Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I personally think that Schildt was right in what he was saying about how Mary Shelley was writing about "suffering and loss and pain, the feeling of being ostracized...". This story, and what Schildt is trying to tell people is that most people have felt like an outcast and have felt alone before. When Schildt says " And i think people have always felt that, and so they can feel for the monster too...There's a bit of the creature in all of us." We have definitely felt left out before and for basically the creature whole life, he is an outcast. People don't give him a chance because of the way he looks. On page 123, the creature is brave enough to go to the old man that is blind and talk to him because he figured he wouldn't be judged by his appearance. The creature tells Victor," At that instant the cottage door was opened, and Felix, Safie, and Agatha entered. Who can describe their horrors and consternation on beholding me? Agatha fainted, and Safie, unable to attend to her friend, rushed out of the cottage." The creature was telling Victor that once people actually saw him, they were so appalled that they fainted or ran. I think Schildt is saying that everyone has felt like this before.

I think Mary Shelley may have at first had the intention of writing a horror story but came upon the fact that the monster was an abomination to people unlike his kind. People now-a-days feel that way all the time. They may not be the fact that some people faint or run from the sight of them but the definitely have gotten looks and sneers. I think Schildt made a very good theory that Mary Shelley was not trying to write about the "evils of science and progress" (as he quotes in the article) but about people relating to the creature about being an outcast at times. The book Frankenstein has some very good values to learn in every day life as well as being one of the most popular horror stories of all time.

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