In the Veins of Society
Unmasking the Bloodcurdling Origins of Our Modern-Day Monstrosities Through The Lens of Frankenstein’s Monster
An interesting perspective on Mary Shelley’s character, Frankenstein’s monster, and how he reflects the outcasts of society today.
Frankenstein’s monster is not a monster.
“And I don’t want the world to see me
’Cause I don’t think that they’d understand
When everything’s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am”
— Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls
It's like this is the creature’s song to the rest of the world. He’s misunderstood, judged merely on his appearance which somehow reflects his entirety. It’s not his fault that we choose to judge him. As a society, we’ve been responsible for creating our own monsters.
Nurture vs Nature
I want to explore how people may see him as a monster by nurture, but not a monster by nature, and how the world around him has shaped him into the idea of a monster although he wasn’t born one and still isn’t one. There are things in this world that we somehow consider immediately as “weaknesses, disadvantages, or bad luck.” How can we assume that these things are detrimental to someone’s life? What if it’s society making it detrimental, where these things aren’t inherently a weakness, but instead, an arbitrary vulnerability exploited by society?
It’s on us if we make them weaknesses.
We spread this propaganda that being a certain height or race or skin tone is superior and that being another is inferior, and that we have to look a certain way to be accepted.
These traits we judge harshly can’t be controlled by those we judge. They are born the way they are, just like everyone else, and even the semantics of this very sentence already separates them as another race apart from the rest of society.
It’s as if this way of thinking is already ingrained in everyone’s minds, including my own, to the point where it’s, perhaps, only logical that we separate these people. However, recall the lyrics from “Iris”: “when everything’s made to be broken.” This is almost reminiscent of the Declaration of Independence or the Bible: “All men are created equal,” and “God created mankind in his own image.” All three of these examples, pertaining to their own distinct situations, still address the same audience. They emphasize that all people are on the same level and that we are “created” not better or worse than each other.
This is not the first time I’ve brought up “Iris” in my writings. My article on How Corruption Influences Justice uses the lyrics similarly, reminding us how we are all the same because we are all misunderstood. And I think there is definitely some overlap with this article’s argument:
“I don’t think it’s a secret that any of us can hide from: we are all misunderstood. We are all broken. However, isn’t it incredible how these characteristics define us as humans. It’s really easy to forget that we are human. We’re created under God as sinners. I guess that’s why perfection is always such an unbelievable goal, because it can never truly be reached.” — How Corruption Influences Justice
We’re not perfect. The creature isn’t perfect. So? And yet, we still choose to persecute those who are different than the majority. We’ve already turned this into some sort of game where we decide who is worse. It makes just as much sense as any form of racism or discrimination, which are not supported by logic or reason.
Being Misunderstood vs Being Indifferent
I wouldn’t call this section a distraction or bluff just because I think it’s an important distinction to make before I move on with the main argument.
Is Frankenstein misunderstood by society or is he just caring about others’ opinion too much?
Being misunderstood is a societal issue, whereas not caring what people think (or being indifferent) is an individual issue. Both options produce the same outcome: isolation and separation. If a person is misunderstood by society, it’s society’s fault because they are not accepting this person, creating an outcast. On the other hand, by not caring about what others think, that person disconnects themselves from the rest of society, creating an outcast. So Frankenstein’s creature’s situation is out of his own control. He cannot simply be indifferent to others’ opinions because this is the result. Society casts him as monstrous because they judge him by his appearance, rather than understanding who he really is.
Today’s Outcasts
“By fearing the stranger, by abusing the vulnerable and the outcast, society creates its own monsters.”
— Charlotte Gordon
Look at history. What was the cause of the Civil War? What about one of the main ideas behind Hitler’s Nazi party? The first one was because of slavery, or extreme racism against Black people, and the second was extreme discrimination against primarily Jews, but also other groups deemed “inferior” to the Aryan race. These ideologies cannot be supported by reason.
People categorize others based on uncontrollable differences like ethnicity. These abusers pick on the vulnerable, according to Gordon. Frankenstein’s creature became a monster when he chose revenge against humanity after they refused to accept him in the cottage scene. He then supported our idea that he was a monster. But people caused him to become one. And yet, in the timeline of events piled together, people only see that he killed a child and that he despised humanity. It’s after this that we see that Frankenstein’s creation is now a monster.
It’s easy to grasp, and it’s logical according to the crimes he has committed. Because of his unhuman, “monster-looking” appearance, it “makes sense” to consider him a monster. Just look at the picture I started this article with. It’s the classic stereotype of what we think “Frankenstein” is. Most people don’t even realize that Frankenstein is the scientist, not the creature. But we see this creature as a scary, Halloween costume that also thrills audiences in movies. It’s ironic that Mary Shelley intended for Frankenstein to look more like this:
The world doesn’t know the monster’s thoughts and intentions we only perceive and process. What we see is what we know. And even in today’s society with racism this “perceive and process” strategy is even worse. We don’t recognize other races as “monsters.” But we categorize some as inferior, which in the context of this argument, is synonymous with monsters. We could choose to recognize it, or we could make it a joke on social media where racism is somehow acceptable only in the form of Instagram Reels or Tiktoks. We know racism exists. We see it. It can’t remain a joke when the real issue floats unnoticed throughout society. Which leads to one last thing.
The Solution
Is there a solution? Or is it just a never-ending problem that feeds off itself?
I’m honestly not sure.
This argument has evolved from an examination of Frankenstein’s monster to a broad view of discrimination as a whole. I don’t know how to fix something as arbitrary and perplexing as the roots of racism and judgment.
The only thing I can do is apologize. I guess, reflecting on this argument, I’ve come to realize that I am also a part of this issue. I’ve contributed to this toxic, unforgiving society by simply not paying much attention to the issue. I let it happen right in front of me and it’s also become an insidious part of my life.
If there’s anything we can do, anything at all, don’t fear the stranger, don’t abuse the vulnerable, and don’t make outcasts of people. Don’t create monsters of the world.
