Introspection Within Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Essay

Introspection reveals something about a person to himself. In a literary work such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Introspection reveals something about a person to themselves and the audience. Although the monster of Frankenstein killed he is still a good person because he shows compassion, friendliness, and through remorse for the bad things that he had done; much of this had been shown through introspection Also, the monster had no control of him when he committed murder, therefore he is good even though he committed murder. The monster shows that he is good and not evil by showing compassion. He shows this when the monster realized that the family of peasants were unhappy because of their poverty that the monster had been contributing to by stealing their food. When the monster realizes this he becomes torn by his guilty conscience he stops surreptitiously taking their food and does what he can to reduce their hardship by collecting firewood and leaving it outside their house for them. Before the monster finds out what causes their despair he says that he is deeply affected by their unhappiness, â€Å"The young man and his companion often went apart and appeared to weep. I saw no cause for their unhappiness, but I was deeply affected by it† (71). This shows that the monster has a good heart and conscience and that he can show compassion. The monster also shows compassion when he helps a woman who is drowning. The monster says, â€Å"She continued her course along the precipitous sides of the river, when suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into the rapid stream. I rushed from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore. She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my power to restore animation†(93), showing that he did his best to save the woman because of his compassion towards her. Although Frankenstein’s Monster is often described as rude, he is friendly. He tries to make friends with the family of peasants which he had been helping secretly. Frankenstein’s Monster attempts to befriend the family of peasants, but is harshly rejected. The monster says,† You and your family  are the friends whom I seek† (88), to the old man, signifying that he is looking to make friends. This shows that Frankenstein’s Monster is a good person. Another thing that shows the monsters friendliness is that he calls people that do not know him friends. For example, Frankenstein’s Monster calls the family of peasants his friends. Frankenstein’s Monster says, â€Å"I slept; the remainder of the day was spent in observing my friends.†(73). this shows that Frankenstein’s Monster is friendly. Frankenstein’s Monster’s friendliness is a sign that he is good. Although the monster killed he is still good because he showed remorse for his negative actions. For example, the monster when the monster was talking to Walton he says, â€Å"You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the hands which executed the deed† (152). The monster essentially said that he is disgusted by himself and he explains that it is because of his negative actions. Another example of the monsters remorse is when the monster tells Walton, â€Å"After the murder of Clerval I returned to Switzerland, heart-broken and overcome. I pitied Frankenstein; my pity amounted to horror; I abhorred myself† (151). The monster is saying that after the murdering Henry Clerval he felt so bad for Frankenstein that he described it as horrible. This shows that the monster felt deep remorse after one of his few murders meaning that he was mistaken for committing the act. The monster is good because he was not in control of himself when committing murder. The monster even said, â€Å"I knew that I was preparing for myself a deadly torture, but I was the slave, not the master, of an impulse which I detested yet could not disobey† (150). By saying, â€Å"preparing for myself a deadly torture† (150), the monster meant killing because the guilty conscience after murder was deadly torture to him. So essentially the monster is saying that murder was an impulse which he did not like but he could not disobey the impulse that he was a â€Å"slave† to. An example of this impulse is when the monster said, â€Å"Urged by this impulse, I seized on the boy as he passed and drew him towards me† (94). When the monster seized the boy, he strangled him shortly after. The monster was talking about the same impulse which he was a slave to. The monster was put through immense  emotional pressure with a childlike mind and the body of a monster. The monster had no control over the impulse which led him to kill therefore he was not to blame thus acquitting him of murder. Therefore it cannot be argued that the monster is bad because he was not in control of himself. It cannot be argued that the monster is bad because of murder because he was not in control. Also the monster showed emotions synonymous with being a good person. These emotions include remorse, compassion, and friendliness among others. This shows the monster to be without a doubt good. The real monsters are the people who led the monster to commit murder by treating him poorly. This mirrors countless real world situations such as school shootings, perhaps the shooting in Columbine when a few students were out casted, then they committed a massacre in the school. The same principle of an outcast with the mind of a child, with power, in the case of columbine, guns, killing many because he or she was out casted is apparent in the book Frankenstein as it was in other shootings. Works Cited Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.