Luke 6:31 says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Susan Tyler Hitchcock states that “The human mind begins as a tabula rasa, a blank slate. Knowledge of the outside world forms as sensory impressions bombard the mind and accumulate into ideas and options” (Hitchcock 46). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein explores these concepts. Since all the monster knew was hatred and unkindness that is what he expressed to others. We can see this take place through the relationships he has with Victor and the cottage family. The monster develops his character and personality in learning through trial and error with relationships.
The monster wants a relationship with Victor but gets rejected by him. When Victor creates the monster he thinks it would be a great and magnificent new thing and he focuses on the scientific challenge. Never did he think about the outcome of this monster (Reef 84). When the monster first sees Victor he wants to feel loved and comforted yet he only receives denial and hate from Victor. Victor’s disgust and abandonment influenced the character of his creation. Hitchcock states in her book, ”Repugnance is the first human response Frankenstein’s creature ever knows, yet he rises above this birthright and develops into an intelligent, articulate, and reflective character” (47). Once Victor sees the monster he runs away because of disgust. The reader finds out later that since Victor treated him so badly throughout the story, the monster calls Victor his enemy. When Victor comes back the monster is gone. Perhaps the monster would not have run away if Victor would have treated him better.
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Through watching the cottage family the monster learns to communicate and care for others, but once again is rejected. When the monster runs away from Victor’s workspace, the monster walks around until he finds a small hut and next to it is a cottage. When he wakes he discovers that he can see into the cottage through a hole. Later on, he discovers that the family in the cottage is unhappy but he is not sure what the cause would be. He soon realizes that the cause may be that they are poor, to which he has been contributing by stealing their food supply. As he watches the family, the monster picks up some words that they often say. While he is not seen by them, the monster starts to do kind acts for the family. He approaches them but once again he scares them off because he is not what they call normal (Reef 84).
The monster actually says to Victor “Everywhere I see bliss. From which I alone am irrevocably excluded“ (Shelly 87). One day the family is outside of the cottage and Frankenstein goes up to the blind Father and introduces himself. The family notices him and are disgusted and violently hit him with a stick which makes him rush back to his hovel. The monster then goes to “seek to requite against all humans, especially Victor” (122). Later that night he goes into a rampage destroying the things that hurt him, including the house of the family that goes to strike him (Shelly 123). This is one instance of how the way people treated the monster affected the way he treated others. The family and Victor treated him with disgust and hatred. This resulted in his outbursts of rage.
The monster only wants love and kindness after how he was treated. After seeing Victor with his fiancé, he too wants the same thing. So he asks Victor to make him a female “deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me” to live his life with (Shelly 130). He also wants the partner to be of the same kind and have the same imperfections (130). Since Victor has treated the monster so terribly, the monster believes that Victor owes him this companion to regain his trust. Victor felt like the monster would do something bad to him or his loved ones so with constant arguing from the monster, Victor eventually agreed to do it. Victor first struggled with creating this monster. He had many doubts about creating her, afraid she would be more vindictive than the other monster, or not care for him. Victor did not totally agree with the idea of another monster running around, or even monster babies.
Throughout Victor’s journey to make this new monster, the other monster was always there. When he looked up one day the monster was staring with a “ghastly grin on his face“ (152). He came to make sure Victor was doing as he promised. As Victor saw his facial expressions turn to spite and betrayal he had an uproar of insanity and began to destroy the one thing that would make the monster feel happiness and joy. The monster said to Victor, “Shall each man find a wife for his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and scorn.” (153). With hate in his heart, the monster decided that if he cannot have love than Victor shall not have love. The monster followed Victor and Elizabeth on their honeymoon and killed Elizabeth out of spite. The monster will never feel what love is because Victor destroyed the thing that would truly make him happy and feel loved.
In conclusion, people should all treat other how they want to be treated. In this instance, when Victor called the monster deformed and ran away, and when the townspeople responded poorly to him, it made the monster feel unloved and made him want to cause other people to feel the same way. The way everyone treats people is very important. The first things one hears and sees is especially important. Sometimes mankind can be just like the monster. “We start out as a blank slate and as we progress in the world the outside world often forms the way we think” (Hitchcock 47). We often say things that are unkind and do not think about the other person. We can learn from Frankenstein by thinking of others feelings and their perception of the world and how it influences people.
