The Monster 2

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What does the Monster Represent?

Many critics believe Shelley uses the Monster to voice her own concerns about society, reform and the dangers of uncontrolled scientific discovery.

Etymology

The term ‘monstrous’ in Gothic fiction is etymologically something that means to ‘demonstrate’ or ‘warn’.
- The Latin 'monstrare' means to demonstrate.
- The Latin 'monere' means to warn.

Representing society

Many critics believe the Monster is a vehicle for Shelley to voice her own concerns about society, reform and the dangers of uncontrolled scientific discovery.
It could also reflect the innate innocence of humanity and the ill-effects of the society it is shaped within.

Representing gender

Other critics question whether the Monster is male, as its isolation, degradation and ‘otherness’ places it in the same sphere as women in the Georgian era.

Doppelgängers

Victor and the Monster could be said to be Doppelgängers as Victor even acknowledges that the Monster is "my own spirit let loose from the grave".
It was clearly Shelley’s intention that we are to view both the creator and the Monster as one - displaying how inextricable their actions are and how Victor is as monstrous and destructive as the creature he gave life to.

Comparison

They both feel intense isolation and a fervent passion for knowledge.
However Victor is given every advantage with his privileged childhood while the monster is cruelly abandoned at birth and left to forge (and destroy) his own path in the world.

The ‘double’

In Gothic fiction, the ‘double’ is often associated with ugliness, signifying the depravity of its more upright twin (see Jekyll and Hyde/ Dorian Grey).
In this sense, we should judge Victor and not the creature.

The texts that the Monster reads are hugely influential upon him. The texts are intensely symbolic as to what Shelley views as the creation of the Monster’s moral and emotional questioning. Here they are in order, and what he learns from each:

Ruins of Empires

Comte De Volney’s 'Ruins of Empires' (1791).
Knowledge of history, governments, religions, power and inequality.

Paradise Lost

Milton’s 'Paradise Lost' (1667).
This is a hugely influential text to this novel (see Epigraph) and is mentioned throughout both Victor and the creature’s narratives.
The Monster learns "different and far deeper emotions" when he reads Milton’s epic poem, but he views it as reality, not as a work of fiction.

Greater powers

He learns of the concept of the almighty creator, God, Adam, and Satan, pondering upon the concept of good and evil.
He comments that "Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence...Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition".

Companionship

Even within the image of Satan, the Monster concludes that "Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred."
It is clearly this text that makes the Monster wonder about the possibility of a mate, an Eve to his Adam.

The Educational Texts

Plutarch’s Lives

Plutarch’s Lives - a reference to Parallel Lives by Plutarch (AD100).
The Monster admits that this is a hard read but he learnt of "men concerned in public affairs, governing or massacring their species".
It is this text which the Monster claims, ironically, taught him "the greatest ardour for virtue rise within me, and abhorrence for vice".

Plutarch’s Lives cont.

He also concludes that he was taught to admire "peaceable lawgivers", yet he goes on to kill three people in the text and cause the death of several others.

The Sorrows of Werther

Goethe’s 'The Sorrows of Werther' (1774).
The Monster learns "lofty sentiments and feelings", deep emotions and "disquisitions upon death and suicide" from this text:
"I learnt from Werter’s imaginations despondency and doom".

Self reflection

It is this novel that makes the Monster question "Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come?", so makes him ponder his own existence.
Goethe’s text is classed as one of the first Romantic novels which projected the character of the doomed Romantic hero, who dies due to failed love.

Faust

Interestingly, Goethe’s magnum opus, Faust, could also be paralleled with Frankenstein, as it outlines the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil for infinite knowledge.