ocmyface
11-14-2004, 09:45 PM
i ahve a research paper due tomorrow for english and since there seems to be some smarties in here, i thought id get some help making a real banger of an ending, ill be able to check the thread tomorrow morning before i turn it in so its never too late to give me an idea or what
my topic:
the human ambiguity of the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
(is the monster in Frankenstein human or not)
heres what Ive got, the last paragraph is my ending but i suck at conclusions :stick:
props to all who helped! dont feel like you have to help of course, i just thought some opinions might help and im in no dire need of help, plus my grade wont suffer from having a weak conclusion, i just want to end it with a bang!
__________________________
One of the hottest topics in today's society is about trying to decide what makes something human. Is it the shape and elements of the body or is it the soul, the ability to interact with other humans, that makes someone a person? The monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has a human's body but no soul and is thrown into a world where nobody can say if he is human or animal.
When the monster is born Frankenstein is immediately afraid and repulsed by the creature. He describes in great detail how the mass of tissue moves in a flithy way as it gasps for air. This is in direct contrast with a person's usual reaction to birth. Even though this is an entirely different form of birth, the monster is still Frankenstein's creation and, in loose terms, his child. So when he is repulsed at the sign of life in the monster, a doubt of the monster's human qualities arises in the reader. When the monster is born he "comes into existence as a product of nature ... one hundred percent natural - yet by the fact and process of his creation he is unnatural"(Brooks). Although he looks and behaves like a human, he has no "cultural context"(Brooks) and cannot interact with any other human. He has no previous experience or commradery as a race with which he can use to create a connection for communication with other people. This commradery is similar to the way a fraternity or sorority works, each person in the club has a unique connection with the other members in which they can feel close and it is in turn easier for them to communicate amongst each other. Yet the monster has no connection with anyone, he is an unnaturally born human made by human matter. As a result of this he is not seen as human by other humans, since he is a "unique creation... He remains, so to speak, post natural and precultural"(Brooks). He cannot depend on the sense of human comradery to make relationships with other humans. As far as physical stance, the monster is as human as everyone else walking the planet at that time. He is made of all human parts and, although he may be scarred and wretched, he has the physique of a clumbsy human. By the end of the novel, the monster is capable of all the advanced physical tasks of any human. He has the ability to run, jump, climb and kill. He also has the mental capactiy of an educated person; he can read, speak and write. He even has the wits of a person and attempts to compromise with his creator. Yet he is still rejected by masses of repulsed humans and this pattern confuses him greatly. The only friend the monster ever makes is with a blind man who can only judge based on personality and the monster's "soul." When the blind man befriends the creature it is a clue as to what makes him human. It is not his mental capacity that causes people to run, but his physical appearance. The hole that the monster always feels in himself is his lack of human appearance. He says it himself in Chapter 15 when he curses his creator saying, "Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?" While the monster may be human at heart, his "huge size and distorted features consistently instills fear in all it meets"(Nardo).
When the monster begins to read books, he is able to relate himself to the fallen angel from one of his books. The story of the fallen angel directly parallels to the story of the creature. The angel used to be a holy angel, but was stripped from divinity and throw into Hell. He both was and is an Angel but due to his disconnection from other Angels and their comraddery he is no longer seen as an angel. The same is true for the creature, he seems himself as a fallen human. He was made to be human, but due to his excluding appearance, he is not seen as human. He feels as though he was never given a chance to be human and curses his creator saying, "God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance." The monster acknowledges at that time that no matter how human he appears, the very method by which he was born seperates him from humans and the fact that he looks similar to one only makes it worse.
The monster's physical resemblance to a human is outweighed by his unnatural brith and his lack of a commradery , or "soul", which is given to one at birth. Frankenstein acknowledges that his creation is an empty human and is afraid of him. By the end of the novel, the reader is unable to decide whether the creature is human or not and all confusion is brought to a close with the suicide of the creature.
my topic:
the human ambiguity of the creature in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
(is the monster in Frankenstein human or not)
heres what Ive got, the last paragraph is my ending but i suck at conclusions :stick:
props to all who helped! dont feel like you have to help of course, i just thought some opinions might help and im in no dire need of help, plus my grade wont suffer from having a weak conclusion, i just want to end it with a bang!
__________________________
One of the hottest topics in today's society is about trying to decide what makes something human. Is it the shape and elements of the body or is it the soul, the ability to interact with other humans, that makes someone a person? The monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has a human's body but no soul and is thrown into a world where nobody can say if he is human or animal.
When the monster is born Frankenstein is immediately afraid and repulsed by the creature. He describes in great detail how the mass of tissue moves in a flithy way as it gasps for air. This is in direct contrast with a person's usual reaction to birth. Even though this is an entirely different form of birth, the monster is still Frankenstein's creation and, in loose terms, his child. So when he is repulsed at the sign of life in the monster, a doubt of the monster's human qualities arises in the reader. When the monster is born he "comes into existence as a product of nature ... one hundred percent natural - yet by the fact and process of his creation he is unnatural"(Brooks). Although he looks and behaves like a human, he has no "cultural context"(Brooks) and cannot interact with any other human. He has no previous experience or commradery as a race with which he can use to create a connection for communication with other people. This commradery is similar to the way a fraternity or sorority works, each person in the club has a unique connection with the other members in which they can feel close and it is in turn easier for them to communicate amongst each other. Yet the monster has no connection with anyone, he is an unnaturally born human made by human matter. As a result of this he is not seen as human by other humans, since he is a "unique creation... He remains, so to speak, post natural and precultural"(Brooks). He cannot depend on the sense of human comradery to make relationships with other humans. As far as physical stance, the monster is as human as everyone else walking the planet at that time. He is made of all human parts and, although he may be scarred and wretched, he has the physique of a clumbsy human. By the end of the novel, the monster is capable of all the advanced physical tasks of any human. He has the ability to run, jump, climb and kill. He also has the mental capactiy of an educated person; he can read, speak and write. He even has the wits of a person and attempts to compromise with his creator. Yet he is still rejected by masses of repulsed humans and this pattern confuses him greatly. The only friend the monster ever makes is with a blind man who can only judge based on personality and the monster's "soul." When the blind man befriends the creature it is a clue as to what makes him human. It is not his mental capacity that causes people to run, but his physical appearance. The hole that the monster always feels in himself is his lack of human appearance. He says it himself in Chapter 15 when he curses his creator saying, "Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?" While the monster may be human at heart, his "huge size and distorted features consistently instills fear in all it meets"(Nardo).
When the monster begins to read books, he is able to relate himself to the fallen angel from one of his books. The story of the fallen angel directly parallels to the story of the creature. The angel used to be a holy angel, but was stripped from divinity and throw into Hell. He both was and is an Angel but due to his disconnection from other Angels and their comraddery he is no longer seen as an angel. The same is true for the creature, he seems himself as a fallen human. He was made to be human, but due to his excluding appearance, he is not seen as human. He feels as though he was never given a chance to be human and curses his creator saying, "God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance." The monster acknowledges at that time that no matter how human he appears, the very method by which he was born seperates him from humans and the fact that he looks similar to one only makes it worse.
The monster's physical resemblance to a human is outweighed by his unnatural brith and his lack of a commradery , or "soul", which is given to one at birth. Frankenstein acknowledges that his creation is an empty human and is afraid of him. By the end of the novel, the reader is unable to decide whether the creature is human or not and all confusion is brought to a close with the suicide of the creature.