Mary Shelley Frankenstein: Ugly Society

Frankenstein is full of horrible elements about human society. Mary Shelley shows many of the sides of human beings that are not necessarily positive attributes. She really gives a kind of critique on mankind’s judgement of others. In this novel, a major theme is that in society people judge people by their looks and this judgment may cause negativity, this can be seen through the characters, Victor and the creature, when they judge other characters or are judged themselves. When you meet someone, the first thing you do is start judging them on what their wearing or how their hair is styled, and this is not always a good thing.

Immediately after Victor gave the monster the last touch to spark life in it, he simply judged the monster on its looks only. Since the creature was very ugly looking, this did not bring up a very positive situation for Victor. Victor described the first contact with the monster when he says, “I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived”(p. 68).

If I was to witness this without knowing the prior events I would be frightened. Although, since Victor knows exactly what is going on as he is giving the monster life, it is odd that he should be so frightened. Its so bad that Victor nearly rejects the creature at conception. In accordance with Victor’s actions towards his initial contact with the monster, Shelley kept the theme of mankind condemning an individual due to its looks by having Victor scared of the monster strictly due to its ugliness.

This is different than if I was the one in the laboratory, I would be very scared as would anyone. However, due to the fact that Victor had worked on it for a couple of years and knew the situation exactly, he had no real right to be scared by the plain sight of the creature. Since he was fully expecting the creature to come to life, it was kind of odd that he would disown the creature so abruptly, which goes along with the critique that the author probably intended.

Therefore, as Shelley presumably wanted to emphasize, humans use vision as their primary form of acceptance in too many occasions. This particular situation would constitute a valid use of a very over-used proverb, “one should never judge a book by its cover. ” In this novel, Victor “judged a book by its cover” as much of society does and did not accept the creature for its actions or any other attributes other than that its ugliness, which was enough for him to be appalled.

This same theme is the very reason as to why the creature goes on a killing rampage. Frankenstein’s creature begins to realize after a number of years that his ugly looks will gain no acceptance from anyone. This is especially true to him because his very creator or “father” would not accept him on the basis of ugliness. The creature himself realizes this as well. After reading Victor’s journal that he found, the creature said, “Accursed Creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? “(p. 171).

Since his only contact with society, apart from the contact with a blind man, has been with people who show only horror when they lay eyes on him, the creature starts to see that he will not be able to be a part of human society based on his physical appearance. That saddens him because of his need for companionship. That is probably a major part of Shelley’s critique on society. Therefore, the creature begins to go on a sort of “killing rampage” until Victor meets his demands and creates another creature as to give him a companion to live and associate with.

Since Victor cannot get himself to do just that, the creature goes on a killing rampage on people that specifically effect Victor emotionally. This is relevant since Victor’s judgment caused the creatures abandonment based on looks, and now Victor is going to suffer. When you judge someone on their looks it can affect you in negative ways, such as in racism, when people judge others on their skin tone, fights will occur, riots can flood the streets, and even death will happen.

Society shows that judging looks has a very bad flaw that can result in chaotic outcomes. In Frankenstein, Shelley is really able to make a critique on society and its faults. She used the various characters as tools to get through to the reader the state of mankind and some of the problems that are present. In fact I, along with others, believe that she greatly intended on making the conflicts that society faces present in an entertaining form.