Comments on: Some questions for Frankenstein discussion http://mith.umd.edu/eng738T/some-questions-for-frankenstein-discussion/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=some-questions-for-frankenstein-discussion English 738T, Spring 2015 Sat, 12 Nov 2016 04:10:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Charity Hancock http://mith.umd.edu/eng738T/some-questions-for-frankenstein-discussion/#comment-33 Charity Hancock Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:04:15 +0000 http://mith.umd.edu/eng738T/?p=273#comment-33 For #3, I would completely agree with Jones - Victor's fear of his creation is initially expressed in terms of its grotesque exterior (the dull yellow eye, the towering stature), while the creature itself is indeed horrific, yet infantile. Like a human being, he learns to talk, read, and access deeper levels of cognitive thinking (observing the DeLacey's, which emphasizes his loneliness, and even seeing parallels in his situation to the biblical Adam, in terms of his position of prominence as the first of his kind, as well as in his later insistence for an Eve). I think the creature's turning point comes in his torching of the DeLacey cabin - it's a moment of stark realization for him - despite his basic essence as a human (though some would argue he is more an abomination by way of his birth), he will never be able to fully integrate into humanity - in fact, even brushing against it results in chaos and loss (the sudden departure of the DeLacey's, the later unpremeditated murder of William). So, in answering Amanda's question, I believe the creature becomes more monstrous as a result of his gaining of knowledge and "attributes of humanity," for he realizes that he will forever be an "other" by the very nature of what he is (emphasized by his external unnatural appearance). However, the "monstrous" actions that the creature commits are not endemic to 'his kind' - they are the very things that human beings have been committing for years (and, in some cases, in higher degrees and more sickening methods). Hence, paradoxically, the more "monstrous" the creature becomes, the closer he is to Hogle's "horrifying double of his creator" idea, as he truly realizes more fully what is inherent within all humans (and this gets back to my Tweet about Golding): man's inner "beast." For #3, I would completely agree with Jones – Victor’s fear of his creation is initially expressed in terms of its grotesque exterior (the dull yellow eye, the towering stature), while the creature itself is indeed horrific, yet infantile. Like a human being, he learns to talk, read, and access deeper levels of cognitive thinking (observing the DeLacey’s, which emphasizes his loneliness, and even seeing parallels in his situation to the biblical Adam, in terms of his position of prominence as the first of his kind, as well as in his later insistence for an Eve).

I think the creature’s turning point comes in his torching of the DeLacey cabin – it’s a moment of stark realization for him – despite his basic essence as a human (though some would argue he is more an abomination by way of his birth), he will never be able to fully integrate into humanity – in fact, even brushing against it results in chaos and loss (the sudden departure of the DeLacey’s, the later unpremeditated murder of William). So, in answering Amanda’s question, I believe the creature becomes more monstrous as a result of his gaining of knowledge and “attributes of humanity,” for he realizes that he will forever be an “other” by the very nature of what he is (emphasized by his external unnatural appearance).

However, the “monstrous” actions that the creature commits are not endemic to ‘his kind’ – they are the very things that human beings have been committing for years (and, in some cases, in higher degrees and more sickening methods). Hence, paradoxically, the more “monstrous” the creature becomes, the closer he is to Hogle’s “horrifying double of his creator” idea, as he truly realizes more fully what is inherent within all humans (and this gets back to my Tweet about Golding): man’s inner “beast.”

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