This was one of the easiest books to write about/read, other then Interview with a Vampire, for me at least. Mostly because I've recently read it, during my senior year at high school, and it was easy to pick it up for the week from the library. Mostly what I feel now is exactly what I felt reading it the first time: extreme pity.
I feel unbelievable sorry for the monster, even if it is revealed he actually killed people. I naturally am a very empathetic person, so I couldn't help but feel terrible when the monster described just wanted to love or be accepted, but was shunned and screamed at.
The most moving part for me was when he hid and stayed in that family's barn/behind their house. All that time he spent watching them, learning all those things, helping them even. Then when he finally goes to confront them, they scream and run away! I felt so angry, after seeing what type of people they supposedly were, then having the cold fact that they turned out just like everyone else!
My favorite folk tale/story of all time is 'Beauty and the Beast'- not just the Disney version(which I do like, but that's beside the point) but the whole tale of someone kind and pure enough that they wouldn't care what the other would look like, and love them no matter what. That is the most beautiful thing in the world. Even the movie we watched in class was a very classic example of a beauty and the beast story. She was the only one who wasn't afraid of him, and was willing to help him. I haven't seen the rest of the movie, but I want to, I'm almost looking forward to a love interest plot. I suppose that was what I was expecting when I opened that book. That he'd eventually find someone, anyone who would except him, maybe not love, but at least accept him. But no, not even his creator loved him, kinda like saying something like, 'What if God hated you?' I don't think anyone can imagine living like that, to know that you should not exist, no wonder he was driven to kill!
That's another issue to be brought up, the fact that he did eventually kill people. The act of killing people, starting with Frankenstein's little brother, I believe, this made him a monster inside as well as outside. I like the fact the book plays on the meaning of 'monster'. You can look perfectly normal, beautiful even, but, if you kill another being out of anger or negative reasons, you are a monster. So in theory, the frankenstein monster wasn't really a monster, just another creature, until he took his first life. Maybe it could be argued it was an accident, he didn't know his own strength, but in the end, he really screwed himself over when he willingly killed Elizabeth, to get back at Frankenstein.
In the end he stilled loved his creator, even though his creator feared him, hated him so much. I wonder what would the monster have been like if Frankenstein had not run away after he created him, and instead had taught him right and wrong. Mostly I blame Frankenstein for this whole mess, he was the one who became obsessed with science and deciding to play God. Overall I see this more as a heavy tragedy then a horror story, especially since I was depressed and sympathetic throughout the whole thing.
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