Novel and Moral Values
1995. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral values.
In the novel Frankenstein, the character Frankenstein “the monster” created by Victor is an example of alienation from society or culture. The monster was rejected and neglected because of his ugly and “unique” appearance. When the society had any contact with the monster, they would attempt to kill him, hurt him or drive the monster away because of his horrific appearance; but the monster did not have intensions of killing or doing any harm. He attempted to be like everybody else. The moral values of the society in the book sets that the monster was judged by his appearance and not by his actions. In the course of the book, there were many examples of the way people treated the monster because of the way he looked. As for example, when William sees the monster and immediately called him “Monster!, Ugly wretch!... Hideous Monster!.” At first, the monster did not want to hurt him, as he said “Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not tend to hurt you; listen to me.” Also, when the monster saved the girl from drowning but he was shot. His intentions were to save the girl, but those “ungraceful humans” shot him because of his appearance and not for his good actions. The meaning of the work as a whole is that appearance can contradict and obscure reality. The monster was a bad creature because of his appearance, and not by his intentions. The moral values of the society already judged him without even knowing him at all.
In the novel Frankenstein, the character Frankenstein “the monster” created by Victor is an example of alienation from society or culture. The monster was rejected and neglected because of his ugly and “unique” appearance. When the society had any contact with the monster, they would attempt to kill him, hurt him or drive the monster away because of his horrific appearance; but the monster did not have intensions of killing or doing any harm. He attempted to be like everybody else. The moral values of the society in the book sets that the monster was judged by his appearance and not by his actions. In the course of the book, there were many examples of the way people treated the monster because of the way he looked. As for example, when William sees the monster and immediately called him “Monster!, Ugly wretch!... Hideous Monster!.” At first, the monster did not want to hurt him, as he said “Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not tend to hurt you; listen to me.” Also, when the monster saved the girl from drowning but he was shot. His intentions were to save the girl, but those “ungraceful humans” shot him because of his appearance and not for his good actions. The meaning of the work as a whole is that appearance can contradict and obscure reality. The monster was a bad creature because of his appearance, and not by his intentions. The moral values of the society already judged him without even knowing him at all.