Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
To everyone's surprise, on his journeys, Victor reunites with his creation who speaks flawless English. In examining the creature's eloquent story since the day of creation, the reader will discover contrasts between the two beings' parallel searches for knowledge.
First, the reader realizes that Victor and his creation experienced vastly different early lives. Victor once remarked that no one had a better childhood than he. His parents were loving, he had a few friends, and he was never in want of anything. However, the creature experienced unprecedented adversity in its early days. Its own father fled from him, he had not even a single possession, and all of humanity desired to kill it.
Consequently, their quests for knowledge varied in motive and manner. Since Victor had access to printed works, he simply formed the basis of his knowledge with others' discoveries. When he developed his own experiments and observations with the intent to spare humanity from death, he allegedly ended up causing more death with the creature.
However, the creature was forced to gain all of his knowledge through observation and experimentation: "In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain," (Shelley, 72). Because its learning of fire and language lacked any other influences, the creature developed a natural view of the world while Victor developed a warped and philosophical view. The creature's motive of helping the poor family through simple and natural methods of prolonging life instead of defying death creates sympathy from the reader. Most importantly, the reader learns to aid others by improving life rather than degrading death.
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