Tropp however states that ambition may have had a role in the creation's size. He says that it is "born of Frankenstein's megalomania" (Trop 81). This may indeed be true as Frankenstein states "A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me" (Shelley 52). He seems obsessed with the idea to become the father of this new race, so he makes the creature large in order to assure its dominance.
The more important defect in Frankenstein is not so much shown in the appearance that he gave his creation, but the manner in which he responds to it. The first thing that Frankenstein notices upon the activation of his creation is one of being appalled. He sees the creature's physical appearance only, taking no time to attempt to acknowledge its mental nature. Frankenstein cannot accept it simply because it looks too far removed from his view of beautiful. Because of this, he drives the creature away, abandoning it. The creature is "in one sense an infant - a comically monstrous eight foot baby - whose progenitor rejects him immediately after creating him- (Oates 70). It is due to this abandonment that the monster develops the murderous tendencies displayed later in the novel. Even when the creature is shown to be naturally good, its appearance never allows its acceptance. Whenever the creation attempts to be rational with Frankenstein, it is rejected. Oates says that "Frankenstein's response to the "thing" he has created is solely in aesthetic terms- (Oates 75).
Throughout the novel Frankenstein continually insists that "The tortures of Hell are too mild a vengeance for all the creature's crimes" (Shelley 95). He is incorrect, however in assuming that the creature is inherently evil. Mary Lowe-Evans states that, "Nothing in Frankenstein is more unexpected than the Creature's sensitivity" (Lowe-Evans 52). Its benevolent nature, described in its story, means to show that the creature is not the beast that Frankenstein has made it out to be.
