The Monster Became Monstrous Because He Was Shunned Out Of Society.
Many lessons are fixed into Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, including how society acts towards the different. The monster fell victim to the system commonly used to characterize a person by only his or her outer appearance. Whether people like it or not, society always summarizes a person's characteristics by his or her physical appearance.
Society has set an unbreakable code individuals must follow to be accepted. Those who don't follow the "standard" are hated by the crowd and banned for the reason of being different. When the monster ventured into a town".[monster] had hardly placed [his] foot within the door .children shrieked, and .women fainted" (101). From that moment on he realized that people did not like his appearance and hated him because of it. If villagers didn't run away at the sight of him, then they might have even enjoyed his personality. The monster tried to accomplish this when he encountered the DenLacey family. The monster hoped to gain friendship from the old man and eventually his children. He knew that it could have been possible because the old man was blind; he could not see the monster's repulsive characteristics. But fate was against him and the "wretched" had barely conversed with the old man before his children returned from their journey and saw a monstrous creature at the foot of their father attempting to do harm to the helpless elder. "Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore [the creature] from his father." (129). Felix's action caused great inner pain to the monster. He knew that his dream of living with them "happily ever after" would not happen. After that bitter moment the monster believed that ".the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union [with the monster]" (138) and with the De Lacey encounter still fresh in his mind along with his first encounter of humans, he declared war on the human race.
