1) Over the course of this week, please read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Chapters IX - XV (Pages 61-97).
2) Please complete a detailed, comprehensive, blog response, using TWO of the questions below AND direct evidence from the text in your responses. You need not attend to every nuance in each question, but create a response that covers the reading selection and be thinking about what is meaningful about these plot points.
Study Questions:
Ch. IX-XII
1. What does the creature ask of Victor? What does the creature say to Victor? Does his language remind you of another literary work? How good is Victor at performing the role of creator for his creature?
2. Why has the creature caused the deaths of William and Justine? Is he as inherently evil and bloodthirsty as Victor has assumed? What will cause the creature to change? Keep in mind his statement "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous". What sort of psychological understanding is Shelley showing here?
3. What happens during his first encounters with people? What does he learn about the people who live in the cottage? How does he feel toward them? How does the creature continue to learn about the family he is watching? How might a modern anthropologist or sociologist respond to the creature's methods? What is the condition of the family? How does the creature manage to help them?
4. What things bother the creature when he thinks of discovering himself to the family? How does he respond to his own appearance when he sees it? How does the creature hope to win over the family? How does he respond to the coming of spring?
Chs. XIII-XV
5. What book does Felix use to teach Safie? What does the creature learn from this book? How much of a monster can someone be who can say "but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing”?
6. What happens when the creature begins to think about himself? How does he compare with the humans described in the book? What questions does he ask himself? How does his knowledge make him feel?
7. What does he learn about human relationships, and how does this make him feel? How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage? How did Safie come to find and join them? What does the creature hope will happen when he talks to De Lacey? What actually happens?
6. The creature began to think about himself as an outsider. He was sad that he could be able to enjoy life like the other humans. When he ran out of Victor's apartment be ran into the woods and saw a fire. He enjoyed the fire and realized you could cook delicious food on it to make it taste even better. But he got bored of being alone that he heard people laughing and enjoying life that he wanted to see what it was. He saw a village with many people roaming the streets and the creature went into the village and realized that everyone was running away in fear because of what the creature looked like. THe humans did not appreciate how the creature felt when everyone ran away. It made the creature feel worse about himself and he left the village. No one could see the inside of the creature and how nice he was but all the human just looked at the appearance on the outside. The question he ask about himself is why do people not like him? What did he do wrong? Why am I so scary if they don't even know me? This makes him feel so sad and could turn into anger because people won't accept him in to the society. He feels lonely and afraid that he will be accepted to the human life
ReplyDelete7. What he learns about human relationships is that all of them are not simple some of them are very complicated and it could lead in to more fighting and arguments. He meets humans in a cabin named Felix, Agatha, and De Lacey who is a family that were exiled from france and moved into a cottage in Germany . They start to argue because they are not wealthy and are losing supplies. The creature is sad that they are suffering so the creature goes out at night to bring them wood for the fire and set them on the front porch. De Lacey is the father of Felic and Agratha. Safie is a girl whos the father tries to escape the turks and does but leaves his daughter to become enslaved because her mom was a Christian Arab and was enslaved, and Felix visits the turks in the prison and met Safie in a instantly fell in love with her. Safie was eager to marry a European man and thereby escape the near-slavery that awaited her in Turkey. Felix successfully coordinated her father’s escape from prison, but when the plot was discovered, Felix, Agatha, and De Lacey were exiled from France and stripped of their wealth The creature believes that the De Lacey will accept him into the family and the creature will be able to fit in but before that can all happen Felix comes home with the three others unexpectedly and drives the creature away into the woods.
1. The creature asks Victor to listen to him, for he argues that Victor already hates him without even understanding the monster’s ordeal since he was created. On page 69 the creature says, “Remember, that I am thy creature; I ought to be they Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed.” Victor abandoned the creature after seeing how terrible the fruition of his plan was, and the creature wishes to explain to Victor how he came to be the way he is now. The creature argues that this is the least Victor can do after deserting him with no assistance. The creature speaks in less modern terms than the rest of the text.
ReplyDelete7. The creature learns that there are many types of relationships that connect humans to each other, such as brother, sister, father, mother. He knows that he has none of these relationships with anybody. He says that, “No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses” (86). He has no mother, no brother, no sister, and he knows not the one that created him. Ultimately, the creature feels alone. The creature hopes that, when he talks to the blind De Lacey, he will find acceptance and compassion. However, when the rest of the family comes back, they find the hideous creature and cast him out, with Safie fainting and Felix attacking him. The creature now has the understanding that he will never fit in with this human race nor build the relationships he desired, and his outcast status will remain permanent.
4.The creature is scared of how he will be viewed by the humans, fears that his monstrous appearance will drive them away before he gets a chance to show them anything else. “I cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld myself reflected in water”(93) The monster sees that he is different from the humans, sees that they hate what is different, and begins to hate his own appearance- something he didn’t do until he encountered the humans. The creature shows his intelligence in how he goes about approaching the family- strategically revealing himself first to the blind member who cannot judge him by appearances, hoping to win them over before they can judge him. He rejoices at spring, both for the ease it brings for the humans and for the sheer joy and beauty of the new life.
ReplyDelete6.Once the creature starts to think about himself, he cannot help but notice that he is very much different and an other. He seems horrendous in comparison to the humans, and judges himself on the basis of his differences from them. He wonders why he does not have the same connections and love as the humans he sees. “But where were my friends and relations? No father had watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caresses.”(86) Ultimately, the monster’s self-hatred, anger, and eventual hatred towards his creator stems from how he feels profoundly isolated and other, how he is hated by humankind for being different and monstrous.
2&6
ReplyDeleteFrom his experiences with the family he watched and the books he read, the Creation learned a way of life where people cared for and valued each other, and he yearns to experience this. However, he soon finds that he cannot be seen this way. People who see him find him a monster, even though he never had any ill intent towards them. After reading the book he found in the forest, the Creation began to reflect on why this may be, so he compares himself to the characters. He doesn’t have riches or noble blood, which he believes make a respected man. Instead, he is a penniless, deformed creature with now friends or family to care for him. He explains to Victor what he thought, asking him, “Was I, then, a monster, a blot on the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned (85)?” He begins to see himself as bad, and this mindset, along with his bitter loneliness, drive him to rash decisions. Upset that he cannot be cared for and believing that he is a monster, the Creature decides to act as one and kills William. He knows that this is an abhorrent act, telling Frankenstein that, “to be base and vicious, as many on record have been, appeared the lowest degradation (84).” However, if he was truly a monster, why shouldn’t he act as such. He then uses this new found evil to bargain with Victor, hoping that his creator could bring him happiness. Threatening to kill more of his loved ones, the Creature entreats Victor to care about him so that he can feel love and be happy. If he does not, the Creature will make others feel as terribly as he does. The Creation sees himself as Satan, and Victor as God. He says, “I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed (69).” His creator should have the power to make him happy, if he had the power to create him and bring him such suffering. If this not be possible, then he will accept that he is an unlovable monster, and will make others share in his suffering.
#1. The Monster asks Victor to follow him into a cavern and listen to his story. He tells him of his stay in the hovel outside the cottage, his attempt to grasp the native language, and his newfound social understandings. Before entering the cave, he notes “I intreat you to hear me, before you give vent to your hatred on my devoted head. Have I not suffered enough, that you seek to increase my anguish?” (Pg. 69). Here, the Monster says that Victor should at least hear him out before fighting/abandoning him. In terms of playing a “creator” or parent role, the Monster later remarks that Victor played no such role and he had to fend for himself.
ReplyDelete#3. The Monster’s first encounter with other humans goes awfully; An old man he attempt to interact with runs away screaming. After observing the people living in the cottage for a while, he learns they are quite poor and that he is contributing to it. After learning this, he attempts to make amends by collecting firewood for them at night. By continuing to listen to family talk, he learns their language, a bit of history, their own and world history, and much more.
-Matthew Hebert
The creature asks Victor to kill him or he will kill Victor's friends and family. The creature then says if Victor does his job he will be vutuase again. I believe that Victor was a bad creator he should have taken responsibility for what he has made and make sure it is safe.
ReplyDelete2)The reason the Creature caused the death of William and Justine was to show how serious his threat was and to pay Victior back for abendeinging him. The psychological understanding this quote shows is that the creacher is able to tell he doing wrong but is also able to tell that Victor is at fault too
1.) The creature asks Victor to follow him into a cave, where he tells him about his struggles since his creation. The creature says, “Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone? You, my creator, abhor me; what hope can I gather from your fellow creatures, who owe me nothing? They spurn and hate me” (69). Seeing as Frankenstein has pretty much abandoned him, the creature explains to Victor all the hate that he has endured and how it has made him the way he is. Victor therefore, did not play good role of a creator as he abandoned the monster, which had to fend for itself.
ReplyDelete4.) The creature is afraid that its monstrous appearance will scare away the humans and cause them to be afraid of it. Shelley writes, “‘ Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made a man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred’” (93). This not only shows that Victor plays the bad role of a creator, but also that the creature is self aware of its ugliness and how it is not loveable by even Satan himself and that it will live its life in solidarity and loneliness. The creature hopes to win over the family by showing his ambitions and aptitude in their way of life as well as, hoping that they could overlook its deformities.
4. What things bother the creature when he thinks of discovering himself to the family? How does he respond to his own appearance when he sees it? How does the creature hope to win over the family? How does he respond to the coming of spring?
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers the creature when he thinks of discovering himself to the family is that he is hideous and different from the humans. He responds to his own appearance by saying that he is ugly and that he "cherished hope, it is true, but it vanished when I beheld myself reflected in the water." The creature hopes to win over the family by attempting to learn English. In the coming of spring, the creature is filled with joy and hope.
7.What does he learn about human relationships, and how does this make him feel? How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage? How did Safie come to find and join them? What does the creature hope will happen when he talks to De Lacey? What actually happens?
Frankenstein learns that human relationships involve caring for family members and loving each other. He longs for compaction ship and feels very unhappy about not having it. The De Lacey came to live in the cottage because they are trying to help Safie's father escape. The creature hopes that he is able to befriend De Lacey, because he just wants to get accepted and to stop being an outcast, but instead Safie faints and he realizes that he cannot fit into being with humans due to his horrendous features and he will forever be an outcast.
1. The creature asks Victor to hear him out as he tells his entire life story. He says “Thus I relieve thee, my creator. Thus I take a sight from me which i abhor. Still thou canst listen to me and grant me thy compassion. By the vurtues that I once possessed, I demand this from you.” (70) It seems like he’s talking like shakespeare or something of that sort. He must have been influenced by many literary works of shakespeare’s era. Victor seems very angry and emotional at the sight of the creature and he seems very close minded at the start. However, once the creature starts to talk and calm him down, Victor is able to come to terms with him and hear his story. Victor doesn’t play a good role as creator in this sense but there is a possibility he could change his ways.
ReplyDelete4. The creature worries that his appearance will upset the family and make them drive him away. When he looks at his reflection in a pool of water he is surprised by his own ugliness. The creature hopes to win over the family by explaining himself to their blind relative and hopefully gaining the trust of him so that he can introduce the creature to the rest of the family. Spring brings the monster happiness and a distraction from his problems because he is able to relax amongst the nature blooming after a cold winter. (Isaac Mezher)
4.
ReplyDeleteThe creature believes that the family will be prejudiced against his appearance; from his earlier interactions with humans he knows that he inspires feeling of horror and hate. When he sees his reflection in a pool his suspicions are confirmed; he recoils at his own repulsiveness, and questions for what cruel reason his creator cast him in such a deformed shape. To make up for this, the creature endeavors to learn the intricacies of human interaction, starting with the art of language. He wishes to impress the family by acting in a civilized and learned manned. With the coming of spring, which is his first, he is struck by how beauty and life can come from the desolation of winter. This is also reflected by a development within the family; Sofie, Felix’s lover, arrives at the cottage, replacing their sadness with joy.
6.
The creature becomes more curious of the story of his creation; that curiosity was fulfilled when he discovered the notes of the doctor’s experiments in his coat, which he was able to read due to the education he recieved from spying on the family. He realized he was an abomination, a different creature than the humans he so revered; while people were made in the image of god, he was an imperfect creature. This contradicts with other discoveries he made, though, for he is disgusted with stories of cruelty and violence, and is inspired by the chivalry and honor of the hero's he learns about. What he values, and the morals he learned, are strong and good. He develops a good soul. The knowledge he has, though, reveals to himself his monstrosity, and for this reason he regrets emerging from his ignorance; he even wishes to return to the dark woods from whence he came.
Ethan Coyle
4) In this passage, it is revealed that the creature thinks he is ugly and is apprehensive to be seen by humans. In a way, his understanding of mankind is very true; if they see that he's hideous, they'll be afraid of him, despite his intelligence and seemingly calm demeanor. The creature comes to the realization at the pool, where he became "filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification" upon seeing his own reflection. With that in mind, the creature became anxious to reveal himself to the family. He also felt somewhat guilty as he had stolen portions of their food while they were poor and struggling. In hopes to win over the family, the creature tended to their cottage during the day and learned their language. The praise that he received from this made him recognize his love and appreciation for mankind.
ReplyDelete1) When Victor encounters his monster, he responds in an outburst. While Victor is confused, afraid, and somewhat hyperactive, the creature acts calmly and speaks with eloquence. He asks Victor to listen to him, rather than running off and abandoning him again. Clearly, the creature is trying to reason with him. This is somewhat ironic as Victor, who considers himself the superior to the creature, is acting more wildly and insensitive than he is. So, the creature explains to Victor how "he is miserable, and they shall share my wretchedness. Yet it is in your power to recompense me...". This reveals that Victor is a terrible creator as he caused misery to his creature after abandoning him. But the creature's language is, of course, very articulate and sophisticated. Oftentimes, he speaks almost in a Shakespearean way, such as when he asks Victor, "How can I move thee? Will no entreaties cause thee to turn a favorable eye...?".
-Jill Schuck
5) What book does Felix use to teach Safie? What does the creature learn from this book? How much of a monster can someone be who can say "but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing”?
ReplyDeleteFelix uses a book of world history, Ruins of Empires, to teach Safie English, thus also teaching the creature not only english but the history of sadness the world possesses. The creature learns of humanity from the book and learns that humans are “at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificent, yet so vicious and base”(122). As, basically, a child this is incredible information to the creature, that one can be both great and terrible at the same time, a state he is familiar with. However he also observes from the family and the book that men are valued by property and possession, leaving those with little to be considered lesser. To him, one with literally nothing, this is a realization of stature, but also a lesson from the family, as he see them in the most virtuous and great light even in with their condemned status. He sees people candidly as people and not by the value of one’s objects since the creature cannot value object he doesn't yet understand. Thus, the creature believes violence and bloodshed are truly bad, but out of inexperience he has kill, for what reason we know not yet. The creature is a victim to his own inexperience and other’s own fear and prejudice. The creature, while ugly and constructed out of dead impure parts, is the purest of them all, being entirely unaffected by society.
7) What does he learn about human relationships, and how does this make him feel? How did the De Lacey family come to be living in the cottage? How did Safie come to find and join them? What does the creature hope will happen when he talks to De Lacey? What actually happens?
The creature learns much about family, love and bounds between people as he watches the De Lacey family. This causes him to come to the realization that he has no family, saying, “But where were my friends and relations? No father has watched my infant days, no mother had blessed me with smiles and caressess;or if they had all my past life was now a blot, a blind vacancy in which I distinguished nothing”(124). He seems to resent not victor, but the fact he was created at all: a monster, not human. The creature see the struggle with the law in Paris and Turkey that the family has undergone, and how their struggles have tightened their ties and given them new appreciation for what they have. When Safie arrives, after struggling from country to country and losing her escort to illness just to find herself needing to navigate herself, they are even more so thankful for their lives, simple as they are, but that they are able to live with love and with lack of want is what sustains them. The creature see their contentment and wishes to partake in their closeness and love of life, thus prompting him to approach the blind De Lacey in hopes he will be able to sway the others from judging him by his terrible exterior. However, he is compromised when the rest of the family arrives home early and nearly beat the creature to death whilst he lays and takes the hits, too compassionate and grieved to fight back against the ones he’s come to love.
-eileen
4. The thing that bothers the creature is that his scary appearance will scare away all that see him in this form. As shown in chapter 11, “He turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable”, his presence causes an old man inside to shriek and run away in fear. Later on he meets Felix and Agatha who are to him, beautiful, and the monster gets really upset when he looks at his reflection in a pond and remembers how hideous and disgusting he is and how no one will ever love him. Even though he is very nice and kind to many of the people by helps them out by working at night to clear snow or find firewood.
ReplyDelete6. When the creature starts to talk about himself he notices he is a mess up in society. He realizes that he is deformed and alone. “Was I then a monster,” he asks, “a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled, and whom all men disowned?” He also learns about the pleasures and obligations of the family and of human relations since he is now able to speak perfectly. Since he is able to speak now he realizes from other how ugly he is.
Zachary Mola
IV: The Creature is troubled by his physical appearance, he of course, is made up of old body parts that were presumably buried for a long time. The Creature then is understandably, very hideous. And Because humans are often afraid of 7 foot tall creatures that look like they have risen from the dead. the creature is saddened by this and feels lonely.
ReplyDeleteVII: the creature learns how much humans value their families, and the commitment and bond that comes with such a relationship. This of Course leads him to the realization that he has no such family, and subsequently no such relationships apart from Victor, this troubles him because victor is not only the closest thing to a family he has, but is also the closest thing to a god it knows as well. this amplifies the sense of abandonment he feels after victor distances himself from him.
4. The creature thinks that the family will be scared of his appearance, he believes that he brings out fear and horror in people.Once he sees his reflection in the pool he starts to question why his creator made his look this way. He hopes to make the family less scared by acting in a well mannered way and by acting civilized.
ReplyDeleteWhen the creature says, “ Thus I relieve thee, my creator. Thus I take a sight from me which I abhor. Still thou canst listen to me and grant me thy compassion. By the virtues that I once possessed, I demand this from you.” (70) He seems lonely and he only wants to be loved by his creator. Victor is at first very angry just looking at the creature but he starts to ease up once he starts to listen to him speak.
1. When Victor formally meets his creation for the first time it doesn’t necessarily go the way one would expect. Initially Victor threatens the monster, however, due to the creations size and strength, these threats are relatively empty. Victor also tells the monster to leave but even this doesn’t work. Instead, the creation is able to convince Victor to return to its den and by requesting the Victor just hear it out, instead of abandoning it again. When the two are talking the bulk of the conversation is done by the creature so the narrative switches to it speaking in the first person (although technically it is Robert Walton’s hand recording the conversation as it is retold by Frankenstein). The creature basically proceeds to do just what Victor has been doing, and Walton recording and tells his “life” story. He explains how he felt, where he went and what he discovered about both the world and himself since being abandoned by Victor. His speech is very eloquent and makes him sound very much human, however, I am unsure what literary character he sounds like. During his story, it is very interesting to see things through the creature's perspective as well as begin to understand where some of his more negative emotions, such as the ones that drove him to murder William, stem from. Just for one example, the creature attempts to interact with the family he has been observing for so long. One day, when only the elder and blind, Mr. De Lacey is alone, the creature talks to him inside the De Lacey cottage. However, when the other family members return home, Felix attacks him and drives him from the home. The creature tells Victor that as he was being attacked he felt his “heart sink within [him] as with bitter sickness” (97).
ReplyDelete5.“The book from which Felix instruct[s] Safie was Volney’s Ruins of Empires”(84) and so it is from this book that the creature learns the about the world and how to read, speak and understand French just as Safie does. The creature learns a lot from this book including government, religion and about many early empires. It is clear from his descriptions that the creature found took great interest in gaining new knowledge, however, he says"when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing.” This brings into question the idea of whether the creature is a monster. Frankenstein sure thought he was just based on the creation’s initial appearance. And, as the audience we are lead to a believe the creation is a monster vicious enough to kill William yet calculating enough to frame Justine. However, this quote goes to show that even if the creation eventually became a monster, he wasn't always that way. It shows a large contrast between the creature’s personality earlier and later on in its existence.
Ellie Yates
5. Felix taught Safie with the novel, Ruins of Empires, and by doing so, also taught the creature how to read and speak, the history of the world and about humanity in general. He realizes that while this book helps him understand the world, it is also confirmation that he would never be accepted into it. The fact that he could truthfully say, "but when I heard details of vice and bloodshed, my wonder ceased, and I turned away with disgust and loathing,” questions whether he really was a monster, as Victor and others had seen him. It also shows, as Ellie mentioned, the contrast between the creature’s psyche earlier and then later in his existence.
ReplyDelete7. He learns about the relationships between family, and the difficulties that burden them. Although he witnesses their fights, he still yearns for what they have, as he has no parents or siblings. The closest thing to family he has is Victor, his creator, who left him to be an outcast from society. The De Laceys came to be living in the cottage after they were outcast by the French for Felix’s failed attempt in aiding Safie’s father to escape from prison. He was caught and they family’s wealth was stripped from them. Safie had fallen in love with Felix when he came to visit her father in prison. While the creature is aware from previous experiences that the sight of his face leaves people afraid, he hopes that he will be able to form a relationship with De Lacey, Felix’s blind father. He had been kind to the creature, however, Felix had come back to the cottage and drove him off, freaked out and repulsed by him. He returns the next day, but they had left.
1.The monster lures Victor into a cave to discuss his feelings. He tells him of what happened when he left his birthplace and what he has learned. Frankenstein’s monster then tells him of his struggles and how he doesn’t really fit in. Victor is really bad at being the creator because he basically abandoned him right after this conversation.
ReplyDelete6. The creature didn’t really think of himself like a human. He thought that he was a outsider to the rest of society. He started to roam and discovered many things that were positive to him. For example, he sees fire and people and villages. However, when he steps into the village the people start to run away from him because he looks like a monster. He then asks himself about the prejudices of humanity and them assuming that he’s evil because he’s ugly. He ends up feeling dejected and even more isolated.