The thought of being exiled from the place that is so familiar, can make a person distraught. Edward Said wrote that, “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.” Said also thought that exile can become, “a potent, even enriching,” experience. The exile of Victor Frankenstein’s creation in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein offers insight into how a person can be affected positively and negatively through the experiences incurred during that period. The exile of the creature also contributes to the meaning of the work. Victor Frankenstein’s creation was first exiled
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John Bugg writes:
In language that shows his education in matters of race and geography, he asks Frankenstein to create a female companion to join him in exile—one as ‘hideous’ as himself—so that he will find solace in a shared alterity, and he promises Frankenstein that he and his new partner will leave Europe for the ‘vast wilds of South America’ (p. 118). Shelley’s linking of the Creature’s request with a plan of emigration evokes an idea that was central to the British and American treatment of freed slaves from the 1780s well into the middle decades of the nineteenth century.
The treatment of slaves is a good comparison to the way that the creature was treated. It shows how harshly Victor and the rest of mankind treated him, when all he wanted was a companion and to be accepted by man. Another negative to his exile was the way that he handled his emotions. He either did not know what the morals of society were, or did not care to abide by them because he took his anger and frustration out by killing people. When the creature captured William and found out that he was Frankenstein’s family he said, “‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim’” (Shelley 127). There were not only negative effects to the creature’s exile, but there were also some …show more content…
The way the creature shows benevolence and compassion towards others even after being rejected shows how he tried to do good things even if man had rejected him. One example of his benevolence would be when he told his story about saving the girl’s life. “’I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore animation,’” (Shelley 126) the creature recalled. He also showed compassion to the family in the cottage by collecting fire wood for them every night so that they could worry about providing food and other things for
John Bugg writes:
In language that shows his education in matters of race and geography, he asks Frankenstein to create a female companion to join him in exile—one as ‘hideous’ as himself—so that he will find solace in a shared alterity, and he promises Frankenstein that he and his new partner will leave Europe for the ‘vast wilds of South America’ (p. 118). Shelley’s linking of the Creature’s request with a plan of emigration evokes an idea that was central to the British and American treatment of freed slaves from the 1780s well into the middle decades of the nineteenth century.
The treatment of slaves is a good comparison to the way that the creature was treated. It shows how harshly Victor and the rest of mankind treated him, when all he wanted was a companion and to be accepted by man. Another negative to his exile was the way that he handled his emotions. He either did not know what the morals of society were, or did not care to abide by them because he took his anger and frustration out by killing people. When the creature captured William and found out that he was Frankenstein’s family he said, “‘Frankenstein! You belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim’” (Shelley 127). There were not only negative effects to the creature’s exile, but there were also some …show more content…
The way the creature shows benevolence and compassion towards others even after being rejected shows how he tried to do good things even if man had rejected him. One example of his benevolence would be when he told his story about saving the girl’s life. “’I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore animation,’” (Shelley 126) the creature recalled. He also showed compassion to the family in the cottage by collecting fire wood for them every night so that they could worry about providing food and other things for