The Making of a Monster

Frankenstein

“I am obscene to you, but to myself I simply am.” 

This line from Guillermo del Toro’s recent adaptation of the book Frankenstein comes from the mouth of a deformed and monstrous creature. We humans experience this feeling of dislocation, too. We participate in activities others find strange. We wear clothes that others find unfashionable. We say things that make others cringe. Everyone has their own standards for what these words “unfashionable,” “strange,” and “cringe” mean and when these judgments become a social consensus, we are silently measured against them. What is obscene to one person is normal to another. Del Toro’s line isn’t describing the imperfections of the creature but rather critiquing those who look down upon him. 

Frankenstein is a novel about an ambitious scientist, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who devotes his existence to crafting and bringing to life a human being. Horrified by the result, the doctor casts away the creature, deeming him a wretch. Lonely and dejected, the creature gradually becomes villainous and violent. He eventually murders Frankenstein’s niece and frames a servant for his crime. He goes on to kill the doctor’s wife and best friend. The novel, written in 1818 by Mary Shelley, offers a powerful commentary on the making of a villain. Criminals are not just born evil; they can also be constructed by society. 

A school bully is not a criminal, at least not yet. But, as Frankenstein demonstrates, we intrinsically feel the need for a scapegoat. Someone needs to be blamed. Students with problems at home can take it out on kids at school, just as those who are bullied can then transfer their feelings of resentment back to their families.

In Frankenstein, many people show prejudice toward the creature, but his feelings of hatred are mostly directed toward one man: his creator. The creature sees his own existence as the cause of his suffering and, because Frankenstein made that life, he directs his resentment toward the doctor. Yet the creature still finds some joy in living. He describes how he felt the cheering warmth of summer, the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds. 

So can the creature really attribute his unhappiness solely to his existence instead of the prejudices he faces in society? And should Frankenstein really be the recipient of the creature's revenge? He is just like that bully who ruins another kid's school life because he cannot deal with the real problem at home.

The bully and the creature may be responsible for their actions, but they are not responsible for the circumstances that shaped them. The creature from Frankenstein is born into a society where his looks doom him. Society determined his unfair treatment before he even took his first breath. His murders in Frankenstein’s orbit may seem like the first times he makes his own choices. Revenge might seem to empower him but his innate powerlessness ends up distorting where the blame is actually due. The school bully may be the same. He may feel helpless at home, without the authority to dictate his circumstances and, in turn, his happiness. He searches for a sense of control and sadly finds it in tormenting another kid. 

Blame is not only misplaced in the criminal but also in the punisher. Society discriminates against those who are different. We hold people to unrealistic beauty standards for example. We create false hierarchies based on physical characteristics. The creature directs his anger toward Frankenstein, just as society directs its fear toward the creature. Wherever the creature travels, he is detested for his appearance. Society rejects those who don’t fit the standard and then punishes those same people when they rebel. 

Punishment itself may be morally shallow if it ignores causation. If there is only punishment with no understanding, that would be a cruel and blind society. But only understanding without punishment is no solution either. Frankenstein shows that the creature, born of society’s rejection, is not the monster; the monster is us.