Judging and "Defining" People in Frankenstein
The famous 20th century scientist, Albert Einstein, claimed that our world is relativistic; all phenomena and objects' properties are defined due to an observer's relative viewpoint. This is not only true in the realm of science, as it is prominent in the social life of humans as well. Nothing has an absolute definition in this world, and when it comes to abstract concepts such as personality, role, and traits, it is quite simple for things to get convoluted quickly. This is no truer than when it comes to how society "defines" people, which is the act of the society's members collectively agreeing that someone possesses certain traits and is this or that. Yet this "definition" often clashes with the definition the person assigns to themselves, and a natural question then arises: "Which of these definitions is true?". This is one of the many conflicts between society and the individual. Quite prominent in real life, it is also reflected upon in literature. Such a literary work with this conflict as a primary focus is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The two main characters caught in this conflict are Victor and his creature, both of which illustrate how society and oneself’s view of an individual can be false.
Most of the time, it is the society which makes wrong assumptions about someone and therefore assigns them an incorrect “definition”. An example of such a case is Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the creature which would end up killing his loved ones and plaguing him for the rest of his life. Victor, seeing his family and friends being killed by his own creation (and by proxy, himself) made him feel guilty, and he saw himself as a terrible human being who brought evil and terror to this world in the form of his creature. Yet, his family, friends, and colleagues do not know of this. As such, they hold him highly as a genius and honest man, which is quite the opposite; as Victor lies and conceals information often. Society does not know everything about an individual, but the individual themselves know, and a point could be made that only the individuals’ view of themselves is the correct one since no one else knows them best, and Victor illustrates this perfectly; no one can name a machine under the blanket except its inventor.
A parallel to Victor’s case can be seen in his own creature. The creature is gruesome and terrifying to all eyes; as such, everyone around him called him a monster, and treated him like one. He was attacked by Felix of the De Lacey family upon first sight, despite posing no harm to the family. When he saved a girl from drowning in a river, he was met with a person shooting at him. It is clear that the society had falsely considered the creature as a monster because, deep down, he was very benevolent and innocent. However, the creature did not stay innocent for the rest of his life. He began seeking vengeance against his own creator for abandoning him, going as far as to kill innocents and frame others for his own crimes. It is as if he was becoming modeled by the “definition” that he was assigned; he was becoming a monster. What is odder, is that the creature refers to himself as a “fallen angel”. While it could be argued that he is indeed much like a fallen angel, turned into a wretched being by the way people around him treat him, it is also impossible to ignore the hideous acts he had done. Though he calls himself innocent, he is not, and that is what society says as well. The creature assigned himself a “false” definition, perhaps unaware or in denial of the truth, and this turns out to be the case in real life as well. People, though they know themselves best, are not prone to being honest to anyone, including themselves. They could lie to themselves as to what they really are and could be, and it is the same case with the creature. Sometimes, a person will view themselves in a biased way that would suit their mentality and thoughts; in that case, only an external unbiased view can be the judge on what that person truly is.
Defining with absolute certainty “who” and “what” someone is, is without a doubt impossible, as it all depends on the reference point of the “definers”. An external observer will not know everything about the individual they are defining, and so more often than not, they will end up falsely defining them, such as the case Victor. However, personal bias exists, and in an effort to make themselves seem better than what they truly are, the defined person may also define themselves incorrectly, like what the creature did. Naturally then, it is asked: “Which is correct?”. The answer, the same as what Albert Einstein concluded in his own scientific theory, is both. Each definition holds flakes of the truth embedded in them, such as the creature being forced into turning into a monster, or Victor being a genius since he discovered the secret of life. Being completely honest and impartial in judging others is impossible by human nature. Yet, we can always teach the new generations to be sincere to themselves and to others. Only through sane education and high moral standards, that it may be possible to eliminate this conflict of judgments, and in turn mend many issues that result from it, such as improving the law and court systems, for a better future.
(Also sorry in advance if the essay is confusing, I already wasn’t very fine when writing it, and I probably am not right now as well. Besides, this is a confusing topic to me as well, and I can’t properly communicate it in speech, let alone words on a paper.)
References:
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein (Modern English Translation). Independently Published, 2019.