Mary Shelley & the novel Essay

More quotes to indulge the reader’s thoughts of negative views for the monster are said by the doctor. ‘I turned loose into world a depraved wretch, whose delight was in carnage and misery ‘. Here Frankenstein says that the monster enjoys evil and gains pleasure from it. This gives a very negative appearance of the creature to the reader as they will think every act which is bad the monster loves it. From all the negative comments which were said by Frankenstein, seems to change the reader’s thoughts at the start of chapter 11. From the beginning of this chapter it clearly shows that the monster is not one to be judged at first sight. He says, ‘I saw, felt, heard, and smelt, at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses’. This speech which the monster says expresses a different light to the novel. He explains how the sense of sight, touch, hearing and smell were a new thing to him and how long it took for him to differentiate between the various senses he possesses. All these qualities fit for another being as well as the monster. A baby will also have these qualities when he/she enters the world for the first time. So this quotation shows how Mary Shelley compares the monster to a new born baby. She has done this because it’s another way to convey that the comments which were made by Frankenstein are just opinions not facts. She also gives the monster a chance to speak for him and tell his side of the story. Another way Mary Shelley presents the monster as a new born baby is when the monster describes his development. ‘I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid’. Now the monster describes how freely he can roam around places and how he is able to make his way through solid obstacles showing his improvement of eyesight. Mary Shelley presents the monster like this because she still compares the monster to a new born baby. Like the monster a new born baby would gradually learn how to walk and learn how he/she can see obstacles in their way. Further ways the author compared the monster to a new born baby is when the monster describes him having the same qualities as the baby. He quotes, ‘I felt tormented by hunger and thirst’ and ‘was overcome by sleep’. These two quotes are qualities of a baby. A baby would feel hungry and thirsty most of the time and would feel sleepy during the day and night. These actions the monster also felt. Also in another quotation, the monster describes himself as an infant instead of a baby. This quotation is, ‘In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain’. Here the monster had just found a fire which was left behind and in the cold he decided to make himself warm but seating by it. Overcome by joyful sensations he drove his hands into the flames making the fire extinguish. This shows he’s like an infant because when an infant would make a mistake, the infant would cry and weep. Similarly like an infant the monster made a mistake and cried in a painful manner.