By Boy Tunnel

Throughout Mary Shelley's Gothic novel Frankenstein, numerous injustices and prejudices are directed at the Creature. Everyone from Victor Frankenstein, the Creature's creator, to the common stranger holds some sort of rejection or resentment towards the Creature. In modern-day society, we find this same discrimination directed at those in the lower classes in society. In Frankenstein, there are striking similarities between the creature and the lower classes of society, with regard to how they are treated and depicted by others.

Perhaps the most prominent reason for the discrimination of the Creature in Frankenstein is its physical appearance. The Creature is absolutely repulsive and a horror to look at. People of the lower classes are often looked at in the same way. They may be unpleasant to look at simply because they cannot afford the luxuries of new, clean clothes or a thorough cleaning. Nonetheless, because of their physical appearance, both the Creature in Frankenstein and people in the lower classes are shunned by the rest of society. People tend to "steer" away from them out of fear, simply because they do not look the same as what everyday people are accustomed to. Above all, it is their physical appearance that causes their strife.

In at least two of Shelley's works, we find that she tries to capture sympathy for people in the lower classes of society. According to Hugh J. Luke, Jr., editor of Shelley's novel The Last Man, "[Frankenstein and The Last Man] are built on the them of human isolation [and the] ineluctable separateness of the individual being." With this similarity in themes between the two novels, Shelley recognizes the despair and depression that one who is deviated from society undergoes.

When Victor notices "a sense of lifelessness moving through [the Creature's] body," he discovers the true horror of the Creature. Like so many poor and neglected people, the Creature lacks any real hope or virtue for simple acceptance.

The reality of the isolation of the Creature eventually sets in as it does for those of the lower class. The Creature begins to look at himself as others do. He learns that he is truly ugly and soon draws the conclusion that he really has no chance for happiness. The Creature, because of how others act towards him, comes to believe that he is the villain. Through this conclusion society's lower classes are portrayed by society's lower classes. Ultimately, they too begin to see themselves as worthless and feel that they can never be a part of normal or successful society.

The Creature carries a strong representation of the lower class as he recognizes his physical and emotional needs. For instance, the Creature eventually feels the need for clothing. This suggests that he needs warmth and security. The Creature also longs for music indicating an emotional side that needs to be satisfied. People of the lower class all have needs that are similar to those of the Creature.

In Frankenstein, the Creature becomes animal-like because he has no soul nor spirit. Because of its unnatural form of existence, it has no stability or balance. Similarly, those of the lower class lack a certain balance or stability in their lives. Also, because of their own views of self-worthlessness and the views of others, they often feel that they lack spirit and soul. This is mostly a product of their own withdrawal.

In Shelley's Frankenstein, it is no question that the Creature plays the role of the outsider. For lower-classed people, they find themselves as society's outsiders. Society holds very little regard for them and considers them a burden. As it is for the creature, the lower-classed people have been rejected by the best of humanity and as a result have little chance to succeed in life.

The Creature in Frankenstein lacks any form of formal education and as a result, has had to learn all that he knows on his own. Similarly, people in society's lower classes often-times cannot receive a proper education, so it makes it difficult for them to make any sort of advancement in life. What they do learn is from their own experiences which simply cannot allow for their own advancement.

For both the Creature in Frankenstein and people in the lower classes of society, life is difficult from the start. The odds of success are against them since birth or, in the Creature's case, creation. The lower-classed people are born into poor, unsuccessful families while the Creature was orphaned immediately after its creation.

Mary Shelley recognizes the lack of opportunity from the start of the lives of both the Creature and the lower-classed people in society. Charles E. Robinson, who wrote the "Introduction" found in the book Mary Shelley: Collected Tales and Stories, concluded that "many of [Shelley's] heroines are orphans or at least alienated from one or both parents." What Robinson implies is that many of Shelley's works included a figure or person that has had a difficult childhood or has been at a disadvantage from their life's starting point. Robinson suggests that Shelley's life has been difficult since early childhood as he claims that "it is possible to read [Shelley's] fictions as idealizations of her own life." Nonetheless, Shelley maintains that both the Creature and the lower-classed people are at a disadvantage almost upon existence: they are never given a fair start in life.

Another part in the novel that suggests that those in the lower classes of society are discriminated against is where Justine is convicted and executed for the death of William mainly because she is poor. Though this instance does not deal totally with the Creature, what maintains is that injustices are common when it comes to those who are placed in an unfavorable position in society.

In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley captures the similarities between the creature and people in the lower classes of society. Shelley gives the Creature a similar educational background and some of the same needs and desires that people of the lower classes have. Above all, it is the attitudes of everyday people towards the Creature that so closely resemble the attitudes and reactions that are directed at people who are in society's lower class.

 Bibliography

Robinson, Charles E. Mary Shelley: Collected Tales and Stories. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1976.

Shelley, Mary. The Last Man. Ed. Hugh J. Luke, Jr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965.