Frankenstein Pages 61-107

The second half of Mary Shelley’s novella, Frankenstein, portrayed the lonely creature’s journey and attachment to an estranged family. Victor Frankenstein happened to cross paths with his creation while clearing his mind in the woods. Frankenstein listened to the tale of his creature, which created a shift in narration from Victor to the nameless creation. He began by explaining the sensations that overwhelmed him causing much confusion between touch, sight, and smell. However, his natural instincts allowed him to follow the moon, which in turn introduced him to the warmth of the fire that was left behind by travelers. Warmth becomes a constant motif in the second volume of the novella because it is essentially the feeling that he seeks in life. He soon found a hovel closely situated to a cottage that housed Mr. De Lacey, Felix, Agatha, and Safie. After months of observing the family, the creature was able to understand language, emotions, literature, and social interactions, however; he remained uninformed in mind. His yearn for a family and acceptance grew exponentially, which led him to enter the cottage one day when only blind Mr. De Lacey was home. The incidents that occurred in the house caused the creature to venture off on a tangent, destroying anything in his way. Upon helping a young girl avoid drowning, he was shot by a townsman, which even furthered his rage and self loathing. This drove him to discover the town of Geneva where Victor Frankenstein’s family once resided. While rummaging through the woods, he stumbled upon William Frankenstein and strangled the boy until he was lifeless. He even admitted to placing the evidence that helped convict Justine’s guiltiness on her while she slept in the barn. However, his encounter with Justine furthered his desire to seek companionship from a creature similar to himself. Towards the end of their conversation, the creature begs of Frankenstein to produce an additional life form that would serve as the creature’s companion.

While reading the second volume of Frankenstein, I found a passage on pages 68-69 that was emotionally moving. He creature emotionally confesses to his creator that he will not seek vengeance on Frankenstein because he is the creature’s “lord and king” and that his misfortunes had caused his benevolence to turn rotten. He claimed that he is excluded from all the bliss in life due to his unattractively superior body figure. While reading this passage it is hard not to emphasize with the creature because all he hopes for in life is to feel acceptance and the warmth of kindness from other humans.