Frankenstein
... actions seem acceptable to him. Can you imagine being born into a world without anyone to love you, not having a mother or a father figure in your life? Well Victor Frankenstein created himself a monster made from and out of the image of a human being. After he created this being, he fled from it denying the creature it’s mother or father figure it needed, leaving it all alone in a world that was not accepting to him. In the beginning the creature was like a baby he had to learn to cope with the world and his surroundings. In the book he calls himself a “poor, helpless, miserable wretch”(Shelly 96). Just like a newborn child would be, he was really helpless in the first stages of his life. “ I felt light, and hunger, and thirst, and darkness; innumerable sounds rung in my ears, and on all sides various scents saluted me: the only object that I could distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on that with pleasure”(Shelly 96). In this quote the creature is still learning how to deal with his surroundings. This also reminded me of how in a baby’s cradle they usually hang little toys above their beds, and the babies sit there and are amazed by these little toys just like the creature did the moon. Without anyone to teach him he had to learn on his own “I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain”(Shelly 97). He didn’t know any better than to put his hand into the fire, just like many children burn themselves on the range of the stove. The creature virtually taught himself all the necessary tools of survival, from finding food to building a fire to keep warm. It wasn’t until he made the hovel his home did he learn anything from somebody else. So far he had only learned from his experiences. Here he learned about kindness he watched the younger cottagers give up their food to the old man so he can have food to eat. He also saw how they saved none for themselves and went hungry. He learned how to talk by listening to the cottagers speak to each other. But it was not until Safie came to the cottage that his learning of the language advanced the most. They were teaching Safie a new language so he just listened in on their lessons. He learned history from Safie’s reading of Ruins of Empires. In one point in the book the creature says “But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses; or if they had, all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing. From my earliest remembrance I had been as I then was in height and proportion”(Shelly 110). In this quote he asks his first questions about his own existence. It was at this time where he was in the point of his existence where he was no longer a child, he was able to rationalize thoughts, read, and speak. The creature himself had raised himself from a helpless child to a smart minded being. He had the help of the cottagers listening to them and learning from how they lived. Overall the creature raised himself. He was never taught right from wrong, or why humans were the way they were, so that later hurt his ability to understand the human race. There were many circumstances that lead the creature to become evil. The most evident one was the human’s cruelty toward him. His first experience with the human race was his own creator Victor Frankenstein. As soon as he came into the world Victor reacted with horror. “Unable to endure the aspect of the being which I had created, I rushed out of the room, continued a long time traversing my bedchamber”(Shelly 61). He was abandoned from the start of his existence leaving him all alone in the world to experience things without guidance or explanation. So when he was attacked by the villagers in the first cottage he encountered he did not comprehend why the children shrieked, or the woman fainted, and he really didn’t understand why the people fled and attacked him. So far every encounter he has had with the humans has ended with him being shunned away or hurt in some sort of way. It was not until he was able to read did every part of his being become clear to him. He read the book Paradise Lost and he referred to himself as Adam. “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence”(Shelly 116). It was not until this did he realize how different he really was from humans. He says “He had come forth from the hands of god a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his creator; he was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from, beings of superior nature: but I was wretched, helpless, and alone”(Shelly 116). This I think built up resentment for humans in him. This resentment becomes clearer when he says “I considered Satan as a fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me”(Shelly 117). As a reader you can tell by that quote that he is starting to get bitter towards the world that he belongs to. The creature’s first form of hatred occurred when he read Victor’s notes on his creation. After reading these notes he says “‘Hateful day when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘Accursed Creator!’”(Shelly 117). This was the first time he expressed the feeling of hatred towards another being. After all of this happened he still had the hope that if he presented himself to the cottagers they would overlook his deformity for his intelligence and accept him as a friend. So he got up the courage and presented himself to ...