Essay on Shelley's Ideas on Acceptance in Frankenstein

The need for recognition and acceptance of oneself by others in a society is seen as human nature. Everyone in the society irrespective of age, gender or race want to be recognized and accepted for certain physical and intellectual abilities. Ideally, people are so blinded by the idea of acceptance that they would abandon any recognition for their capabilities. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley places a lot of emphasis on the idea of acceptance in the society and how it affects people's relations. In the book, she portrays the idea of social prejudices in the society; and that people are only judged in reference to their physical appearance. The behavior towards a person depends on certain prejudices including the clothes they wear, their skin color and their attitude. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Shelley's ideas on acceptance in Frankenstein and how these ideas relate to our modern day concept of acceptance.

Every human being in any modern society yearns for a certain degree of acceptance in an intellectual manner irrespective of their physical appearance. Just like the monster in Frankenstein, any person who is not accepted by the society is seen as an outcast. In the book, Frankenstein tells the story of a hideous monster who feels indifferent in the society. Upon getting its new life, the monster's first instinct is to seek acceptance from the people (Perkowitz et al.). Frankenstein feels uncomfortable on seeing his creation for the first time indicating the society's perception at that time. The book describes the monster's transgressions as it seeks for acceptance from humans who sees him as an outcast. To the monster, the feeling of rejection is so brutal that it strives to learn the human language for the purpose of acceptance. Frankenstein's own words and thoughts portray the society's attitude towards physical appearance. The member of the society, including Frankenstein, are seen as judgmental as they are unable to give the monster a chance of acceptance despite its efforts to please them. Frankenstein states, "Unable to endure the aspect of the being I created, I rushed out of the room and continued a long time traversing my bedroom chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep" (Perkowitz et al.). Eventually, the monster contacts Frankenstein to help him acquire a partner, someone who would understand his ordeal and accept him for who he was, which was difficult in judgmental human society.

Just like Frankenstein's society, the aspect of racism has swept through the modern society where people are judged by the color of their skin and not their intellectual capabilities, their attitude and behavior. In the book, the first thing that Frankenstein notices about his creation is its disfigured figure and its peculiar yellow skin. The description of the monster's yellow skin is of bias from the first statement. "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles" (Shelley, 292). The people are concerned about the monster's skin color giving them an excuse to further reject him. Despite the monster's positive attributes, the people are relating its skin color with his intellectual capabilities and is seen as an inferior creation. These people do not believe the fact that the color of one's skin or any physical appearance does not depict someone's behavior or capabilities. In the book, the monster's yellow skin color grosses and overwhelms the humans who quickly judge the monster despite its feelings (Shelley, 292). He feels stranded in a cruel world with no family or friends. Similarly, in the modern society, the idea of racism has affected a great number of people. Colored people are often treated as second-class citizens in schools, workplaces and even in their homes. These are people judged solely based on their skin color irrespective of their age, origin, their intellectual capabilities and the various roles they play in their respective societies.

In any society, the people's attitude to another person and their instant judgment is solely based on appearance. In Frankenstein's story, the creator's first perception and judgment about his creation are solely based on the monster's appearance. Furthermore, when the monster is first introduced to the people, they are overwhelmed by his hideous looks just like his creator, and they branded him unintelligent and evil (Perkowitz et al.). All these judgments can be seen to be solely based on the appearance of the monster. From Frankenstein words, "I beheld the wretch-the miserable monster whom I created" (Perkowitz et al.) Indicated how much he was disgusted by his creation. He regrets his artistic work of creation just because he does not like the monster's appearance. The description of the monster by the people as evil just from its first appearance would make one believe that the monster is immoral and evil. They portray the monster as insignificant and of a lesser being compared to them. In any modern society setting, just like in Frankenstein's society, the first impression is considered important; however, the view of the society on a certain group of people can be unfair. For instance, a lady driving an expensive can be branded as a prostitute.

The Frankenstein society and the modern society portrays certain similarities regarding society's beliefs and attitude towards acceptance. Every person in any given society wants a certain level of acceptance from their physical and intellectual capabilities irrespective of their skin color, age, and gender.

Work Cited

Perkowitz, Sidney, and Eddy von Mueller. Frankenstein: How A Monster Became an Icon: The Science and Enduring Allure of Mary Shelley's Creation. Pegasus Books, 2018.

Shelley, Mary. "Aeschylus and Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley." Brill's Companion to the Reception of Aeschylus 11 (2017): 292.