Frankenstien: Horror Story?

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

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When you think of a horror story images of monsters, terror, and tragedy come to mind. Indeed the story Frankenstein has a monster, there is terror throughout the book and it ends in tragedy. But is it really a horror story? Frankenstein explores the way people are perceived by society. Mary Shelley suggests that the treatment they receive as a result of social perceptions will ultimately draw out certain elements of their nature such as how the Monster despised the human race because they shunned him purely on the basis of his appearance.

Monsters in horror stories are portrayed as being nasty, evil creatures with no good qualities at all. The Monster in Frankenstein is shown as being a grotesque and evil creature, but surprisingly seems to have a generous and loving nature. It was the awful treatment of the humans forced him to show bitter emotions. But if they, especially his creator, would have just accepted him, the Monster would have never been so angry.

The only time the Monster was given the opportunity to display his kind nature was towards a man who was blind, which emphasizes how society perceives people by their appearance and not by their personality.

In any horror story, the monster is someone the reader hates. The monster is seen as ?the evil one?, and the reader cannot wait until the destruction of the monster. But in Frankenstein we are made to feel sorry for the monster, despite his crimes. Even though he had the stature of a giant and a brain of a genius, he still had the feelings and understandings of a baby. And we, the readers, feel pity for the monster. We actually feel sorry for him because his own creator abandoned him. Imagine if your parents abandoned you because they...