The monster’s reflections on Felix’s history lesson in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein wield oppressive power over him. In learning about the nature of human beings, he dives deeper into knowledge of how he would be perceived by them. As he dwells on the meaning of Felix’s words, he forms a new self-image, one that is informed by the society’s concepts of status and wealth. The monster’s despondent reflections are caused by the knowledge bestowed by human words.

The monster demonstrates an awareness of the power of words after eavesdropping on Felix’s lesson. He is induced by the words to “turn toward [himself] (122),”  stating it so the words place him in a position of subordination. Until now, the monster has obsessed about “acquiring the art of language” (118) and hoped that he could command language in order to introduce himself to the family. After hearing Felix’s lesson, however, he is subjugated by the words’ power, and made to “turn toward [him]self,” away from the human family. He now understands that the tendency for language that he originally embraced is a force that alienates him from humanity.

The monster struggles to define himself with words. “What was I?” he asks himself (123), ignorant of his origins and ancestry, and therefore having no discernable purpose in life. Importantly, defining himself as “what” instead of “who” shows the influence that human perception has on his words. To a human being, the monster is an object. The monster is aware of the fact that if he continues to use the language of man, he is emphasizing his place in the world as an other.

The monster compares himself to a “blot upon the earth” (123), as if the earth were a written document. Essentially, Felix’s dictation from the history book is the monster’s perception of the world, which is oppressively the only avenue for understanding the world that the he has. In this metaphor, the monster would be a misshapen spill of ink, forming no intelligible words. A blot would assuredly be considered a mistake and would never be recognized as a legitimate part of a written work.

The monster proclaims “I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me” (123). Again his language demonstrates that he feels victimized, this time by the “reflections” of his new knowledge brought about by Felix’s words. Words are not enough, however, to describe his agony, because it is beyond what human beings are able to experience. In this passage, the addressee is Victor Frankenstein, who, the monsters recognizes, would be unable to understand his level of agony.

Because the monster’s “sorrow only increased with knowledge” (123), he can only avoid it by avoiding learning. Ironically, he originally believed that learning the ways of human beings would help him interact with them and, as a result, he would be happy. Now, the monster wishes that he had remained in nature in ignorance, without having “known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat” (123). Essentially, he wishes he could divorce himself from the human world of written knowledge and become purely animal, recognizing only the things he senses.

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Works Cited

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. Ed. Maurice Hindle. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.

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Appendix

Selected Passage from Frankenstein (122-3):

‘The words induced me to turn towards myself. I learned that the possessions most esteemed by your fellow-creatures were high and unsullied descent united with riches. A man might be respected with only one of these advantages but, without either, he was considered, except in very rare instances, as a vagabond and a slave, doomed to waste his powers for the profits of the chosen few! And what was I? Of my creation and creator I was absolutely ignorant; but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as men. I was more agile than they, and could subsist upon coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I then a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?

‘I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me: I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hunger, thirst, and heat![’]

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein and the creature are affected time after time by struggles, including the ghastly deaths of loved ones, persecution and rejection from society. Attributing each other as the cause of one another’s hardships, Frankenstein and his creation are bent on revenge. However, rather than dying at the hands of one another, the troubled characters sink to their demise in their individual pool of miseries. Shelley regularly employs the word “misery,” which according to the Oxford English Dictionary means “a condition of external unhappiness, discomfort, or distress,” to describe the depressed sentiments of Frankenstein and the creature. This highlights the selfishness both exhibit and how drowning in one’s own miseries can equate to self-inflicting physical and emotional pain.

The frequency of “misery” increases over the course of the novel as each successive death of Frankenstein’s family member transpires. Frankenstein may feel remorse for the losses, but he also does not do much other than complain. After the death of his younger brother, William, Frankenstein takes a couple days leave to dwell in the seclusion of nature in order to contemplate on William’s death and “the misery [he] imagined and dreaded” (Shelley 77) will ensue in the future. Despite this, Frankenstein refuses to alert anyone of the threat the creature imposes. After Justine’s unjust execution, Frankenstein again departs on a journey through magnificent valleys and mighty mountains while “indulging in the misery of reflection” (98). Frankenstein chooses to ignore how he had a chance to absolve Justine of all guilt by revealing the existence of his rampaging creation. His desire for his own continued survival outweighed his wish for Justine’s pardon.

Frankenstein also never considers himself the source of his own miseries. Instead, he blames Fate and, inadvertently, his parents. Frankenstein states his future was “in their hands to direct to happiness or misery” (35) and mentions that if his father had not dismissed the views of Cornelius Agrippa, then he would not have taken a stronger interest in “natural philosophy” and end up with a “tale of misery” (40). To top off the chain of blame is the creature, even though he suffers greatly from his own string of melancholies. The creatures drop the word “misery” down as much as Frankenstein does. He is constantly denied any opportunity of friendship or intimacy because of his grotesque appearance. On the other hand, the creature is not completely cleared of having selfish, condemning tendencies. He points his finger at Frankenstein as the reason for his “insupportable misery” (138). The creature laments about his birth—“Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live?” —but believes achieving revenge in the form of murder is the rightful purpose of the remainder of his life.

Frankenstein and the creature each consider themself as the most miserable being of all time. “No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to” (223) to the creature’s and “misery had her dwelling in [Frankenstein’s heart]” (190). As a result of these perspectives, both push aside sympathy for others that actually deserve it and fight each other out of greed for pity. Specifically, Frankenstein completely dismisses the character of a poor woman nursing him to health by negatively labeling her as someone who will not sympathize “in sights of misery” (182). He has no right to assume she lacked a strict dose of miseries throughout her lifetime. The more Frankenstein and the creature despair, the more insensitive they become to the difficulties of others’ lives.

By the end of the novel, misery appears to be a major cause of Frankenstein and the creature’s deaths. Frankenstein succumbs to a fever of vengeance, hatred and misery while the creature decides to escape from a world of vengeance, hatred and misery through suicide. The two, however, fail to ever obtain a desire to try for reconciliation or repentance. They instead act on adverse emotions, such as misery, and thus deteriorate into beings with immoral, hateful mindsets.

Misery can be compared to the fire which the creature was once warmed and later consumed by: it grows and grows, kindled by an excess of the same severe unhappiness. Frankenstein and the creature did not bother to extinguish the flame when it started. In consequence, selfishness and intolerance cultivated within them, and they burned.

Bibliography:

“Misery, N.” : Oxford English Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus. Ed. Maurice Hindle. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.

I enjoyed this scene; and yet my enjoyment was embittered both by the memory of the past, and the anticipation of the future. I was formed for peaceful happiness. During my youthful days discontent never visited my mind; and if I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful in nature, or the study of what is excellent and sublime in the productions of man, could always interest my heart, and communicated elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be – a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and intolerable to myself.

Surrounded by the majesty of nature, Victor Frankenstein briefly self-reflects on a troubled time in his life. Victor lives while his younger brother and housekeeper are dead, complies to his own creation that causes him grief, and walks with the bitter knowledge of his creation that only he understands. In essence, Victor is disillusioned. Although he believed his pursuit of knowledge was worthwhile, his inherent personality traits twisted his fate. Despite his past experiences, Victor cannot overcome his excessive desire for great status and independence.

In the following lines, Victor’s description of his life as a youth can be seen as incongruent with the reader’s knowledge. He was “formed for peaceful happiness” and that the “sight of what is beautiful in nature” or the “study of what is excellent and sublime” comforted him (Shelley 165). Without context, it might be assumed that Victor lived a carefree, scholarly life and occasionally peered out the window. But the events of his life are far different. Although Victor’s parents appropriately taught him to show love to his siblings, Victor’s thirst for knowledge gradually separated him. Since his father was not scientific, Victor taught himself the subjects of electricity and galvanism (42). His journey towards the valley of Chamounix provided him “relief from [his] intolerable sensations” despite Elizabeth’s plea to “stay true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty” (96-97). His great diligence in studying human physiology was based more on seeking individual glory and reputation. He admits that even he was “surprised, that among so many men of genius,” he discovered the creation of life (53). It is also important to note that instead of using boredom, Victor uses “ennui” to describe a feeling. By definition, it shows a lack of interest, but it can also suggest superiority to others who don’t do anything useful. Victor did find solace in nature and his work, but it was true only on a surface level. To be more accurate, Victor was formed around peaceful happiness. His family was supportive and when tragedy struck, they made the necessary sacrifices for the good of the group. Victor doesn’t follow this belief and willingly leaves, highlighting how different he is from the rest of his family. His dangerous devotion to his interests even forces his isolation in pursuit of scientific glory. His family does not tell him to follow this path; rather, Victor considers his goals above his own family and chooses to become more important. In this way, Victor has lived a life rooted in selfish, egotistical reasons.

Victor then calls himself a “blasted tree” (165). In comparison to the “blasted stump” in Volume 1, Chapter 2, this metaphor shows that Victor was not completely ruined but still affected nonetheless (42). Before, Victor made the fundamental shift away from the teachings of Cornelius Agrippa and turned towards mathematics and related sciences. It is also at this point that he felt souls were “bound to prosperity or ruin” (43). Instead of souls, however, Victor is bound by his own personality traits. By comparing himself to a blasted tree, his desire for independence and self-importance is revealed. A tree stands in isolation, growing as it can, until it’s unable to or met by force. By some chance, unlike other trees, the tree is struck, differentiating it from the rest. Now, being a blasted tree, Victor is the one who warns wanderers that decide to take a walk through the wilderness; he essentially becomes important. Victor knows he cannot escape the lightning strike because of his own inherent personality. His own ambition and unwillingness to reconsider the consequences of his actions has now set him the task of remaking another creature.

In the final part of the passage, Victor states that he is “a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and intolerable to myself” (165). This final condemnation drives the point of his own personality faults affecting his fate. In other words, Victor considers himself to be a distinctive display of failure as a human being. His desires have completely turned to its worst possible case. His grueling creation will now only make him infamous and with the fiend constantly overhead, he cannot even have an ounce of freedom. This is why Victor states he is “intolerable to myself” as his core desires have now been taken away.

While the reader listens to Victor’s narration, his words and actions convey someone who is selfish and self-important. His personality drives him to terrible consequences even when he realizes his faults. Yet, Victor, unlike Robert, does not change course and accepts his fate.