NT1.2

As the monster hides in the shed and gradually learns how to read, write and speak, he begins to understand and become closer with human emotions. By watching the Delaceys he is able to see how the members of a loving family interact with one another on a regular basis. By learning how to speak, read and write the monster gains self-confidence. The books had the biggest affect on his emotions. As he said, “I can hardly describe to you the effect of these books. They produced in me an infinity of new images and feelings, that sometimes raised me to ecstasy, but more frequently sunk me into the lowest dejection.”(127) Through reading he was able to open up his mind, something that he didn’t even know he could do. He was able to ponder the ideals he read about.

Paradise Lost was the book that he connected with the most. This is because it is about Adam and Eve. It is about God creating a being. It really seemed to hurt him, though, to think of how his creator did nothing but abandon him when he needed him. The reading of this book brought him feelings of anger because his creator abandoned him.

Shelley allows the monster to vent some of his feelings for Frankenstein. I think this is important because it shows Frankenstein that had he only embraced the being that he created, though hideous to look at, he could have molded him into the being that he wanted. I think this allows the reader and Victor to see that the monster had feeling all along, though he wasn’t able to fully understand them until he was able to use his mind with more of an affinity to that of a normal human being.

The knowledge and skills that he gains do allow him to become better acquainted with his emotions. I do not believe that they make him more violent, at least not directly. I think what they do is to cause him to be more vulnerable. He wants nothing more than to converse with this family, to show them what they have done for him so that he may gain their acceptance and that backfires. This causes him to feel rage and adds to his growing hatred for the human race. This is why he said, “despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feeling were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants, and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery.”(136) This is a very drastic and sudden change of humor for the monster. Only moments before he wanted nothing more than to talk with them and possibly gain their acceptance, then when they are frightened of him and lash out at him his mood does a complete reversal. It is at this point that he really begins to realize that he has no place in this world. If these people that are so loving and amiable are unable to accept him, then what are the chances that any other human being in this world could accept him either?