Frankenstein
Prompt #21 · Frankenstein
Prompt Type: Symbol/Motif
Shelley repeatedly uses imagery of monstrosity and physical appearance throughout the novel, applied both to the Creature and metaphorically to other elements. Analyze how this pattern of imagery explores the relationship between external appearance and internal nature, and whether true monstrosity is physical or moral. Explain how it contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Quote 1
“Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
Chapter 5
Argument
This quote establishes the central paradox of monstrosity imagery early in the novel: Victor's juxtaposition of 'beautiful' individual features ('lustrous black' hair, 'pearly whiteness' teeth) against the 'horrid contrast' of the assembled whole demonstrates how physical appearance becomes monstrous not through inherent ugliness but through Victor's subjective perception and rejection.
Quote 2
“I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers—their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions; but how was I terrified when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification.”
Chapter 12
Argument
The Creature's self-recognition in the pool evolves the monstrosity imagery by internalizing society's judgment—he contrasts the 'perfect forms,' 'grace, beauty, and delicate complexions' of the cottagers with his own reflection, accepting the label 'monster' not as objective fact but as social construction that transforms his self-perception from innocent to 'despondent.'
Quote 3
"When I reflect, my dear cousin," said she, "on the miserable death of Justine Moritz, I no longer see the world and its works as they before appeared to me. Before, I looked upon the accounts of vice and injustice that I read in books or heard from others as tales of ancient days or imaginary evils; at least they were remote and more familiar to reason than to the imagination; but now misery has come home, and men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood."
Chapter 9
Argument
Elizabeth's metaphorical application of monstrosity imagery to morally corrupt humans ('men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each other's blood') inverts the physical-moral relationship, suggesting that true monstrosity lies in the 'vice and injustice' of beautiful humans rather than the deformed Creature, thus completing the pattern's exploration of appearance versus internal nature.
Quote 4
Chapter 17
Argument
The Creature's self-diagnosis ('I am malicious because I am miserable') explicitly links moral monstrosity to social rejection rather than physical form, demonstrating that his vengeful nature results from being 'shunned and hated'—thus the imagery pattern reveals that monstrous behavior is a consequence of how appearance is judged, not an inherent quality of the deformed body itself.
Quote 5
Chapter 13
Argument
The Creature's rhetorical question ('Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth') shows him wrestling with the monstrosity label as an imposed identity rather than objective reality—the imagery of 'blot' suggests contamination and unworthiness, yet his questioning tone reveals awareness that this designation comes from external judgment ('all men fled'), not from any inherent moral deficiency.