“In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the monster is rejected by everyone and so hides away in a shed where he watches the Delaceys. His situation is almost like the passive viewer of a movie who sees the lives of others but cannot participate in them. By watching, he learns language, and then also to read and write. How do these technologies — movies, language, writing — affect his feelings? Do they make him more violent, and, if so, why?”

“I [the monster] looked upon them [the Delaceys] as superior beings who would be the arbiters of my future destiny. I formed in my imagination a thousand pictures of presenting myself to them, and their reception of me. I imagined that they would be disgusted, until, by my gentle demeanour and conciliating words, I should first win their favour and afterwards their love (95).”

I believe that the technologies the monster witnesses and learns about do indirectly lead him to become more violent. Human civilization considers a person to be civilized if they can read and write and speak (for the most part), and the monster sees that as he watches the Delaceys. He is led to believe that if he is gentle of voice and manner, he will be more likely to be accepted, as illustrated in the above quote. Yet, he also realizes that he is not a man, and is of a different nature than man. The monster says, “I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge. Oh, that I had forever remained in my native wood, nor known nor felt beyond the sensations of hungry, thirst, and heat! ¹ (101)” Here we see the monster regretting his knowledge, because it shows him just how different he is from those around him; and perhaps a realization that maybe he never will be accepted, expressed in his desire to return to the unlearned creature that he once was.

The monster also says in his narrative, “For a long time I could not conceive how one man could go forth to murder his fellow, or even why there were laws and government; but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased and I turned away with disgust and loathing (100).” The monster, in his beginning innocence, cannot understand why men do evil, yet he himself is driven to become one of the most evil of people – a murderer – in order to get sufficient revenge on his creator. What drives him to that point? His denial from the society of man. Whenever the monster tries to do something good – like when he saves the drowning girl and is shot – he learns that doing good will only hurt him. He blames his grotesque appearance for his reception by others, and thus blames Victor for making him something no man would ever accept. Yet, if he hadn’t become a learned monster, he probably never would have made the connection between his appearance and other peoples’ reaction to him.

I’m not exactly sure what Shelley is trying to tell her reader with this situation, but I believe it may be something like, “Even though man may be born a blank slate, and his experiences and education shape him, man must still be a figure of man – not a parody of parts stitched together – in order to fit into society.”²

¹ – Is knowledge the monster’s ship, like the ship of the Greeks in the Golden Age? For it is when he gains knowledge that his idyllic period of innocence/unknowing is over; much like the Golden Age ended with the building of ships and the introduction of trade. We see him wish for that “blank slate”/innocent period to be back when he learns that he won’t ever be accepted.

² Appearance is a factor. The monster believes knowledge – language, reading – will make him more accepted, but he is never given a chance to show his knowledge because of his appearance; so he is led to understand first-hand how men descend into evil because of being misunderstood. No matter how stupid you are, if you’re attractive, you’ll still have a place in society. Converse – the elephant man – very intelligent, but outcast because of appearance.