Frankenstein’s monster first made his appearance in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, which she wrote when she was just 19 years old.
Victor Frankenstein, a medical student, started experimenting with life and death. And created a monster from corpses. Later when that monster came to life, he abandoned it and fled.
The monster had no name, thus called Frankenstein monster. He was hated by all humans due to his hideous physical form. And even though he was a kind and gentle creature, people feared him. That isolated him from the world.
Despite everything, he decided to meet his creator. Which he did, but when he refused to accept him. The creature swore revenge on victor for creating him when he could not take his responsibility. He felt that victor was the cause of all his miseries and loneliness and vowed to kill him, which he did in the end.
Though the novel had elements of romance and horror in it, people argue it to be the first well-done science-fiction novel.
1. “Of my creation and creator, I was ignorant, but I knew that I possessed no money, no friends, no kind of property. I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon a coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around, I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?”-Frankenstein’s monster
The monster, called Frankenstein’s monster, was disowned by his creator after he made him. Having no knowledge of the world and no one to guide him, he felt lonely. Also, whomever he met despised him and hated him due to his ugly features or scary face, which made him even more depressed.
He had no knowledge of the world, but he knew that he had no one to call family; he had no friends and no money. All these made him question his existence and his worth in this world.
2. “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.”-Frankenstein’s monster
Though he was a monster of extraordinary abilities and powers, stronger than humans, Frankenstein’s monster was a gentle creature. He did not intend to harm anyone and just wanted to mingle with the humans and live well, but they hated him due to his physicalities, and that led to him hating himself and thinking that he was an abomination meant to be treated like garbage.
3. “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?”-Frankenstein’s monster
Frankenstein’s monster knew no love for his whole life. His creature left him, and people hated him. Also, there was no one other than him whom he could call family, and that made him very lonely.
4. “By degrees, I made a discovery of a still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experiences and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it.”-Frankenstein’s monster
Frankenstein’s monster had no way to learn about the world. He only learned about it as he observed things around him. As he saw people around him, he noticed they talked in a language that required more than words and that interested him. He wanted to know more about this world and the way it works, but he could not.
5. “Yet you, my creator, detest and spurn me, thy creature, to whom thou art bound by ties only dissoluble by the annihilation of one of us. You purpose to kill me. How dare you sport thus with life?” -Frankenstein’s monster
The monster knew that victor detested him, but he wanted to meet him. So, when he did, a year after his birth, he said these lines to him, asking him why did he create him when he hated him so much.
He cared for and respected Victor a lot, but he knew that both were bonded together somehow, which kind of foreshadowed the death in the novel.
6. “I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you, my arch-enemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred.” -Frankenstein’s monster
The monster was a gentle creature, but when everyone hated him, it started to affect him. Still, he had hopes that his creator might love him once he met him, but when that did not happen, he swore to take revenge on him and said that if he could not make people love him, he would make sure they feared him.
From this point, moving forward, he had immense hatred for Victor.
7. “I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew and could distinguish nothing, but, feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept.”-Frankenstein’s monster
The monster could not understand the way the world works, but he felt emotions just like any other human being. Ever since he was born, all he experienced was pain, loneliness, and abandonment.
8. “God in pity made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image, but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid from its very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and detested.” -Frankenstein’s monster
Through books and observing people around him, Frankenstein’s monster knew little about God and Satan, and he says that God made humans just like him, and so is he, a mirror image of his creator’s inner feelings.
He further says that Satan also had people, just like him, who would complement him and keep him company, but he is utterly alone, one of his kind.
9. “I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me, but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being, you must create.” -Frankenstein’s monster
Frankenstein’s monster knew that he was hated by all humans, and no one would ever love him due to his physical form. So, he asks his creator to create one more companion, just like him, who will keep him company in this lonely world, and then he will no longer be alone, as she will love him because she would have the same defects and deformities as him.
10. “If I see but one smile on your lips when we meet, occasioned by this or any other exertion of mine, I shall need no other happiness.”-Frankenstein’s monster
This line was said by the monster before he met victor. Even though he knew that victor abandoned him, he had a slight hope in his heart that he might accept him upon meeting him and hence, says that even if he saw a small smile on his face when they met, all his pain would vanish, and there will be no greater joy for him.
He required a sense of belonging and was ready to forget every pain if only he could feel that love.
11. “I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.”-Frankenstein’s monster
Frankenstein’s monster had little knowledge about the workings of this world, but he was pure. Hence, he could not understand humans and their emotions.
He could not understand why humans would hurt each other when they knew all about evil and good.
12. “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel…” -Frankenstein’s monster
One of the books that the creature had access to in the early days was paradise lost. And in it, he read all about heaven and hell, gods and their angels. Hence, he formed an understanding of this world through the author’s eyes.
He says these lines to victor, implying that as Adam is the creation of God, he is victor’s creation. The only difference is that God loved Adam, and he was not. Rather, he was a fallen angel, unlike Adam.
The novel received a lot of praise. But also received some criticism for some of its provocative things. Which the author revised in the later edition of the book. Later, the book was adapted into movies, series, and children’s cartoons. Which was loved by all.
Though Frankenstein was a scary creature, he was just another loveable monster before he turned evil (because of everything he went through). Frankenstein’s monster remains one of the most loved Halloween creatures. And is known by all movie fanatics and lovers.