Monstrosity Flashcards
What is Victor’s depiction of the Monster?
As soon as his creation awakened, Victor referred to it as a ‘miserable monster’.
How does Shelley present the Monster compared to Victor?
-In Volume Two, when Shelley presents the Monster’s narrative, the reader is surprised by how eloquent and intelligent he seems to be.
-This contrasts with Victor, who throws constant insults at the Monster and desires to engage him in combat.
How is Victor monstrous?
-Victor is moved by the Monster’s appeal for a companion and agrees to create one.
-The Monster’s sensitive and well-though-out argument at this stage heightens the reader’s sense of Victor’s cruelty and monstrosity when he destroys the companion.
What made the Monster ‘monstrous’?
-When referring to himself, the Monster often seems to appropriate the same type off insulting language used by Victor.
-The Monster himself claims that it was ‘misery’ which turned him into ‘fiend’.
-This could be read as proof of society’s ability to create monsters through its treatment of others.
-‘I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.’
-‘Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room…’ (Chapter 5)
-The manner in which Victor is so quick to dismiss and abandon the Monster, after Shelley has presented his substantial toil in creating it and bringing it to life perhaps suggests that Victor himself is monstrous.
-His treatment of his creation is especially shocking in light of his own idyllic upbringing.
‘Abhorred monster! fiend that thou art! the tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! you reproach me with your creation; come on, them, that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed.’ (Volume Two: Chapter 2)
-The language with which Victor addresses the Monster could also be read as more monstrous than that of the creation.
-Shelley purposely contrasts Victor’s brutal and violent insults with the Monster’s eloquence in order to bring into question which character is more ‘monstrous’.
-‘I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers – their grace, beauty and delicate complexions: but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool!’
-‘I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.’ (Volume Two: Chapter 4)
-The moment in which the Monster sees his own reflection perhaps allows him to understand why people in society have reacted to him how they have.
-He seems to feel that his unpleasant appearance makes him the Monster that others think he is.
-Perhaps Shelley is criticising the superficial judgements of society, by demonstrating the emotional impact they can have on people.
-‘I though with a sensation of madness on my promise to create another like him and trembling with passion, tor to pieces the thing on which I was engaged.’
-‘The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew.’ (Volume Three: Chapter 3)
-The violence with which the destruction of the second creature is enacted, shows the brutality of Victor.
-This is furthered by the fact that Victor does this in front of the Monster, making him seem sadistic and unnecessarily cruel.
