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Katelynn Nguyen
Ms. Dadabhoy
English Honors 2
24 March 2016
Word Count: 988
Neither is the Creature Good or Bad
The novel of Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, is a frame story that revolves around

Victor Frankenstein retelling his life story to Robert Walton. As the story unfolds, one can view

the creature as morally ambiguous -meaning he is neither “purely evil or purely good.” ​The

creature exhibits moral ambiguity through his actions and words.

The creature shows his “good side” throughout the novel and is not always stirring up

trouble. ​T​he creature displays this side when he,”[...]cleared their path of the snow, and

performed those offices that I had seen done by Felix. [...] these labours, performed by an

invisible hand, greatly astonished them;[...] utter the words good spirit, wonderful; but I did not

then understand the signification of these terms” (pg. 105). ​Given that this quote is from the

perspective of the creature, without being aware that what he has done is a good deed, he helps

the cottagers in clearing the path as well as other things. This shows that the creature is not

conscious that what he has done causes the joy of others, which in then proves that he is not

entirely evil. The creature completes these tasks not because he wants attention from the

cottagers, but because he finds it in himself to lend a hand to others without in seeking something

in return, that further proves the good side of the creature. ​The creature tremendously aids

another person, this time a little girl on the brink of drowning, “I rushed from my hiding-place;

and, with extreme labour from the force of the current, saved her, and dragged her to shore” (pg.

125) ​The creature once again, out of the “goodness of his heart”,without even thinking twice,

jumped into the pond and saved the little girl. This shows that the creature is ​beneficent ​even
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though he is despised at by technically everyone in the novel, he still helps others. ​The creature

is morally ambiguous because he is not entirely evil, he still helps others.

With Frankenstein being both the creature’s father and mother- basically he’s the only

family of the creature and yet rejects the creature merely on his appearance, claiming the creature

would be ​inimical​ to society. ​Like any child, the creature craves the attention of his parent and in

his anger, murders Frankenstein's brother, “[...]this death will carry despair to him, and a

thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him” (pg. 127) ​Contrary to his good deeds, the

creature discovers that murdering Frankenstein’s loved ones gets a reaction out of him and earns

him some attention. By murdering William, the creature displays his “evil” and irrational side to

the readers because out of his fit and rage he murdered an innocent person. William is only the

beginning of the creature’s murderings, he continued to kill to seek revenge against his creator.

The creature not only killed others with his own hands, he blamed others for his wrong-doings,

“The thought was madness; it stirred the fiend within me- not I, but she shall suffer: the murder I

have committed because I am forever robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone. The

crime had its source in her: be hers the punishment!” (pg. 127). ​As shown by the quote, the

creature is willing to compromise and commit evil deeds if it means that Frankenstein

acknowledges his existence even though it is in a negative way. The act of the creature providing

evidence to prove that Justine is guilty causes him to indirectly murder her when she is executed

for the crime she did not commit. ​The monster's rejection by Frankenstein creates his accursed

situation, which causes him to commit horrific actions and add onto him being morally

ambiguous.
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Everyone the creature meets tries to kill him, regardless of his heroic actions, because of

his heinous appearance and although he does not enjoy murdering people, he yearns attention

from Frankenstein. The creature ties the novel together because he is neither good or bad which

makes him more relatable to the readers. ​Because of his resentment towards Victor, the creature

commits all the crimes and tries to reason with Victor, “I am malicious because I am miserable.

Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” (pg. 128) ​The creature clearly states that he is

“malicious because [he is] miserable” which further proves that the deeds he has done thus far

are done blindly in revenge, loneliness. He is morally ambiguous because of such acts of

murdering and the hatred of the others he receives -he does not understand which only angers

him even more. The creature gives the novel a character in which readers’ can find both fault and

sympathy in. ​The creature further states, “I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I

desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth” (pg. 128).​ The creature fills

with rage and screams these words at Victor showing readers that he is resentful and adds on to

him being morally ambiguous. Through the conversations between the creature and his creator ,

Victor, the readers are enlightened with the monster’s journey and are able to make judgments

about his actions after learning about his unbiased perspective. ​From various quotes in the novel,

the creature is shown to be morally ambiguous, tying the novel together.

Dr. Jekyll is portrayed as a morally ambiguous character because he wanted to

experiment with a second personality and his ambition ultimately brought upon his fall. Hyde is

the consequence of Jekyll's forbidden experiments and he exists only because of Jekyll.
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Ultimately, in Frankenstein, the creature is exemplified to be morally ambiguous. From

his perspective in the novel, his actions and words prove so because neither is he good nor bad.

Readers could identify with the creature, while they could rage at the creature they would also

sympathise with him when the readers take into consideration of the creature’s “good deeds.”