The Role Of Isolation In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Isolation develops by one’s choice to feel solitude or forced on one by others when he or she feels shunned by society. However calm it may seem to listen to one’s thoughts, at a certain point one desires to release their trapped words and flush them out into the world. To feel understood, cared for, and belong to a certain group is what makes one human. When life seems foggy with obstacles, simple words of encouragement from a friend is all it takes to kick-start one’s life towards happiness. In the novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, a troubling scientist brings the dead to life by fabricating the Creature with science but quickly regrets his achievement by deeming it a barbarian belonging to hell. The abandonment of the monster causes forlorn …show more content…
Through the development of The Creature, Shelley evinces that isolation can cause mental instability which leads to a thirst for vengeance. Moreover, the Creature entrusts a family in the forest only to have his hope brutally crushed which leads to his madness and desire for revenge. When the monster awoke from the dead, Victor Frankenstein, his creator, greeted him with horror and abandoned the Creature. From the moment of his first breath, mankind feared the monster, saw him as inhuman and an omission. His first steps on Earth welcome violence from villagers when he is “grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons” (Shelley 87). Most humans experience sweet smiles, tears of joy, and ecstatic cheers at their time of birth, but instead, the Creature’s warm welcome into the world involves torment and suffering. Victor and civilization isolate the Creature from the very beginning and leaves him empty of nurture and love. His discrete appearances cause the fearful being to escape into the forest in the hope of finding a safe haven from society. Although his initial interaction