Frankenstein: Success Through Responsibility Frankenstein's goal in creating his monster was to create life to help the human race. This failed horribly when Frankenstein fled after seeing his creation and being disgusted. The monster then went on to kill several people, all of whom were associated with Frankenstein in some way. This could have been avoided and Frankenstein's original plan could have been seen through, if Frankenstein took responsibility for and therefore stayed and raised his creation.
Frankenstein's creation had an innate fascination with humans. He says "I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures" (122). This could have been capitalized on. If Frankenstein had taught his creation, he could have progressed extremely quickly as evidenced by his ability to teach himself to read and his quick progression with French. His fascination with humans could have served to help humanity through providing immediate medical attention in areas that are inaccessible to normal humans. Learning could also be used as a reward when he did a job well. Instead,. he was forced to learn about wars, unjust punishment, and death through secondhand and even fictional stories. These ideas and the idea of fiction could have been explained and then the creation may not have lost his faith so quickly.
Frankenstein's creation also attempted to help humanity even after they rejected him. He saved a young girl from drowning. He was rewarded for this by being shot. Unfortunately, there was a pause between these two actions. This could have been avoided if Frankenstein had been there. The pause involved, "On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper part of the wood. I followed speedily" (152). Frankenstein's creation is then shot by the man. This would not have happened if Frankenstein himself had raised his creation for a variety of reasons. If Frankenstein had raised his creation, he could have introduced it to the public and displayed that he is not something to be afraid of. This would have prevented this scene as the man could recognize the creation and question him. Additionally, Frankenstein himself could have been with his creation and explained to the man what was happening or even prevented his creation from chasing the man. All of this would have stopped his creation from experiencing that level of both physical and emotional pain and rejection. This would lead to Frankenstein's creation being more willing to help people in the future.
Frankenstein's creation did have a human shape, but did not look human. This could have aided his journey to help humanity. As can be seen when analyzing uncanny valley, humans tend to like non-human entities more when they do not look extremely similar to humans. Uncanny valley can be defined as "things that look and act too human can seem creepy" (The Uncanny Valley). This works for Frankenstein in that he does not fall into the human looking spectrum, more along the lines of C3PO than a dead-eyed animated person. He is distinctly not human and this could help his ability to help people and, if he was taught well, not scare them if he needed to use his strength.
Frankenstein's creation could have helped humanity through jobs such as search and rescue due to his fascination with humans and learning if Frankenstein was there to help him with understanding humans at the beginning and helping humans to understand his creation. However, Frankenstein abandoned his creation and was not there to interfere with the abuse that his creation was forced to endure. If this was changed, then the novel could have taken a completely different turn and perhaps the monster could have earned a name of his own.
Frankenstein's goal in creating his monster was to create life to help the human race. This failed horribly when Frankenstein fled after seeing his creation and being disgusted. The monster then went on to kill several people, all of whom were associated with Frankenstein in some way. This could have been avoided and Frankenstein's original plan could have been seen through, if Frankenstein took responsibility for and therefore stayed and raised his creation.
Frankenstein's creation had an innate fascination with humans. He says "I longed to discover the motives and feelings of these lovely creatures" (122). This could have been capitalized on. If Frankenstein had taught his creation, he could have progressed extremely quickly as evidenced by his ability to teach himself to read and his quick progression with French. His fascination with humans could have served to help humanity through providing immediate medical attention in areas that are inaccessible to normal humans. Learning could also be used as a reward when he did a job well. Instead,. he was forced to learn about wars, unjust punishment, and death through secondhand and even fictional stories. These ideas and the idea of fiction could have been explained and then the creation may not have lost his faith so quickly.
Frankenstein's creation also attempted to help humanity even after they rejected him. He saved a young girl from drowning. He was rewarded for this by being shot. Unfortunately, there was a pause between these two actions. This could have been avoided if Frankenstein had been there. The pause involved, "On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper part of the wood. I followed speedily" (152). Frankenstein's creation is then shot by the man. This would not have happened if Frankenstein himself had raised his creation for a variety of reasons. If Frankenstein had raised his creation, he could have introduced it to the public and displayed that he is not something to be afraid of. This would have prevented this scene as the man could recognize the creation and question him. Additionally, Frankenstein himself could have been with his creation and explained to the man what was happening or even prevented his creation from chasing the man. All of this would have stopped his creation from experiencing that level of both physical and emotional pain and rejection. This would lead to Frankenstein's creation being more willing to help people in the future.
Frankenstein's creation did have a human shape, but did not look human. This could have aided his journey to help humanity. As can be seen when analyzing uncanny valley, humans tend to like non-human entities more when they do not look extremely similar to humans. Uncanny valley can be defined as "things that look and act too human can seem creepy" (The Uncanny Valley). This works for Frankenstein in that he does not fall into the human looking spectrum, more along the lines of C3PO than a dead-eyed animated person. He is distinctly not human and this could help his ability to help people and, if he was taught well, not scare them if he needed to use his strength.
Frankenstein's creation could have helped humanity through jobs such as search and rescue due to his fascination with humans and learning if Frankenstein was there to help him with understanding humans at the beginning and helping humans to understand his creation. However, Frankenstein abandoned his creation and was not there to interfere with the abuse that his creation was forced to endure. If this was changed, then the novel could have taken a completely different turn and perhaps the monster could have earned a name of his own.