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Born into the world with a tabula rasa, the creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein enters life with innocence and potential. With no instinctive precept of life, the creature who is initially gentle and innocent, attempts to integrate himself into society, only to be rejected because of humanity’s fear of his appearance. Loneliness, whether it be emotional, physical, or social, and its impacts, is a recurrent themes depicted through the creature. The creature’s demand for companionship derives from his sense of isolation and misery toward mankind. Mary Shelley exceptionally portrays the discourse of desolation in the selected passage through the use of literary devices such as diction and setting.
Through the use of diction, Mary Shelley clearly depicts the creature’s loneliness and desire for companionship, thereby further illustrating the sensitive and emotional aspects of his nature. The notion of loneliness and isolation is so deeply emphasized that the repetition of the diction “desolate” is apparent throughout the novel. The term desolate establishes a tone of melancholy, particularly toward the creature. The meaning of desolation within the creature refers to his state of bleak and dismal emptiness. He is deserted of people, abandoned, and isolated from society. The author effectively uses the term desolate when the creature describes his experience first originating, revealing “it was dark when [he] awoke; [he] felt cold also, and half-frightened, as it were instinctively, finding [himself] so desolate” (121). The desolation that the creature experiences prompts him to demand Victor to create a mate to relieve him of his loneliness. At the beginning of the excerpt, Victor expresses his reluctance by saying, “Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world” (156). Mary Shelley’s usage of the phrase, “desolate the world” conveys Victor’s fears of a damaged world such that it will be bleak and no longer suitable for humanity. Victor fears that through his creation, isolation will inevitably seep into the lives of everyone in the form of death and destruction. The creature initially appeals to Victor for sympathy responding, “I am malicious because I am miserable” (156), suggesting his behavior is a result of his unhappiness through loneliness. The creature shows his emotions and mental anguish that has been brought upon him, indicating his possession of human characteristics.
To further emphasize the discourse of desolation and to reinforce the theme of loneliness, Mary Shelley utilizes repetition. With obvious reluctance by Victor, the creature replaces his sympathy with hatred toward Victor by threatening, “I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart” (156). Once again, Shelley makes use of the diction desolate to manifest a melancholic tone and express the extent to which the creature is tortured by loneliness. By vowing to make Victor’s life as alienated and miserable as he is, the creature shows he has ultimate power and control. The creature wants to extinguish his urge to make Victor suffer and experience desolation as was bestowed upon himself.
Mary Shelley’s choice of diction further demonstrates how the creature is othered by his representation as inhuman. The diction monster itself does not merely refer to a large, ugly and frightening creature, but holds a deeper meaning. Derived from the study of taxonomy, the origin of the word monster means something that does not belong to a category. Mary Shelley presents the idea that different species should not associate or coexist with one another. The creature recognizes that “man will not associate with [him]” (155) and therefore inquires Victor about creating a female companion who is equally as hideous. The creature emphasizes this by stating, “it is true, we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account, we shall be more attached to one another” (157). Mary Shelley stresses the role of “the other” to further exemplify the theme of loneliness and exclusion. The creature himself adopts the labeling from the other characters by saying, “we shall be monsters,” excluded from society in isolation. Evidently, the creature desires a companion who is of the same origin, deformed and an outcast. His hope for a family, social acceptance, and his instinctive benevolence is demonstrated through his emotions. Despite the creature’s representation as inhuman and his unnatural creation, the humanity within the creature is evident through the emotions he possesses and thoughts that are fundamentally human. Mary Shelley utilizes this diction to evoke emotions out in the reader, to show that the creature is indeed not deprived of human feelings.
Mary Shelley’s usage of setting plays a pivotal role throughout the novel, strengthening the theme of desolation by reflecting the creature’s internal turmoil. The creature is aware that he is a singular being who does not fit into European civilization and proposes to “go to the vast wilds of South America” (157) to remove himself from this environment. The creature’s fear-inducing and grotesque appearance set him apart from normal civilized society. However, the untamed, vast, and isolated region of the arctic complies with his own internal struggles. Mary Shelley strategically utilizes the arctic setting to create a parallel of the creature’s internal feelings with the environment that surrounds him. The arctic, being a region with isolated conditions and hostile environments, reflects well the creature’s emotions. The contrast between civilized and uncivilized regions portrays the creature as ‘the other’ who is not European, and therefore not human. Mary Shelley’s usage of the arctic symbolizes the creature’s emptiness, isolation, and misery. The arctic, empty and unexplored, lacks natural resources to sustain life just like the creature lacks companionship.
Marry Shelley’s deliberate use of the glaciers to symbolize desolation, loneliness, and entrapment is reflected through both Victor and the creature. Although Victor initially abhors the idea of creating a female companion, he later relents to the creature’s wishes. Victor succumbs to the creature’s demands because he experiences the desolation and terror provoked in such environments. Nevertheless, Victor can come and go from the arctic as he wishes, while the creature is trapped. Desolate settings like the arctic are the only places the creature can live without dismissal. In Victor’s internal dialogue, he states that his creation is a being, “who could exist in the ice caves of the glaciers and hid from pursuit among the ridges of inaccessible precipices” and “a being possessing faculties it would vain to cope with” (158). Victor recognizes that his creation is superior to mankind in every aspect except physical appearance yet is incapable of being accepted into society. Victor believes his creation possesses supernatural strength because no human can exist in a landscape that embodies desolation. Mary Shelley’s sophisticated use of setting reflects the theme of desolation and reinforces the notion that as a singular being, the creature was destined to exist outside of society.
Mary Shelley presents a dominant theme of desolation in the excerpt by utilizing literary devices such as diction and setting. The creature’s loneliness stems from his repeated rejection from mankind and his abandonment by his own creator. Through repetition of the diction desolate, Shelley stresses the creature’s deprivation of love and acceptance. The creature desires a companion so he can no longer feel the torturous feeling of desolation and misery. The discrepancy between the creature and other characters and the creature’s internal turmoil is clearly reflected through the vast, desolate arctic setting
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