Human Beings
What constitutes someone being a human? Do you think Frankenstein failed or succeeded as a human being? What traits or attributes, do you think, led to the creature’s fate? Cite quotes to support your thoughts.
March 5, 2007
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I think Frankenstein overall failed as a human being. He kept trying to accomplish something great in his life, and that led to his own downfall. If he had not pushed the limits of nature and science, he wouldn’t have created the monster and all the bad stuff wouldn’t have happened. I think the creature’s height and ugliness led to his death. If he had been built to look more like a human, he probably would have been better accepted
Victor, ” Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish.” (p.79)
Creature, “I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me; and finding myself unsympathised with, wished to tear up the tress, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin” (p. 124)
Victor, “…how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” (p.39)
Creature,”Increase of knowledge only discovered to me more clearly what a wretched outcast i was.”
It seems to me that to be human there is no set stature to cling to. If one is human, their nature and thoughts will depict this. Being of humankind and born of his mother, Victor is of course human. However, his constant state of unquenchable thirst for so many things renders him to be some sort of human beyond recognition. Seeing as most people are able to find that which they desire to be satisfied, as the creature displays in his anger toward his creator, Victor seems only to separate himself more from the generally accepted idea of “human”. I think what constitues being human is the perception of acceptance as human. The creature does not look human, but every other part of him is. Victor is accepted as human because of his appearance, but every other aspect of him is cut off from their society-where the creature yearns to be.
Frankenstein made his own rules and searched further than any other man before him to create life. He is still human because he did not think of the consequences of his actions. He was consumed with selfish needs and wants and was in a sense greedy because he wanted to create life by himself and did not really think about the life his creation would lead. The monster, after all the sadness he has endured, speaks to Victor’s body and says, “But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept,…”
Frankenstein succeeded as a human being in some aspects, but in other other aspects he failed. His lack of compassion and ability to deal with the monster’s severe miserable disposition makes Frankenstein seem really inhumane. He did succeed by showing his sympathy and remorse each time the monster killed someone. He definitely knew that he was responisble for the deaths, but he was not human enough to do anything about it by either getting rid of the monster or creating him a mate to keep him occupied. Victor’s guilt that displays that he did was a humane person despite the destruction that he was responsible for is summed up when he states: ” When I was otheriwise quite restored to health, the sight of a chemical instrument would renew all the agony of my nervous symptoms.” (p. 54)
I think that Frankenstein’s creation does constitute a real human. The monster has feelings, true emotions. He is also able to learn from the De Lacey family and understand the emotions that other humans have. Even though his life was created by another human, so are all other human beings, the only difference is that Victor created the so-called monster in a different way. The monster also wants a mate, another trait of every other human being. All humans spend their life looking for a mate in order to pass on their genetic code, just like the monster.
The monster yearns for nuture from the person that created him and wants to understand the world around him. Just like a child wants love from his/her parents and learns from his/her surroundings.
“His jaws opened and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might of spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was streched out seemingly to detain me, but I escaped…” (44)
I think to be a human being;you have to have pulse. I think Victor succeed in creating a human being. Unfortunately, the human being he created was extremely ugly and enormous. I think that the monster’s enormous size, unproportional body, and ugly face led to his misery. “… gigantic in stature, yet uncouth and distored in its proportions…” “Never did I behold a vision so horrible as his face…” (206)
I think that Vitor is a sad excuse for a human. He claims science is his love and passion, yet he shuns his creation. This logic does not make sense to me at all. He was the monster’s creator and yet he abandoned the moster completely. I think Victor is very selfish and over zealous. He views himself above everyone else:
“Learn from me . . . how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.”
Here he is trying to persuade Walton away from science. Victor feels as if he has seen and done the unthinkable and thus, defied the laws of nature. He thinks that he has accomplished too much and that he is too smart for his own good; yet at the end of the day, he is still human and he is not perfect.
I think that Frankenstein failed in some ways and succeeded in others. He failed by not realizing the consequenses of his actions. Also, he failed when displayed lack of resonsibility for creating the destructive monster. “I could hardly believe that so great a good fortune could have befallen me; but when I became assured that my enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy,” (47). He succeeded by exploring life and showing an interest in knowledge. “Soon Frankenstein is drawn in to his obsessive quest to create life artificially” (96).
I believe that emotions are what constitues someone being a human. Because of that, I think that the monster could be considered a human. Although he does not look like a normal human, he still thinks and reacts to situations in the way that a human would. I think the monster’s physical traits are what led to his fate. Being extremely tall and very unfortunate looking, people did not want to associate with him. They automatically assumed he was going to do something evil or wrong, but that was not always true.
“His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
The difference between human beings and animals is that humans are able to communicate their thoughts. Overall, it seems that Frankenstein was unable to truly communicate how he felt. Therefore, he somewhat failed as a human being. For example, when Justine was put to death, Frankenstein could not communicate the truth that the monster was William’s real murderer. Frankenstein also secluded himself and refused to communicate with his family and friends back home in Geneva because he solely focused on his creation. His communication skills were basically cut off completely, proving his inhumanity.
I beleive that compassion and a devotion to others are what constitute as being human. Victor failed at both of these tasks. True, he did go back to his family when he found out that William had been murdered, but it was because he believed his monster had killed him. While everyone else is mourning, he is concerned with his own affairs and does a poor job of comforting Elizabeth and everyone else. Victor also shows a lack of compassion to others. You always hear of people coming to help him and him never repaying them. Such is the case with Henry. He comes and takes care of Victor and agrees to go travel with him, but Victor makes him stay in a town while he goes off on his own. Because of this, Henry winds up alone and dead on the beach shore. Victor is so self absorbed with his ”Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish.” (p.79) I dont think he constitutes a human being.
I think that Frankenstein was like a human. He had feelings and emotions. He learned how to communicate through the family he stalked. He was just like any of us, despite his phyisical apperance. He acts with heart and that’s what I think being ‘human’ is. “I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create. ” I think the monster’s desires are just like ours. We just want someone to understand and talk to. I think all of these things classify the monster as a real human.
I think that being human constitutes the ability to feel emotion and think rationaly (and at times irrationaly). I think Frankenstein’s monster failed as a human being. His taste for revenge and vengeange overpowered his other emotions. I think this obsession with revenge is what led to the downfall of the monster. The monster is quoted as saying he found himself, “unsympathised with, wished to tear up the tress, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin” (p. 124)
This quote shows his obession with revenge, which eventually led to his demise.
I think frankenstien succeeded in building something like a human but in the same since it was not a human. It had a heart beat yet it felt nothing in terms of feelings and relationships. So it is a human because it has a heart but it can never act or be like a human.
I think that the monster is a human because he feels emotion and has the ability to reason. The ability to reason and make decisions is what makes humans different from every other species. He is definitely a human becuse he says, “I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me.” He understands that he is different and that he is alone. His understanding is what makes him humanish.
I think that Frankenstein failed overall as a human being. This is mainly that he became so obsessed with creating another being that he isolated himself from the rest of the world. Also, along with causing his own suffering, he caused many others suffering by creating the monster.
I think that Frankenstein succeeded as a human being as well as succeeding in creating a human. Part of being human is being emotional and acting upon those emotions. Frankenstein himself was curious and pushed the limits as far as he could which is definitaly part of being human. The monster felt revenge which is an emotion that many humans feel and followed through with his actions. He also liked learning and observing what the people do which is what children and other adults do. He also felt a sense of loneliness and I think this constitues being human. He also proves he is human by the pain he felt, “One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars, and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it. In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain” (91). The monster also proves that he felt delight which is another human emotion. I think that the monsters looks led to his downfall becuase if he had not been pushed away by them then he would not have started to get revenge. I think that Frankensteins downfall was the lack of knowing consequences. He created the monster which killed his family and if he had thought about the possible consequences then none of that would have happened.
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