Frankenstein: Monster by nature or by decision?

By: Jocelyn Flores

In the novel Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley, the character that most caught my
attention was the creature created by Victor Frankenstein. Who was never given a name of
his own, but was called a monster, a horrendous creature, etc. And therefore, had no identity
of his own, unable to know who or what it was.

From how the creature tells its story to its creator, I can say that from the first moment of its
life, it was judged and rejected for its physical appearance. Not just for his maker, but for
every person he came across. Not even the blind old man, De Lacey, could put aside his
prejudices and allow him to get close and relate to him and his family. The only thing the
creature sought was to be accepted by humans and find in them the care, affection, and
protection it did not have from a "mother", in this case from its creator. This reflects the cruel
behavior of human beings by letting themselves be carried away by their prejudices and first
impressions of things or people.

I understand why the creature acted the way he did, but that does not justify his action full of
thirst for revenge. For starters, he didn’t want to be created, let alone in that dreadful way.
Afterward, he was left to his own devices without knowing where to go or what to do in a
world full of human cruelty. He had to learn for himself to speak, as well as the meaning of
words, actions, or feelings, and all this through the observation of those he considered his
friends. He learned to love from afar and to suffer closely, which led him to spend his whole
life in solitude, and it is something that no living being should live. And being enveloped in
so much hatred, contempt, and rejection, the only alternative he found to cope with his life
was the thirst for revenge. Vengeance towards his creator because he blamed him for
everything bad that happened to him, although he was willing to act differently if only Victor
had been able to understand him, take care of him, guide him, and even love him. But it
wasn’t like that, so he made the decision to commit all those crimes. I think that, just as he
was able to take revenge, he may well have decided not to do so, since, being a thinking
creature, intelligent and capable of feeling, he had free will to choose his action.
Even so, I think the creature was selfish in wanting Victor to create someone of his own
species with whom to spend the rest of his life, selfish in being willing to condemn that new
creature to the same fate that he had had, full of contempt, rejection, and hatred. Also, selfish
because he only cared about his feelings and how he wanted to feel next to a creature just
like him, without thinking about the feelings the other creature might have.

Finally, I consider that the monster wasted his life, instead of trying to enjoy the few or many
good things that life could offer him, like the beautiful landscapes, he spent it making Victor’s
life unhappy and miserable.