Chapters 14-16 (Creature's POV) - Entry #4

After Frankenstein abandons the creature, other than our short encounter in the woods when Victor is returning from Geneva, we are not exposed to him again until Victor’s retreat to the mountains. In chapter eleven, the creature opens his tale saying he is not quite sure of the beginning of his being; his initial memories and sensations began with his retreat to the woods after Frankenstein’s apartment. Living off berries and nuts, the creature was confused but learning survival skills along the way, including how to set and maintain a fire. I found this lonely encounter may have been initially good for the creature because it allowed him to figure out his surroundings of this new life he was brought into; however, keeping in mind while he is the great, big creature, he is very much in the dark about life and society itself, and without Victor to help him, he was completely and utterly alone. Agreed - the reflection gives the reader time to know the character rather than meet who Victor wanted him to be. 

Stumbling out of the woods, in search of food that was becoming scarce, the creature found a shepherd's hut. “An old man sat in it, near a fire, over which he was preparing his breakfast. He turned on hearing a noise; and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which he debilitated form hardly appeared capable… I greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, milk, and wine; the latter, however, I did not like.” (Shelley 73), after waking up in the hut, the creature walks until finding a nearby village, where he experience a shocking reaction to his existence, “until at sunset I arrived at a village. How miraculous did this appear! the huts, the neater cottages, and stately houses engaged my admiration by turns. The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite. One of the best of these I entered; but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village.” (74). This emotion provoking scene is quite awful for the reader to experience because this confused, innocent and essentially child-like creature attempting to find refuge and food after a long time alone in the woods, is outcasted by these villagers simply on his appearance. Not only is he essentially banished and “thrown out” of the village, but he is also attacked and physically pushed away from the humans. This encounter is the beginning of the creature’s spiral into total loneliness and Ceven depression. Although during his first experiences in the woods he was alone, I didn’t feel that he necessarily felt alone since he was still trying to figure out what the arbitrary and simple things in life were such as food, shelter, wood, etc. During this time, he was more of a lower-intelligent being, much like his title “the creature” depicted him to be, however, after his experiences with the villagers, I felt that his emotions and experiences became a little more real. For example, during his time in this hovel he states, “Here then I retreated, and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man.” (74). 

After this terrible encounter with these terrified villagers, the creature was heavily brought down both mentally and emotionally, thus, when he found what were to become “his” cottagers , the DeLacey family, his spirits were generally restored. Finding out that his “dwelling” was connected to the cottage of the family, he began to observe their language and habits. The evening after his discovery of these people, the creature, mesmerized by their existence, “could not sleep. I thought of the occurrences of the day. What chiefly struck me was the gentle manners of these people; and I longed to join them, but dared not.” (77). Finding out that “the causes of the uneasiness of this amiable family… was poverty, and they suffered that evil in a very distressing degree.” (77) is a surprising realization for the creature to discover, being that it was one of the first that involves truly abstract thought on society itself. Prior to finding this family, the creature’s thoughts are about companionship and basic survival needs; however, this is one of the first times the creature is exposed to a concept that is involved in actual civilizations rather than “the wild”. 

As the creature’s observations continued, he began to learn and apply “the words, ‘fire’, ‘milk’, ‘bread’, and ‘wood’. I learned also the name of the cottagers themselves.” (78); thus he began his true journey on becoming more human than monster. He seems to reach the same conclusion himself because he finds himself explaining to Victor that his “thoughts now became more active, and [he] longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures; [he] was inquisitive to know why Felix appeared so miserable and Agatha so sad.” (80). Attempting to express empathy is very much a human characteristic, as is hope, another thought crossing the creature’s mind; hoping that he could mend this family back together by potentially becoming part of it. 

Explaining to Frankenstein the circumstances of how the De Lacey family came into their circumstance of poverty and living in this outskirted cottage, the creature expresses true sympathy for all the characters involved to include Felix, Safie, Agatha, and the old man. In fact, during his telling of primarily Felix and Safie’s tale, I found that the creature seemed to especially relate to Safie. I believe this was due to the fact that they were both essentially “foreigners”. While Safie spoke her native language, the creature clearly had thoughts in whatever language in his mind; thus they were essentially in the learning process of learning French together. Saying “I soon perceived, that although the stranger uttered articulate sounds, and appeared to have a language of her own, she was neither understood by, nor herself understood, the cottagers.” (82), I believe this was a very hopeful experience the creature had, hoping maybe if he approached them, they would interact with him much like a foreigner with a potential language barrier rather than a deformed monster. However, I think he also understood that he essentially had to learn the language of these cottagers in order to truly connect with them a bit more than he had with the previous ones. 

After Safie’s entrance to the story, the creature admits “the words induced me to turn toward myself. I learned that the possession most esteemed by your fellow creatures were, high and unsullied descent united with riches… And what was I? Of I my creation and creator I was absolutely 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 of man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon coarser diet… 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?” (85). Although the creature continuously tries to empathize with the humans and understand them, he begins to wonder if he ever actually relate to them because if you broke each species apart to society’s standards, the creature fell especially below the lowest human at this point. These thoughts he express to Victor explains his remark of “I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me: I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge.” (85). 

Following the tale of Safie, due to him providing wood for the family who in turn believed they had a good spirit watching over them, the creature finds “on the ground a leathern portmanteau, containing several articles of dress and some books. I eagerly seized the prize, and returned with it to my hovel.” (90). I found this statement to be a great juxtaposition to the creature’s transformation between purely creature to intelligent being; finding the books as treasures expresses human emotion whereas returning to his hovel is very much animal-like. This section of the creature’s tale is the especially examplitory of the creature’s human thoughts and desires being conveyed and structured. The idea that he “now continually studied and exercised [his] mind upon these histories” (91) shows how dedicated and optimistic he was toward the concept of humanity. While “the disquisitions upon death and suicide were calculated to fill [him] with wonder”, I found these deep and raw human emotions expressed in the creature made his entire experience extremely representative of the human condition itself. For example, comparing himself to Satan, saying “Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I was solitary and abhorred” (93), he believes himself to be below even the tier of the fallen angel. The intensity of hope and optimism the creature held within this chapter was excruciatingly heart breaking, with his statements such as “I persuaded myself that when they should become acquainted with my admiration of their virtues, they would compassionate me and overlook my personal deformity” (93) or  “I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon earth. These amiable people to whom I have never seen me, and know little of me. I am full of fears, for if I fail there, I am an outcast in the world forever.” (95), a statement he makes during his conversation with DeLacey, the first true human interaction he has. The fact that the creature chooses to interact with a blind man as his first intentional human contact speaks wonders about his situation that he has to take things slow in order to be accepted. Thus, while his conversation with the old man goes very well and gives hope to the reader that maybe the creature will have a happy ending, when Felix beats the creature down, there is complete destruction of happiness and faith in the creature’s sanity. 

The final chapter of the creature’s tale indicates the final straw of his mental decay. Leaving the cottage in the night, the creature is so miserable that he finds “the cold stars shone in mockery… from that moment I declared ever-lasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth this insupportable misery.” (95). During his journey away from the cottage, he finds a young girl running through the woods and ends up falling in a stream; being the compassionate “monster” he is, he saves her and ends up getting shot by her male companion. “This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone” (101). Finally, the creature’s scene with William is a complicated one to say the least. While there are different versions and conception of the crime between Victor and the Creature, the creature’s includes less of a vengeful motive and more of an accident, in terms of the death of William. I found the initial scene playing out as the creature attempting to kidnap William as revenge toward Frankenstein; because until William offended the creature by calling him “hideous” and that his father was a Frankenstein, the creature was trying to simply take the child. Also, while the creature states in response “Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy - to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge” (102), the creature tells Victor that he “grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet” (102). 

Finally, while Justine was innocent, it seemed in both portrayals of the story that the creature was indeed trying to frame her. While the murder of a child and the framing of an innocent are indeed wrong, I struggle with whether or not it was justified for the creature. Had he not murdered William or essentially sentence Justine to death, would Victor have had any second thoughts about the creature other than rare expressions of regret? Although Frankenstein’s initial reaction is guilt and regret, it’s mostly out of fear of the monster he created rather than the consequences it may potentially have. The trauma and horrible course of events the creature had to endure along his journey where extremely depressing and heart wrenching; thus, him asking Victor to make him a female companion does not seem as far-fetched as it may seem. The greatest emotions humans tend to relate to are fear and love, and this far in the story, the creature has only been able to experience constant fear (and self-loathing), as well as love of others from afar.