Theme Of Loneliness In The Novel Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Improved Essays
Register to read the introduction… Driven by loneliness, the creature seeks a companion so as to finally feel accepted which would supposedly stop his hatred towards society and impulses of revenge. Possibly Frankenstein owes him this as most of the blame of this gloomy story can be placed on his shoulders. He did abandon his creation from his birth and did nothing to stop the creature from going out into the world alone. Untaught and abandoned, the creature did try to be good, but his creator could possibly be blamed for his rage against society. Regardless, that rage is still present in the creature and must not be forgotten. …show more content…
However, if the creature's mate were to reject him, he would feel a spurn greater than ever before. Furthermore, the creature, with no companion of any kind at the beginning of his life, states that he chooses "rage and revenge" (121). That is to say that his feelings are directly affected by lack of love. However, the cause of his feelings is a result of the rejection he had just found in the De Lacey family. If a woman made for love, instead hated the creature, he would not be able to handle it. Thus unleashing an attack on the world, focusing on Frankenstein’s family of course, that no one could have predicted. As to Frankenstein’s duty to his creature, he has already missed his opportunity to serve this duty at the beginning of his life when his creation truly needed him. The creature and the situation is simply too unpredictable to warrant action from Frankenstein. Instead, he must focus on his duty towards mankind to stop any further destruction caused by the hands of his creations. This can only be done in part by not creating a second monster for the world to deal

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Creature is attacked instinctively by villagers and repudiated by the De Lacey's (an especially hurtful event since the Creature became so acquainted with the De Lacey's and developed sentiment for them). The violence and rejection the Creature feels leads to his evil nature later on in the novel. Additionally, the Creature begins to feel loneliness and despondency—this leads to his plot of blackmailing Victor Frankenstein for a female companion. For example, at the end of the novel when talking to Walton, the Creature explains his wrongdoings with, “For while I destroyed [Frankenstein's] hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned”; the Creature never hated anything when he was created; right out of the “womb” he was not the violent and torturing creature he later became (231).…

    • 1461 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    As the monster is never nurtured or taught morals it is very easy to view this as a depiction of natural evil. However many of the acts committed by the Creature are done in response to the unkindness shown to him by humans and in particular by his creator – and metaphorical God. This allegory is used by the Creature itself when talking to Frankenstein, though it is unsure exactly which role it plays in this parody of the Genesis myth: ‘“I ought to by thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.’” Though created as Adam was he is damned by his creator as Lucifer was, but unlike either of them he is alone without others of his kind to comfort him. Frankenstein’s refusal to provide the Creature with a companion leads to most of the Creatures crimes.…

    • 1803 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His own creator could not tolerate the sight of him and deserted him. He was left with nobody. The monster explained that he was a "poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing". He had to discover survival, language, and knowledge alone. Every time he tried to befriend someone, he was rejected.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Creature of Frankenstein The novel Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is about a scientist that discovers the secret to create life from the dead. After the creature is brought to life, Victor, the scientist, instantly regrets his decision. Mortified by his creation, he abandons the creature to fend for himself. Although the monster is hideous, his life begins with as much innocence as any regular child’s. When meeting other people, the creature is greeting by horror, disgust, and anger.…

    • 1014 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Humans have been proven that they start to judge others based on appearance from infancy. Judging others based upon their appearance before getting to know them is quite common among society. Many people have probably judged right away on someone’s appearance without intending to do so. Not only is there examples of judging at first sight in modern society, but in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as well. Choosing appearance over character causes a misfortune and is a pain to the characters in the novel Frankenstein and to modern society.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the novel Frankenstein, Marry Shelly definitely shows the influence of the Romantic Period. One of the most important features of the novel is the way in which the creature convinces Frankenstein to comply with his request in Chapter 17. Throughout the better part of their exchange, the creature's tone is reasonable in the extreme: in fact, his desire for a companion seems almost noble. In this way, he will divest himself of his longing for violence and revenge, and lead a blameless life. By aligning his maliciousness with his misery, he is implicitly blaming Frankenstein for what he has become: such an accusation, however, is effective in evoking the sympathy of both Victor and the reader.…

    • 3261 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Since the very beginnings humans have been a social species. We have always looked for companionship, for having peers with whom to interact, share our ideas and emotions. Loneliness has inspired us fear. Not in vain in most of the heroic, epic tales of the past most of the tragic moments of mythology occurred while the heroes were forced to face all the dangers and extreme challenges alone. It was often only that they had accomplished the most difficult duties such as defeating monsters and demons, that they would be rewarded with the companionship of their people and their beloved.…

    • 3577 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    One of the needs that many of the characters wanted was friendship. It all started with Robert Walton’s need for a friend. On his journey he wrote to his sister Margaret, he said, “But I have one want which I have never yet been able to satisfy, and the absence of the object of which I now feel as most severe evil. I have no friend.” (4) This first glimpse of human needs really set the book for what the rest of the characters would be dealing with and how important it would be as a whole to the book.…

    • 224 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is rejected by humankind which creates his isolation and alienation. The creature has this image of a female companion as someone who will put an end to his loneliness and make him happy again. He thinks that just like Safie, who “diffused happiness” (Shelley 111) in the cottage by her presence, a female partner will make him feel less alienated. Furthermore, when the creature tries to have a relationship with the cottagers and gets rejected, his emotions are “those of rage and revenge” (Shelley 116) towards Victor, who is his creator. He then starts killing people and kills Frankenstein’s little brother.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jacques Lacan’s theory of development explains how infants mature psychologically. The stages of his concept include the Imaginary, the Mirror, and the Symbolic. The first is where children begin to understand control. Babies learn to manipulate their environment as an extension of their own base needs and desires. There is no separation between the baby and the outside world.…

    • 1670 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He starts by taking his revenge out on killing Elizabeth on their wedding night. After this tragedy having had happened to Frankenstein, he becomes much like his creation and seeks out for revenge himself. On the creature’s lonely experience, he experiences that he is the only one of his kind. Even though he feels connected to humans he realizes he is much more different than others and is too different to be accepted and he wants a companion. The monsters need for having a companion is so strong and overpowering that he will do anything and go through anything and everything that it takes just to have a companion that will love…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    "All men hate the wretched; how then, must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things! Yet you my created detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bond by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us." The monster explained to Frankenstein that he has no friends and was lonely and his quest in life was companionship and understanding. He said, "It is my loneliness that made me savage." Frankenstein heard his voice and it scared him; he saw his reflection and it frightened him.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The creatures’ desires is to be part of the cottagers’ lives and for them to love him. This represents a connection that the create felt between him and the rest of humanity. However, the creature is rejected by society because of his disturbing appearance. He feels “emotional and psychological reactions” because of “stress and fear” (Morality without God, 2). “He is a being that has been misguided and rejected by society” (Frankenstein: The True Monster, 3).…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the end, the creature regrets all of his actions. I believe his actions were not because he was evil, but because he was lonely and had no other way to express himself. When he asked nicely for a female companion, his own creator did not want to listen to him; therefore, he has to threaten Frankenstein. Evil is not present when one is born, or in this case created, but instead it manifests out of a circumstance or people. The creature only experienced horrible things without any explanation to why he was created or why he was given life.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The monster is inherently “benevolent and good,” but his lonesome journey transforms him into a “fiend” (Shelley 87). The monster describes himself saying, “ ‘My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and, when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture, such as you cannot even imagine’ ” (Shelley 209-210). Created with an instinctive need for nurture from his creator, the monster was not capable of living alone in his society. In Stephen Gould’s view, “Frankenstein 's creature… is, rather, born capable of goodness, even with an inclination toward kindness, should circumstances of his upbringing call forth this favored response.”…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays