The monster becomes a person
Introduction:
Victor Frankenstein is a Swiss student of the sciences, working in the German city of Ingolstadt. He becomes so good at chemistry and physiology that he constructs a human creature and is able to give it life. The thing he creates is not a robot but a huge formed -being, a giant eight feet tall.
Yet in becoming aware of the world, and understanding human ways, the creature has to begin from nothing. It gets to know itself as it begins to learn how language is used. It develops a nature which is generally kind and looks on humans in a friendly and helpful way. But it soon becomes disappointed with the world it is learning about; being hideously ugly, it finds no kindness in return for its friendly approaches, and learns to keep away from society. It turns to doing evil: 'I am malicious because I am miserable', it says.
The monster escapes from Frankenstein's laboratory and moves about secretly in the neighbouring forest, managing to live on wild fruits and water from streams. Eventually it finds its creator and confronts him with an account of its experiences. Pain was the first sensation it experienced consciously; its first achievement was to identify and use the names of some living creatures. Above all, it became aware of its own terrible ugliness and some of the consequences of this.
The monster tells its story to its creator, Frankenstein, who by now has come to refer to the creature as 'he', 'him', etc., as we shall do here from now on. The creature talks about the first winter of his life in the forest
It is very cold, and in his search for food and shelter he sees a shepherd' hut far away from any other houses. Finding the door open, he makes his way in. Inside there is an old man busy preparing his breakfast. The man sees the monster, shrieks out at the sight, and is so terrified that he runs out across the fields with the speed of a much younger person. The monster eats the bread, cheese, milk and wine left by the old man, and then lies down in some straw on the floor of the hut, and falls asleep. He continues his story as follows.
Extract A
It was noon when I awoke; and, allured by the warmth of the sun, which shone brightly on the white ground, I determined to recommence my travels; and, depositing the remains of the peasant's breakfast in a wallet I found, I proceeded across the fields for several hours, until at sunset I arrived at a village. How miraculous did this appear! The huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses, engaged my admiration by turns. The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite. One of the best of these I entered; but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village. This hovel, however, joined a cottage of a neat and pleasant appearance; but, after my late [recent] dearly bought experience, I dared not enter it. My place of refuge was constructed of wood, but so low that I could [only] with difficulty sit upright in it. No wood, however, was placed on the earth, which formed the floor, but it was dry; and although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks, I found it an agreeable asylum from the snow and rain.
Para. 2
Here then I retreated, and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man.
As soon as morning dawned, I crept from my kennel that I might view the adjacent cottage, and discover if I could remain in the habitation I had found. It was situated against the back of the cottage, and surrounded on the sides which were exposed by a pig-sty and a clear pool of water. One part was open, and by that I had crept in; but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived with stones and wood, yet in such a manner that I might move them on occasion to pass out: all the light I enjoyed [had the use of] came through the sty, and that was sufficient for me.
Having thus arranged my dwelling, and carpeted it with clean straw, I retired [withdrew, lay down inside]; for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power. I had first, however, provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf of coarse bread which I purloined and a cup with which I could drink, more conveniently than from my hand, of the pure water which flowed by my retreat. The floor was a little raised, so that it was kept perfectly dry, and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was tolerably warm.
Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until something should occur which might alter my determination [resolution]. It was indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest, my former residence, the rain-dropping branches, and dank earth. I ate my breakfast with pleasure, and was about to re move a plank to procure myself a little water, when I heard a step, and looking through a small chink, I beheld a young creature, with a pail on her head, passing before my hovel. The girl was young, and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found cottagers and farm-house servants to be. Yet she was meanly dressed, a coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb; her fair hair was plaited, but not adorned: she looked patient yet sad. I lost sight of her; and in about a quarter of an hour she returned, bearing the pail, which was now partly filled with milk. As she walked along, seemingly incommoded by the burden, a young man met her, whose countenance expressed a deeper despondence. Uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head, and bore it to the cottage himself. She followed, and they disappeared. Presently I saw the young man again, with some tools in his hand, cross the field behind the cottage; and the girl was also busied, sometimes in the house, and sometimes in the yard.
Commentary
Everything in extract A is very well told by the writer. Even in such a short stretch of reading as this, we sense we are in the hands of a writer who can feel with the monster-character she has created. She makes him give us some insight into nothing less than the birth of a personality. Of course, in this account of his experiences the monster is using language he acquired much later in his development. It is language used as a vehicle for conveying the emotions he experienced in the formation of his character, language which was not available to him when his own evolution was taking place. His motives for doing this, for laying out his soul to his creator, are too subtle and complex to do justice to here. It can be said, however, that they are directed towards winning the fellow-feeling of his creator, Frankenstein, who should be more friendly to him than any other human he has yet met. He looks for kindness from the man who has made him, or at least patient understanding. Every other human he has been with has found him disgusting; they have run away from him or driven him away.
The writer gives her story an added interest by bringing together the emotions of the monster and the cold, stormy weather. Each of these subjects reflects the other; each is an image of the other. The hostile attitude of the people he meets has similarities with the severe weather, the 'white ground', 'the rain-dropping branches and dank earth'. The impressions made on us by the people and the weather, taken together, must make us deeply sorry for the monster in his troubles. We feel a sympathy for him which would be much less strong if it had all happened, say, in warm, sunny weather.
We can collect words and phrases from the text which convey both sides of the monster's suffering, the social (human beings) and the physical (the weather).
Here are some words and phrases which relate to his treatment by society; they are almost all hostile and negative:
shrieked; fainted; fled; attacked; grievously bruised by stones; missile weapons; escaped; fearfully took refuge; hovel; bare; wretched; dearly bought; dared not: with difficulty; crept;
kennel; pig-sty; my treatment (i.e. 'hostile treatment', giving an ironic connotation to a word which, out of context, we might first take as favourable, as for example in the phrase 'hospital treatment'); purloined.
At the point reached here in the narrative, the sadness felt by the monster is somehow taken over by the girl and the young man he sees through a crack in the wall:
meanly dressed; not adorned (of the girl's hair); patient; sad; incommoded by the burden; deeper despondence; an air of melancholy; bore (i.e. 'carried, as of a burden').
The monster is at least beginning to appreciate that he is not the only sufferer in the world. However, in contrast to his misery, the monster has some feeling of optimism, even at the start of this passage where he remembers above all the hostile attitude of the villagers towards him. We can bring together words and phrases which convey this contrasting sense of optimism as it is reflected in some aspects of the world around him:
the warmth of the sun; shone brightly; miraculous; admiration; appetite (not 'hunger', which would have implied a harsher condition).
Towards the end of extract A, the monster has begun to occupy the hovel. This is for him at least a reasonably good shelter from the weather, and his more favourable attitude of mind is conveyed in the words and phrases he uses. Here, too, we sense that the worst of the weather has passed; at least it is not so bad as to prevent the young man from setting off to work across the field at the back of the cottage. Here are some words and phrases which connote the general improvement for the monster when he has set up home in the hovel, and found in it 'a shelter ... from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man':
clear (pool of water); enjoyed (of 'light', in the sense of 'have the use of', but inevitably coloured by the more common meaning 'take joy or delightin');
dwelling (a more favourable term than 'hovel', 'shelter'); clean (straw); pure (water); tolerably warm; reside (suggesting something more permanent and comfortable than 'live'); paradise; residence; pleasure (at eating his 'breakfast', evidently more of a set meal than something taken simply to relieve hunger).
We are prepared for the 'young creature'.................. the 'girl ... of gentle demeanour' who now comes into his story.
As the monster tells his story, he shows he has not only a crystal-clear vision of the experiences which brought him to self-awareness, but also great skill in the use of language. He cares for language as a treasured possession. He has acquired it with difficulty and hard work; he uses it with care and respect. He recalls distinctly the time when he came to realise that the cottagers he was secretly observing had a method, totally mysterious to him, of communicating with one another through the medium of sound. He had already found some means of helping them secretly, such as by collecting wood for their fire, and is beginning to feel he is getting closer to them.
© Bernard Lott 1986
Last update: 9 Enero 2000© Iris García Andaluz
bibliography:
Bernard Lott .A course in English and Literature . London: Edward Arnold
(publishers), 1986.