misery made me a fiend
The Creature picks up the name Victor has just hurled at him and subtly
recasts its point. From the first Victor has looked upon his Creature as
essentially depraved, that is to say, evil in his very nature. The same
issue hovers over the treatment of Justine Moritz, particularly by members
of the Frankenstein household, in Chapters 6 and 7
of Volume 1. The Creature's rejoinder is constructivist: which is to say,
that a sentient being is molded by material conditions. It is a position
stoutly argued by William Godwin
throughout Political Justice (1793). In terms of contemporary
criticism of Frankenstein, this issue has a high visibility in all
gender criticism. Beyond litertary criticism per se, the terms in
which the novel casts this debate are highly resonant for modern social and
critical theory.
- Critical Approaches:
- Themes:
