Short Frankenstein Friend or Foe essay
Uploaded by mariahtooheyyy on Feb 12, 2014
Mariah Toohey
Molan
English 1
23 October 2013
Friend or Foe
In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein the monster “Duke” is faced with many hardships. I feel as though he should be helped and taught. When Duke was created he didn’t know anything and had to self teach himself the many basics of life as if he were a small child. In chapters 1-12 it tells the story of how Victor Frankenstein, the monsters creator, was afraid of his own creation and abandon Duke to survive on his own. The fact that Victor just left the monster makes me side with the monster, even though he did kill Victor’s brother, but he only did it because he was trying to get Victor’s attention and get revenge for leaving him.
Duke is just trying to get people to understand him and to understand the world. In chapter 2 he says, “The world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember” (Shelly, 48). Duke just wants to be apart of society and understand how things in the world work. He is just lonely and is striving to learn how to be as human as possible but is often shunned for being a monster he says “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” (Shelly, 129). The monster is longing to be accepted by society and I believe that he deserves to be accepted because he tries so hard, but people are to terrified to even look at him.