reasons for his actions when he explained why he acted the way he did. Though they didn’t make his actions correct, I believe that he made good decisions from what he saw of man. When Victor decided not to make the second monster for the first one, the first monster continued his rampage on Victor’s loved one’s, swearing that if he could not achieve peace, his creator would not either.

            Victor Frankenstein created a monster in his laboratory. He believe that it was hideous and didn’t deserve to live. However, Victor had created a creature with feelings of compassion, remorse, and love.  I believe that the monster’s actions make logical sense, and that his actions were only due to his bad early development.