Frankenstein Blog 4

In the final section of the book the monster begins to feel the pain of his isolation. The monster desperately wants a family to call his own and to be included in something for once in his existence: "As yet I looked upon crime as a distant evil; benevolence and generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities were called forth and displayed." The monster decides to approach the family after reading some notes written by Victor describing the creation of the monster. He speaks to the blind old man and tells him that he his lonely and doesn't know what to do. The old man tells him this: "Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate; but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self interest, are full of brotherly love and charity. Rely, therefore, on your hopes; and if these friends are good and amiable, do not despair." The fact that Shelley used a blind old man in this part shows that if more people would be blind to the physical appearance of others we would be more compassionate and trusting. The other members of the family return to the house and are frightened by the appearance of the monster. The old man's son gets violent toward the monster and the monster escapes. The monster is saddened and angered by the fact that Victor made him so hideous and feels that no one will ever want him. The monster knows that he could have killed the whole family easily if he wanted to, but the fact that he didn't shows that he is not out to harm people and he just wants to be loved and accepted despite his scary appearance. He realizes that humans are to blame, especially his creator: "From that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me, and sent me forth to this insupportable misery." The monster finally confronts his creator and demands that he make him a female companion to spend his existence with. He promises that he and his companion will never bother humans and he will be forever grateful. Victor knows the consequences might be bad, but he is willing to take the risk to make his creation happy. As time goes on, however, Victor continues to put off his promise and the monster becomes angry. Long story short the monster ends up getting revenge on Victor by killing Elizabeth and Victor promises to devote the rest of his life to finding and destroying his creation.
I think this has got to be the tragedy of all tragedies. First Victor's mother dies and his little brother too. Then in the end his beloved almost wife Elizabeth dies which leads to the death of his father and then he dedicates his life to killing the monster but he dies before he finds it. Victor would have been better off if he had just ignored his creepy desire to create a monster and live his life like a regular young man. Shelley's message was very good, however, and it was very clear that too much power can lead to disaster.