Select ONE of the following on which to focus your online discussion. Be sure to use evidence from the reading to support your response. Then, read the comments of your colleagues and offer your insights on their ideas. NOTE: Discussion is ONLINE, rather than in a notebook, please!
A. Frankenstein destroys his second creation out of fear of her capabilities in this chapter. He fears that she will procreate, that she will be even more malevolent than her mate, and that she will not want to leave Europe. What do you think of his recognition of this second creature as a being with her own thoughts and feelings? Is Frankenstein’s destruction of the second creature justified? Why or why not?
B. The creature is furious when Frankenstein destroys his companion. Was the creature’s reaction justified? Why or why not? Did he have a right to deny the creature’s request if you feel that it is human nature to want a companion? Was this Frankenstein playing God once again?
C. The creature says to Frankenstein: “Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!” The roles of Frankenstein and his creation are reversed: the creature has become the master, and the creator has become the slave. With the creature’s newfound authority, how will the dynamics of the two change? What does it mean for the majority (Frankenstein and humans) to be afraid of the minority (the creature)?
Frankie, Baby! 
I think his recognition of the second creature as a being with intellect and can express her own feelings shows how he learned his mistake from the first time of underestimating his first creature’s intelligence. During chapter 20, when Victor was in the process of creating a companion for his first creature, Victor is afraid that the creature’s companion wouldn’t like Victor’s first creation because of his physical appearance. Victor’s internal conflict with himself suggests that he is afraid of making the second creature more beautiful than his first creation was based on his intuition on the first experiment. He is also afraid that there would be both a conflict with his Creature and himself or the Creature and his companion which would drastically increase the tension he already had with the Creature. Having these thoughts, Victor decided to break his promise to the Creature and destroy his second creation before the whole outcome and situation will get worse. I believe Frankenstein’s destruction of the second creature was justified because the Creature literally followed him around England to spy on his progress with a vicious look on himself for revenge when he was in the cave where Victor was working. Victor’s action to destroy and break his promise towards the Creature symbolizes his revolt against the Creature’s beliefs of revenge and his freedom from his own creation. This shift in character for Victor shows Victor’s courage and moral standpoint he imposed on his creature.
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Wow! Sounds like your pro Victor over here. Get a load of this guy! I totally believe your response is quite unique because you take a different approach to the question by painting Victor as the victim and his Creation as the monster. Although Victor owes it to the Creature to give him a companion to release him from his miserable torment and loneliness, he chooses to again play God by taking away his Creatures only hope of happiness. This wasn’t an act of courage, but an act of selfishness and ignorance that exemplified how Victor is indeed the true monster, and not the Creature.
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A)
I strongly believe that Victor’s recognition for the second creature, as a being who can express emotion and intelligence, proves that he failed to evaluate and learned from his mistake with the first creature. This causes him to be pessimistic about bringing the second creature to life, if the creature will procreate, and will not want to leave Europe, and cause tension between the Creature and Victor, these thoughts is what caused Victor to smash the creation and disobey the orders of the creature. Victor knew the intelligence that the second creature would have and knew that if it was to become to life it would be hell for him. “Even if they were to leave Europe, and inhabit the deserts of the new world, yet one of the first results of those sympathies for which the demon thirsted would be children, and a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth…”(165).
Its hard to chose a side because there are many arguments that can be made to prove if Victor’s decision was justified. I came a conclusion that it was justified. At that moment , one’s mind is triggered and only think of the horrible things that can occur. It would be normal for someone to back out of a situation that can impact their life. I would do the same in that situation. If you are scared that a “new” race would be born and it wouldn’t impact the lives living at that time, then it is justifiable that you will destroy it.
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I really think your response is interesting, and It is true that it is quite horrifying to think of the fact that they could potentially create their own kids and that would be more creature’s who have unnatural features and abilities. However, I think Victor, no matter what, owes it to his Creature to make him happy and exonerate him from the horrors of misery and loneliness that has been so wrongfully bestowed upon him by Victor. The right thing for him to do was to hold true to his promise and do right by his Creature, but again he failed.
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Hell yes! The Creature had every reason to be furious and upset about Frankenstein’s selfish and malevolent action. Victor will always be too blinded by his own desires and inability to express sympathy for his own child, which is evident when he states, “As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery. I thought with the sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him… The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence depended for happiness”(Shelley 166). Victor, without regret, tore the very last glimpse of hope that could have bestowed upon the creature sentiments of happiness, and such action was driven by selfishness and hate. Frankenstein states, “I shuddered to think that the future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price of the existence of the whole human race”(Shelley 166), which demonstrates how he is simply trying to justify that his reasons to not create another creature to make his child happy is all for the sake of humankind. However, Victor is less worried about humankind’s survival and more about how humankind will perceive his creations that have, in no way, turned out how he so wantonly desired. It is Victors inconsiderate and unsympathetic actions that justifies why the Creature deserves every right to act the way he did towards his creator. Everyone deserves love, everyone deserves someone who can sympathize and share misery and happiness with. But, Victor has played God once more and ripped every chance of happiness the Creature had, by literally tearing the parts of his creation to be apart. The Creature states, “I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes? and Victor’s response is, “Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness”(Shelley 167), which illuminates how he will always be blinded by his animosity towards his creation’s unnatural being and countenance that will never allow him to express sympathy for his child. It is as if Frankenstein essentially holds the key that can open the door to the creature’s happiness and deliver him from the utmost misery that has been bestowed upon him by Victor, which is “Gods” work.
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Respond to Ty…
I like it when you say “The Creature had every reason to be furious and upset about Frankenstein’s selfish and malevolent action”. First of all, the creature did not ask Frankenstein to create him and suffer from all these pains that are against his will. Then, stubborn Frankie continues to ignore his mistakes and put blames on the creature. SERIOUSLY? The creature is not naturally born into an evil being but change due to nurture.
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The creature is furious when Frankenstein destroys his companion. Was the creature’s reaction justified? Why or why not? Did he have a right to deny the creature’s request if you feel that it is human nature to want a companion? Was this Frankenstein playing God once again? I do believe the creature have all rights to be upset due to the fact that he didn’t get his request . The fact that the creature have no one to communicate with show that he is not important to establish a sense of belonging. With the creature just asking for a companion in order for him to live happily and be gone for all the injustice of mankind and all they did to him is a simple request and Frankenstein denying him of his request is pretty irksome and I do believe it give a sense of him playing god for yet again he is showing that he is capable of bringing and taking life as he wants without any Re-in consideration.
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Was the Creature’s request truly “simple”? I think that chapter 20 might just be the first time that I somewhat side with Frankenstein. As you mentioned in class, how can Frankenstein be so sure that the Creature and his potential companion will not want to be accepted in society? Will societal rejection not simply refuel that anger and cause the two to seek revenge yet again? Is Frankenstein playing God, or simply being rational for the first time?
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Prompt A:
Frankenstein’s recognition of the second creature’s ability to feel and possess human emotion is solely due to the shame, guilt, and upset that he feels from his initial experiment. His first creature’s cries of misery and demand of a companion has shown Frankenstein the true consequence of his experimentation and his conduction of life. Having learned from the mistake of disowning and neglecting his first creation, Frankenstein is now aware of the dangers of conducting such a project. This go-round, we as readers hear him begin to rationalize and question what could be the possible outcome of bringing a second creature to life. “[The Creature] had sworn to quit the neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but she had not; and she, who in all probability was to become a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply with a compact made before her creation” (Shelley 165). Now that Frankenstein is not creating this being for the sole purpose of gaining recognition and or to uncover “the secrets of heaven and earth” (Shelley 37), he is suddenly keen to the possibility of disaster and thus unwilling to create again. This shift in his perception is heavily and undeniably influenced by the devastation and destruction caused by the abandonment and societal isolation of his first creation.
I feel that Frankenstein’s concerns and the destruction are justified and reasonable. He makes several different arguments that can each be debated and defended. He takes into consideration the fact that the agreement made between himself and the Creature was made between just the two of them, and not the Creature’s female counterpart. This idea takes into account the fact that the new creature will develop feelings and opinions of her own, that may very much differ from that of the first creature. He also considers the possibility of the two creatures taking it upon themselves to reproduce and have children. He says “a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror” (Shelley 165). Frankenstein feels that the creatures could very much rage and anger in knowing that society doesn’t accept. In knowing this, and knowing the potential destruction that could be caused by two creatures and possible offspring, how could Frankenstein consciously create another being?
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ADDITION:
Frankenstein’s lack of empathy towards his creation still stands, as he continues to see him as capable of evil and is hateful towards him. However, what Frankenstein does differently this time, is he considers the fact that despite the Creature being an other, he is an emotional and feeling being. This acknowledgement of the Creature being human-like, is what leads Frankie to think about what could possibly occur when his second creature begins to feel and have lived experiences of its own.
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If you are living in this world, people always need dependence from others to survive. Are you certain that you can definitely live a life with no form of reliability from others? The creature’s anger toward Frankenstein reflects an idea of being denied a right of getting love. When the creature said, “I have endured toil and misery: I left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands, and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt many months in the heaths of England, and among the deserts of Scotland. I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?”(167) The reason Frankenstein’s action anger the creature because he wants a companion. From the previous chapter, the creature suffers an enormous amount of isolation and pain from society against his will. Love comes from the presence of a companion. Through companionship, people can find a sense of purpose and prevent loneliness. Without it, there is no solution to combat loneliness in one’s life. This is the reason the creature is so eager to have a person accompany. Getting love is not a privilege but a right for all human beings; the creature should considered as a human because he can think logically like humans. Once again, Frankenstein plays the role of god when he gets to decide who should live or die in a situation. Frankenstein’s actions raise the question of whether he has the right to do such things to the creature? If people believe they have control over other’s life, society will fill with victims of those who are being controlled and raging.
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When Victor realized that he was creating another creature he had to come to conclusion that he can’t allow another creature to walk the earth. Victor doesn’t believe that this new creature will have the same desires as his own creation. In the novel Victor has stated that the new creation might not even want to follow his old creature and agree to the terms on leaving and never returning. Victor had decided to disassemble and throw all the pieces away. I would say that Frankenstein destroying his second creation was unjustified because he didn’t even give the creation a chance. Before the creature came to life he pulled the plug and ended the creature before it had a chance to prove itself.
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