Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.’
The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet.
I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him
…but I didn’t read it that as an accident. Imagine using that defense in a courtroom: “I wasn’t trying to kill the child, I was trying to kidnap him for revenge. I killed him by accident when choking him to silence him.” Especially given the physical mismatch of a huge heavyweight versus a tiny child.
As I said earlier, “I think the problem is the students are giving too much credence to the monster’s monologues”
Frankenstein immediately labels him an abomination as soon as he comes to life, and he never gives him a chance to show that he’s anything but a monster.
He also hides out trying to help this family for a long time, and as soon as they see him, they assume he’s evil and terrible and run away as well.
The monster kills a few of Frankensteins family members, and stalks him for the rest of his days though, so he did kinda become the thing he was thought to be.
Victims turning into monsters because of abuse is kinda the whole point of the book.
What’s funny about this? He WAS a victim. He was the creation of pride and hubris. Only shallow judgement made him a “monster”
The murders make him a monster.
You could probably call the first one a tragic accident that is ultimately the doctor’s fault, but he’s killed at a minimum four people by the end.
Ok, but to be fair, how many of us haven’t killed at least four people.
You could…
…but I didn’t read it that as an accident. Imagine using that defense in a courtroom: “I wasn’t trying to kill the child, I was trying to kidnap him for revenge. I killed him by accident when choking him to silence him.” Especially given the physical mismatch of a huge heavyweight versus a tiny child.
As I said earlier, “I think the problem is the students are giving too much credence to the monster’s monologues”
You mean the monster’s own bad judgement, or Frankenstein, or the humans in the book in general?
Yes.
Frankenstein immediately labels him an abomination as soon as he comes to life, and he never gives him a chance to show that he’s anything but a monster.
He also hides out trying to help this family for a long time, and as soon as they see him, they assume he’s evil and terrible and run away as well.
The monster kills a few of Frankensteins family members, and stalks him for the rest of his days though, so he did kinda become the thing he was thought to be.
Victims turning into monsters because of abuse is kinda the whole point of the book.
Agree
Monsters are often created from pride and hubris not their own.
I’m 14 and this is deep
I’m 14 and this is criticism.