Which character does the reader have most sympathy for: Frankenstein or his creation?
Mary Shellys novel Frankenstein was first published in 1818, at the time it was inappropriate for women to be writers so it was published anonymously. If she had published it under her name the novel would not have sold and she would have been ridiculed for it. Mary Shellys life was very troubled, many of her family members tragically died, this is reflected in her novel, many other things in the novel also relate to her life and the times she lived in. The point of this essay is to discuss how shelly manages to gain sympathy for Frankenstein and his creation with the story line, also the language and literature, how she plays with our feelings and emotions thought out the novel, after reading the novel the reader must make up their own mind who they feel most sympathy for because it is not obvious who shelly intended us to fell the most sympathy for. In my opinion Frankensteins creation/the monster deserves more sympathy than Frankenstein himself. This essay wishes to explain why the reader can feel more sympathy for the monster but at the same time feel sympathy for Frankenstein.
In chapter five, it is a dreary night in September this is pathetic fallacy because every time the monster is about to enter the story it is dark and rainy, this gives us the feeling that the monster is bad and makes us feel uneasy, the fact that Mary Shelley uses pathetic fallacy when the monster is about to enter the story means that we can predict what is going to happen and it gives us a vibe that the monster is not good. If it was sunny and beautiful when the monster was there it would make us feel more comfortable, therefore liking the monster more. On this dreary night Victor Frankenstein makes the monster comes alive, as soon as Frankenstein releases that the monster is alive he says but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. This makes us feel sympathy for the monster because his father, his creator detests him. If the man that should be his father does not like him it does not give him much hope with other people. This is our first impression of the monster it is not a good one but because of this it actually makes us feel sorry for him. But if the reader wanted to they could interpret this quote differently and take it to mean that the monster is bad and that victor is a poor man whose dreams have been smashed.
Later on in chapter five victor meets up with his dear friend Henry Clerval, for the first time in months he has a moment of pure happiness and joy but then Henry comments on his health saying I did not before remark how very ill you appear; so thin and pale; and look as if you had been watching for several nights. This makes us feel sympathy for Frankenstein because he cant hide the fact he is a mess and even if he manages to forget about the monster for a moment he will never truly be rid of it. We feel sorry for him because he did not want it to be this way, all victor wants now is to go back to his family and pretend none of this every happened sadly since he has created the problem he now has to fix it. But he can not tell any one about what he has done because he feels shame and people would look down on him fore doing such an inhuman thing so he must keep it to himself, the pressure must be very great.
In chapter 11 is when we first really meet the monster. He has found Victor and has taken him to a cave where he is trying to explain to victor what his life has been like and why he killed Victors little brother William. In one particular sentence our hearts really go out to the monster this is when he says to victor I was a poor helpless, miserable wrench; I knew, and could distinguish, nothing; but the feeling of pain invaded me on all sides, I sat down and wept. As well as what the sentence is actually meaning the language is designed to make us feel sorry for the monster. The sentence has been chopped up into small sections of two - three words; this has an effect on us because it is sharp and makes us feel uneasy because it does not flow well.
The monster has a kind side he helped some poor people by bringing in wood for them at night so that they could spend the day repairing the cottage and cultivating the garden. By doing this he earned there favor but they had not seen him yet. The monster one day when the two younger people were out went inside and met the old man who was blind, because the man could not see him he did not hate him but as soon as the younger people returned and saw him there they thought he was bad and attacked him because they thought he was trying to hurt the old man. This makes us feel sympathy for the monster because he has tried so hard to be friends with these people and when they cant see him they love him but as soon as they know what he looks like they hate and fear him.
At the end of the novel one of the last things we hear the monster say is but it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. This shows the monsters remorse and regret at what he has done, he is very upset and feels as though everything he ever does or ever works for ends up hurting some one. He feels as if there is no-one out there who can help him. Mary Shelley uses this to make us feel sympathy for the monster, she makes us want to help him and forgive him for all the bad things he did because he was misguided and lonely and is now showing the greatest regret, she does this by letting us know how the monster is feeling inside, she shows his deepest feeling. The monsters head is full of dark thought about himself, he has completely given up. All this is in first person narrative so its more meaningful and has a greater effect on the reader because hes saying it himself.
At the end of the novel Frankensteins life is almost over and it is what he wants we know this because he says how I have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs upon the sandy plain and prayed for death this shows the reader that all Frankenstein really wants is peace and the only way he thinks he can get it is though death. This is very moving and makes the reader wish to help him; show him that he doesnt need to die, that there are other ways. The reader feels very sympathetic towards him because he has given up on life and only wants death. It makes the reader feel sympathy for Frankenstein because of every thing he has been though in his life.
In conclusion I believe Mary Shelley did not intend to create more sympathy for ether character, what she did was create a deep and thought provoking novel that had people thinking and making up there own minds. She managed to make the novel interesting with her different use of language. When the book was first published it would have gained a lot of interest because some of the things that were written related to what was going on in the world at the time. Many parts of Frankenstein related back to Marys own personal experiences, she used what was going on in the world around her. Many example of this can be found though out the book. For instance Mary had a few children all but one died before adulthood, her husband drowned at sea. Victor Frankenstein losses all of his close family this is possible because of the pain Mary felt because she lost hers to.
She has used many different styles of writing to make us feel sympathy for the two characters. She used pathetic fallacy when ever the monster came in, it was always rainy and dark. She used different sounds like when some thing horrible was being said the words contained harsh sound instead of soft sounds. All the little things she did to make us feel sympathy for one of the characters really work even thought to most readers they go un-noticed.
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