Dr. Frankenstein's Creature: Would have acceptance by his creator helped him be accepted by society?
So many characters in both literature and film have been characterized as monsters because of their appearances. The creature created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein appears to be a monster, but he truly is not one. His creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, is really the true monster for rejecting his creation and not taking responsibility for it. The creature is lonely and wants to be accepted and loved, but instead it only finds rejection and hatred. The creature is truly scary looking and very large, which is very intimidating and frightening, but he is truly misunderstood by humans and reacts violently. Do you believe if he had been accepted by Victor Frankenstein, he would have been accepted by others even though he was so large and scary looking? Have you ever not accepted someone based upon their acceptance only to find later that they truly are a good person?
Everyone needs to be loved by someone, and certainly from the very beginning of Frankenstein's life he was rejected and that's all he knew. His creator even thought he was hideous and wanted nothing to do with him. Even though his creator only wanted to accomplish the feat of creating human life, he didn't even want to acknowledge that he had created such a hideous monster. Since Frankenstein's creature never had a mother and Victor abandoned him, he had no one to nurture him and teach him important life skills and how to act in a humane manner. All Frankenstein's creature wanted was to be accepted and one day find someone that would love him. His hope of having companionship is also lost when Victor destroys the female mate that he began creating only to devastate the creature once again and make him feel rejected and alone. Do you think if Victor would have stayed around to teach and love his creature, he would have had a better quality of life? Do you think a female mate would have helped the creature turn his life around?
One of the worst tragedies for Frankenstein's creature was social discrimination. People were afraid of the creature's appearance, and this fear prohibited people from knowing his inner beauty. Although Frankenstein's creature was given life, he never had an opportunity to really live and enjoy life. Frankenstein's creature was very lonely and just wanted to find companionship and acceptance. Do you believe his loneliness contributed to his violence?
The setting of this story was influenced by Shelly's surroundings and it seems fitting that the creature would escape into the woods because it was isolated and a place where he would not have much human interaction. The story of Frankenstein certainly is a sad one and definitely targets our theme of "monsters," but once again it is a monster that is misunderstood because of his appearance and the true monster is really someone that does not appear to be a monster at all and that is his creator, Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
Group 5
Contributing Members: Bryan Kuhlman, Charlita Hagwood, Lu Su & Kessy Evans
It's possible that the acceptance of Victor Frankenstein might have opened some doors for acceptance from others. However, in today's society people are very judgemental. Yes it sucks, but it's honestly the complete and utter truth. People always make opinions about people based on their looks and the way they act. Because Frankenstein was rejected by people and not around others, he didn't know how to act. So aside from the fact that he was giant, strange, and terrifying, he was also a little socially awkward. This makes it hard for people to accept him, just because of the awfully skeptical society we live in today.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, i agree with Kirsten. Nowadays, people are tend to judgmental also with bias. "Monster" isn't a good word in people's mind. So most of the case, people treat them meanly no matter what. At this point, we really need think about ourselves, because when every babies born, they are all angels. If they become bad later on, it depends on their environment, education, and so on. So does Monster! If in the story, Dr.Frankenstein takes care of more about his creature, then monster frankenstein won't turn to be a bad one. I believe monster has same feelings with human beings. They know about love and care. Also they desire them too. As all, if Dr.Frankenstein does a better job, then maybe the story will ends up with happy.
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I feel that, had Frankenstein given his Monster a chance, things would have turned out much differently. The Monster seemed to need any acceptance, but got none. To be shunned by even your creator must have been devastating. I think that Dr. Frankenstein should have created a wife for his Monster, as it seemed like he would have been happy with just the one companion. In the end, Victor Frankenstein is completely responsible for how his creation turned out. He had the option of loving his creature and teaching it himself, and of course building it a companion, but he fails to provide it with any relief to its loneliness. The monster is simply misunderstood, and it is because it is backed into a corner by Frankenstein that it acts the way it does.
ReplyDeleteI know this much, the Creature killed many people to spite his creator. He was able to learn language, and even process complex thoughts like revenge and justice. However, the Creature still killed innocent people in an attempt to get back at the Doctor. Is this fair? Is this just, or is it the actions of a murderous fiend? The Creature had been treated poorly, but can that grant him immunity from justice? He understood what he was doing, but never ceased his wrongdoings.
ReplyDeleteIf the Creature had been accepted by his creator, and given a loving home, I doubt that would change much. Frankenstein's monster had more issues than being unloved. He didn't know his identity or place in life, and Frankenstein would not be able to better answer those questions either. Without direct answers, the Creature would nurse equal hatred for his creator, whether he was loved or hated.
I feel like in the current society there are many people have the same experience as Dr. Frankenstein's monster. These people have a awful appearance, but have a warm heart. They need people to care them and a companion to talk with. As time goes, these people may be mentally ill and do harm to the society. Eventually these people will become monsters with hatred. When we are young, we need people to guide us what is right and what is wrong. However, these people do not have any guidances or friends to care about them. As a result, people see them as "monsters" and don't want to get in touch with them at all.
ReplyDeleteIf people still sees people's appearance to judge others, the crime rate may increase, people would treat others badly and other aspects that do harm to the society. If creatures(either monsters or criminals) can feel the love, they might turn into the normal people after all.
I think if Dr. Frankenstein would have accepted his monster it wouldn’t have made a difference to society. The monster looked really different from everyone but he also killed people for no reason. If Dr. Frankenstein would have showed the monster love and thought him how to behave in society then maybe the monster would have turned out differently. Also if the monster had a mate I think he would have been better for him because he wouldn’t have to go around looking for acceptance and love.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the points stated in the blog. Personally, I don’t think that bad people were born badly. People’s characteristics are affected by education and the environment. From this perspective, I think the creature created by Dr. Frankenstein is innocent. He is created and has to come to the world without other choice. People hate him and chase him because of his scary looking. Nobody wants to know about him. He is extremely lonely and cannot change anything. He’s defined as a monster but actually he is not. On the other side, Dr. Frankenstein is a monster even he appears to be a normal person. But he has a cold and crazy heart. He abandoned what he created and doesn’t take any responsibility. In a word, it should be the heart which defined the monster or not. F
ReplyDeleteTo my mind Frankenstein's monster would just have needed any kind of sympathy from someone. If Victor Frankenstein had cared about him himself or if he had created a mate for the monster, that would have gave him some love would probably not even have made a difference. In both cases the monster would not have had to feel the loneliness and rejection which, as I think, would have prevented him from turning that violent.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people made the creature to be a monster, not the monster itself. If Dr. Frankenstein accepted what he had created and tried to introduce the creature to the world as his creature with pride, then people would have had less disgusted feelings about the creature. Or if Dr. Frankenstein made one more creature that looked similar with the original creature, then both creatures would make each other feel better to like harmoniously with other normal-looking people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this blog post 100%. People completely judge others by their initial appearance. Cliques and groups all throughout high school and even into college flock together based on their looks. For example, mean girls the movie has "the plastics" which are the popular, pretty girls, "the jocks" which are football players and other varsity athletes, the "hot Asians" and the "nerdy Asians" among several other groups that are forced to group together due to their physical appearances. It would be ignorant to say I have not judged someone due to their physical appearance, everyone does, humans do it, even other animals do it during mate selection, it is a part of life and is impossible to avoid.
ReplyDeleteI am going to go with something a little personal. I have an older sister that has Down so she is mental challenged. There are people that I know thar would say she was a monster because she is not like the rest of society. This always upsets/angers me because she probably has the biggest, warmest heart of anyone I have ever known in my whole life. She can be compared to how the monster is treated. He is not accepted for how he looks and neither is she but all they both want is to be accepted and loved. I feel if people would have looked at the monster differently than maybe he would have come out differently. Just because someone looks different doesn't mean they are any different than anyone else. So I believe that things could have been different if they monster had the same kind of love that my sister gets from everyone who knows her. They accept her no matter what because of what is in her heart. I think if that happened to the monster he would have been different
ReplyDeleteUnder different circumstance where Frankenstein's monster had been treated as a person, he would have been able to adapt better into society. iN psychology, I learned that environment does contribute greatly to how different traits are expressed, so there's a good chance that if people showed kindness, not just Dr. Frankenstein, there would have been a different outcome, with no deaths. I don't believe that we can just blame Dr. Frankenstein for his monster's actions, but society in general, because almost everyone treated him cruelly.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who grows up without anyone to love them or teach them how to behave will turn out voilent. What else would they do with the anger they have built up and dont know how to express without voilence? If Frankenstien's creater loved him or his almost wife was there, things would have been very different. All someone needs is one person
ReplyDeleteAfter reading most of these comments, I have to agree with the succinct truth of the one right above me: "All someone needs is one person." Having just one person who really appreciates you for what you are makes a tremendous difference - all the difference in the world really - to your opinion of yourself, to whether you have a positive or a negative outlook, to simply how you feel when you get up in the morning.
ReplyDeleteSome people are more judgmental than others and some people are more accepting than others, that's how it's been for a long time and how it will be for a long time. The point is, there would be a place where this creature could find acceptance, and a lot of places where he couldn't. It's just to bad that for him, home was one of the latter.
I do agree that Dr. Frankenstein is the actual monster for creating 'the monster' and then shunning and neglecting him. I think that had he accepted the monster then the monster would have had an easier time accepting himself. Also, it would have led the way for others to also accept him instead of being so judgmental because if his creator didn't even love him, then who could?
ReplyDeleteThe piece of art for our group discussion in class explain everything perfectly. The big blue monster looking giant sits in the woods reading stories for the animals with a curious look on his face looking all peaceful and loving. People are just used to judging from the outside. I don't think it is wrong for people being like this nowadays because there are so many people with bad intension and we do need to learn to be aware from them. But we still need to give them the chance to let us know the real person. Even though they were bad at first, they still deserve a chance to prove that then have changed.
ReplyDeleteI concur with Kirsten's idea that the acceptance by Dr. Frankenstein is imperative for the creature to assimilate to the society. The relation between Dr. Frankenstein and the creature is similar to that between parents and their children. Thus, Dr. Frankenstein has the obligation to ensure the creature can successfully assimilate to the society. However, due to the loathsome nature of the creature, it can be predicated that this assimilation process would be extremely tedious if it actually happen. Despite the ugly countenance and the monstrous figure of the creature, he was friendly, kind, and generous towards others of the society, which can be proven by the voluntarily assistance he provided to the family living in the cottage. Until he encountered the fierce assault from the son of the blind gentleman living in the cottage, the creature always believed in the ultimate acceptance by the majority of the society. Based on these observations, it is clearly that the rejection by Dr. Frankenstein was the cause of the tragedy of the creature, Dr. Frankenstein and other victims.
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