Frankenstein Essay: Sympathy For The Monster

“In 2001, the Surgeon General of the U.S. issued a report stating that rejection was a greater risk for adolescent violence than drugs, poverty, or gang membership,” (Psychology Today). Exclusion is a major cause for a person’s poor actions, therefore, we can’t immediately call someone evil before we know what sort of struggle and isolation they have faced. Based on the information provided from Psychology Today, it can be analyzed that the creature in the graphic novel Frankenstein, created and inspired by Mary Shelley’s novella, and illustrated by Gris Grimly. had a reason behind his misconduct.  The criminal acts committed by the monster were formed from the agony he gained after Victor, his creator, abandoned him, and the inability for him to receive love from a soulmate. This behavior and the background behind it can make someone develop sympathy for the beast.

The creature really only wanted companionship after he was abandoned by his maker, Victor. When he didn’t receive this affection, he got somber and couldn’t contain his grief. His actions are understandable after he was discarded by Victor.  Gris Grimly illustrates the death of Victor’s youngest brother, William, by showing hatred the creature feels after being called and ugly wretch and hideous monster from the young boy. The Creature’s true intention was for William to become his apprentice. The creature says, “Child, I do not intend to hurt you” (113). Which expresses how the monster felt towards William. The boy doesn’t listen to his words and screams Frankenstein’s name. The creature, out of fear from his trauma, strangles the young one after hearing his creator’s name. How could he not unleash his anger after being so heavily betrayed? Although it is not specifically stated, it can be inferred that the creature felt remorse for William’s death by his expressions that were drawn. The creature has gone through immense cruelty from society, mainly from the one man who he thought he could trust. Victor describes the sight of his creation after first seeing it in vulgar and offensive descriptions,

How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe. His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!-- Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly white; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun white sockets in  which they were set, his shriveled complexion, and his straight black lips. (41).

Victor expressed his crude feelings aloud in front of the monster. It’s hard to imagine the pain the creature felt when his own creator, practically his father, could barely even look him in the eye. After just being brought to life, the man who accomplished it runs away before the creation can even comprehend anything. These cruel situations the creature found himself in, were the factoring reasons for his killings. The creation faced abandondment right after being born, and was depreived of Victor’s acknowledgement. Many can relate with the monster’s past and can sympathize with his actions.

The monster isn’t just deprived of his creators love but that of a soulmate. Victor promises the creature to make someone to love, but destroys the creation right in front of him, once again rejecting the monster. Gris Grimly portrays Elizabeth’s death very beautifully. She is drawn dead halfway off the bed, but her expression is calm. In her gripped fist is a clump of hair, displaying that she fought back. Victor is at her side with an enraged appearance. The only reason for Elizabeth’s death was because Victor killed the creature’s soon to be love. “The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness and, with a howl of a devilish despair and revenge, withdrew” (139). The creature obviously felt an excruciating amount of pain after witnessing the destruction of his future wife. This was his last chance at happiness, a chance to live a somewhat normal life, after he had been so badly humiliated. His actions can be sympathized with, imagine you witness your soulmate's death, you’d want revenge too. In no way is the monster’s actions justified, death never is, but the feelings of the creature can be shared and empathized with.

In the graphic novel Frankenstein, the creations actions can be sympathized with because they were influenced by the rejection and isolation he felt and received from society. The compassion felt for the monster can be justified by his past and the hardships he went through. It needs to be addressed that the monster had no choice in his creation, and had no decision in his appearance. So the cruelty he went through is unfair and unforgivable from both Victor Frankenstein, and the people he comes in contact with. If accepting the ability to understand his life is denied, then his meaning of existence can never truly be expressed or explained.