Frankenstein: The Creature Character Analysis (AQA GCSE English Literature) : Revision Note

The creature is a tragic, intelligent, sensitive outcast who begins life with innocence and a desire for companionship, but is later motivated by vengeance due to his mistreatment and rejection by the world.

The creature character summary 

Why is the creature important?

he creature is depicted as:

• Lonely: Victor’s creature is abandoned and yearns for companionship: “I, the miserable and the abandoned”. He is shunned and rejected by those he meets due to his appearance. The creature must hide from people and live isolated and alone, which is why he requests that Victor make a companion for him. The creature admits that he fears the idea of death and existing without relations or friends. 

• Intelligent and sensitive: Abandoned by Victor, the creature educates himself. He reads widely, including the works of Werter (the Sorrows of Werter), Milton’s Paradise Lost and Plutarch’s Lives. He also discovers the beauty of nature when he seeks shelter in the forest and he learns to identify the different sounds and experiences around him. For instance, the birdsong delights him: “sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale”. Similarly, when the creature discovers the De Laceys, he learns morality, love and kindness from them.

• Violent: It is the creature’s lack of companionship that leads to the deaths of others. When Felix beats the creature, it is determined to instil fear in others: “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear!” His emotions are so strong that he seeks revenge on Victor and everyone that Victor loves. When Victor destroys the creature’s companion, the creature’s desire for revenge leads to the murder of William, Henry and Elizabeth. It also indirectly leads to the deaths of Justine and Alphonse.  

The creature’s use of language

• Religious imagery: The creature often compares himself to biblical and mythical characters to explain his suffering. Initially, he views himself as Adam (“I ought to be thy Adam”) but when he is abandoned he compares himself to Satan: “I am rather the fallen angel” and “I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me”.

• Emotional: The creature is highly sensitive and when he is rejected by Felix De Lacey and experiences the prejudice of others, he yearns for companionship. Shelley depicts the creature’s suffering and loneliness through emotive language: “Why did I live?” and he describes himself with the triplet: “poor, helpless, miserable”. The creature’s language makes the reader feel empathy for him as he has been rejected by the world and therefore views himself as unnatural. 

• Defensive: The creature attempts to justify his actions, suggesting that he is violent only due to the way he has been treated: “I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind?” This makes the reader question whether he is truly monstrous or has been shaped into a monster because of his experiences.

The creature key quotes 

The creature character development

The creature character interpretation

The outcast

Shelley uses the creature to debthe fear of the outsider in 19th century England, where rigid social hierarchies and physical appearance often determined a person’s status. Due to his appearance, the creature is mistreated and rejected. Shelley was influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy which suggested that humans were born good but corrupted by society. The creature reflects this idea as he begins as an innocent character who longs for acceptance and companionship, but is forced into violence and revenge because of his rejection by the world.