Throughout Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and throughout history, men and women have attempted to answer one basic question. This

Transcription

1 David Coy Coy 1 British Literature Frankenstein Paper Throughout Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and throughout history, men and women have attempted to answer one basic question. This question can reveal the core beliefs of any person and shapes how a person works and what a person s goals are. This question has stumped the most genius of all men, people have written hundreds of pages on it and killed to defend their belief. This question is, What makes a human, human? In Mary Shelly s Frankenstein, the question narrows in on is the monster human? In our modern melting pot of ideas, people have all kinds of views on what makes humans human. Many say that it is the ability to have community or to love other people ( What Makes Us Human? ). Others say it is the ability to speak and express ourselves through art ( What Makes Us Human? ). Others say that our concept of destiny and the ability to contemplate our own death or even the ability to contemplate anything ( What Makes Us Human? ). Aristotle said that humans are separated from animals by having a different type of soul, animals have a soul that can control instincts and feeling, but only a human soul can control our mind and reason (Hoffe 93). John Locke had a similar view that the mind and language separates humans from nonhumans (Chappell 89). All these people have tried to answer the

2 Coy 2 question of what makes a person human, but before the monster can be classified, he must be analyzed. When the monster is first created, the reader is in the view of Frankenstein, the creator. Frankenstein sees only the monster s hideous characteristics and the reader is given the impression that the monster is in fact a monster and is pure evil. It therefore comes as a surprise when the view switches to the monster s and the view is more confused than monstrous. The monster is only trying to contemplate why his creator ran away while also trying to use his own senses for the first time. At this point, the monster is only monstrous and inhuman by his appearance not his action or thought or feeling. The fact that he can even feel and think both point to the thought that perhaps the monster is in fact human. He is inhumanly fast and flexible and also seems to have a quicker intellect and a keen ability to learn. He discovers fire and how to eat and drink all on his own. All these characteristics, his mind and senses, point to a very human monster. Once he can control his own existence and has learned how to use his senses, the monster goes in search of understanding and community, another characteristic of humans. He temporarily finds this hope for some sort of community while hiding in a shed and listening to a family. From this family, he learns to speak French and he teaches himself to read. He starts to build a very intimate bond with this family, but he fears rejection so much that he doesn t reveal himself to them for an extended period of time. Through the monsters actions, the reader can discern that an inner longing for acceptance is

3 Coy 3 the main motive for the monster. This motive is also a main motive for many people in life. When the monster finally reveals himself, we see how truly human he is. The monster reveals himself to the blind grandfather of the family. The old man seems to accept him and they begin to connect but the rest of the family comes home and when they see the monster, they drive him away. This shows once again that the monster is not truly monstrous, but rather is only monstrous in appearance. The monsters next experience proved to be one of the most destructive. The monster saved a drowning girl, hoping she might be thankful. She seems to have been thankful but her man drives the monster away. This rejection is very painful for the monster due to the fact that he was only saving the girl and the man drove him away for no reason. The monster finally concludes that it is really Frankenstein s fault that this is happening. The creator brought him into this world and he was the first man to reject him. As the creator, Frankenstein had a responsibility, according to the monster, to love the monster and to care for him. The monster finally falls into severe hatred for his master and this overcomes him when he acts out his fist murder, one of a servant of Frankenstein s. The monster looks for acceptance again, but the boy rejects him and reveals his connection with Frankenstein. The monster finally acts as the monster he supposedly is when he kills the boy and then sets up another servant. By now, the monster wants only either to be accepted or to make Frankenstein feel the same rejection. At first, he goes to his master to

4 Coy 4 try to convince him to love him or to make him a mate. Frankenstein initially agrees but goes back on his promise in fear of a monster race. This drives the monster over the edge of sanity and the monster vows to Frankenstein to be with him on his wedding night. The monster ends up killing Frankenstein s best friend and his wife. His insane sage comes after being rejected by everyone even though his only flaw is his appearance, it seems. In the end, Frankenstein goes on a mad hunt for the monster, dying of pneumonia, and the monster goes to the North Pole to destroy himself when he hears of his creator s death. It would seem from the novel that the monster is very much a human. He is human by any standard. He is genetically human, being made from human parts. All human cells have human genes so he is genetically Homo sapien sapien ( What is DNA ). He also can communicate and express himself through language. He can think logically and can figure out solutions to problems. He contemplates his own death and destiny and exemplifies many human characteristics, but he lacks the one thing that makes all humans human. He is not made in God s image. In Genesis 1:27, God says that he created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (NIV). This means that we were created like God in that we are both soul and body along with many of the things mentioned earlier. The monster is made in the image of man. Frankenstein made the monster in hope of fulfillment of his destiny as a creator. He was not prepared to be the creator of a new creation. Because Frankenstein does not love his creation or try to protect it, it

5 Coy 5 is possible to conclude that the monster could not be human. If the monster was human, he would have to have been created by God to worship God and to be loved by God. Instead he was only a science project gone wrong. The conclusion that Frankenstein was not a monster may not have been Shelly s intention. In her book she expressed common Romantic opinion that society corrupts and that man has lost his natural emotion to science (Jones). Rousseau who had been close friends with Percy, Mary Shelley s husband, held this opinion. Rousseau is a famous Romantic philosopher who is known for his radical view on democracy and the corruptive power of society. Mary may have been trying to express this opinion but in reality it is impossible to give human characteristics to a monster that is not created in God s image. Doing so in real life would be making life out of none, which can only be done by God. In the end, although Shelly may have intended the monster to be human, it is impossible for anything not made in God s image to be human.

6 Bibliography Coy 6 Ayers, Michael. Locke. New York: Routledge, Print. This book gave a very good concise version of John Locke's views. Behrendt, Stephen C. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. New York: Hungry Minds, Print. Cottingham, John. The Cambridge Companion to Descartes. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print. Hoffe, Otfried. "First Philosophy, or Metaphysics." Aristotle. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York, Print. Jones, Roger. "Rousseau." Romantic Philosophy Web. 05 May < Mekel-Bobrov, Nitzan, and Bruce T. Lahn. "What Makes Us Human: Revisiting an Ageold Question in the Genomic Era." Journal of Biomedical Discovery and Collaboration (2006): Print. Skirry, Justin. "Rene Descartes( ), Overview." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13 Sept Web. 13 Apr "What Makes Us Human." What Makes Us Human Conference. Web. 05 May <