Frankenstein Essay

AP Essay

2011. In a novel by William Styron, a father tells his son that life "is a search for justice." Choose a character from a novel or play who responds in some significant way to justice or injustice. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the character's understanding of justice, the degree to which the character's search or justice is successful, and the significance of this search for the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

            In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the two main characters, Frankenstein and the creature are both seeking justice. This justice wouldn’t have been necessary if it wasn’t for the creation of the monster. The physical appearance of the monster is the main cause of its own monstrosity and other people’s hatred of it.

            Frankenstein’s justice stems from the realization that the monster has killed all of Victor’s family. Other members of his family feel the anguish of the recent deaths, but none so strongly as Victor, “I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer. Elizabeth read my anguish in my countenance, and kindly taking my hand, said, "My dearest friend, you must calm yourself. These events have affected me, God knows how deeply; but I am not so wretched as you are. There is an expression of despair, and sometimes of revenge, in your countenance that makes me tremble. Dear Victor, banish these dark passions. Remember the friends around you, who center all their hopes in you. Have we lost the power of rendering you happy? Ah! While we love, while we are true to each other, here in this land of peace and beauty, your native country, we may reap every tranquil blessing--what can disturb our peace?” (124).From his first move, the monster ended up killing Victor’s brother and then placed the blame on a close childhood friend. This show of frustration reflects a newborn’s ability to only think of themselves and their pleasure. Victor’s frustration grows as more of his family is killed off as a direct result of the monster’s actions, “When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation. I would have made a pilgrimage to the highest peak of the Andes, could I when there have precipitated him to their base. I wished to see him again, that I might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the deaths of William and Justine. Our house was the house of mourning. My father's health was deeply shaken by the horror of the recent events. Elizabeth was sad and desponding; she no longer took delight in her ordinary occupations; all pleasure seemed to her sacrilege toward the dead; eternal woe and tears she then thought was the just tribute she should pay to innocence so blasted and destroyed,” (118).

            The monster feels justified because it asked Victor for two things: love and affection. Because Victor provided neither because he was so disgusted by his appearance and monstrosity, the monster regrets his kind actions and goes on a warpath, "Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery,” (208) until it came upon the idea of having a partner. “For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects,” (259), similar to how a baby will take out its’ frustration on the nearest objects. When Victor denied him the basic right of a cherished and loved partner, the monster threatened, and carried through, with his own revenge. “The nearer I approached to your habitation, the more deeply did I feel the spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart,” (276) as the monster approached civilization, he was again reminded of his ugly physical appearance.

            The monster’s anger comes from Victor’s rejection of him. Victor’s anger comes from the ugly appearance of the creature. The society’s anger comes from the beastliness and monstrosity of the creature. The origins of the monster’s limbs come into play slightly because that is the main cause of the ugliness – decrepit body parts that had been lying in a grave for years.