The creature’s, (or Bill, as Emily calls him), life is filled with false hope…(I will also call him Bill throughout this blog post because I believe he is treated inhumanely and deserves a name.) Bill believes that humanity can be kind to him despite his physical appearance. This is false. He believes that the people he admires for so long will understand and accept him. Once again, this is false.
Bill is miserable after enduring countless disappointments. His last hope for contentment is Frankenstein’s promise to create a mate for him. He watches as Frankenstein “[destroys] the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness” (175). He consciously knew he was going to destroy any hope Bill had to be happy, yet he did it anyway. This was the last false hope Bill would endure. He was set on revenge.
As human beings, we do not attain everything we hope for. We do, however, at least obtain some of our desires. Bill is unable to achieve anything. When he tries to help people it only backfires on him. He saves a girl from the lake and, as a result, almost gets shot. While he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, he was also doin this to be appreciated. Bill is a benevolent creature, the “trait of kindness moved [him] sensibly” (128). He wants what any human wants: compassion and respect. While the malice of mankind is a part of what makes him the monster he is, I argue that disappointment is truly the cause. Bill tries so hard to obtain the compassion and respect that is universally desired, however, his efforts are futile. In the end, his fruitless attempts to be treated humanely are what discourage him from trying to gain respect through benevolence.
I agree that the monster was disappointed. He longed for someone to be his companion, but the people were extremely cruel to him based on his physical appearance. In my opinion, he was treated unfairly and should have received the chance to be accepted into society.
I agree with you, the monster does feel disappointment. I think it is important to note, however, that the monster himself is appalled by his appearance, just as humans are. The humans try to shoot the monster because of his abnormal appearance, but if the monster were in their shoes, and he saw a weird-looking creature grabbing a girl, I think he would’ve done the same.
I agree, for there is no doubt the creature encounters false hope throughout the beginning of the book. In addition, it seems like he is never satisfied with himself throughout the book, just as Frankenstein is. There is nothing he can do to bring true satisfaction, whether it is murdering humans which causes torment, or attempting to befriend humans .
I think that the idea of false hope is integral to the monster’s character. Sometimes, false hope can be worse than no hope at all. The monster built up an ideal view of his existence, only to find his dreams crash and burn. The monster so badly yearned to fit into society, and because of his false hope he was aware of what he was missing. This false hope undoubtedly added to his eventual evil nature, because the suffering that he endured was amplified by this false hope he repeatedly experienced.