Vic's Creation

Frankenstein- Chapters 11-15 The feeling of disconnectedness and loneliness that Frankenstein's monster felt is nearly solely attributed to his experience with the cottagers he watches and, sadly, interacts with during chapters 11 through 15 of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, Frankenstein. Granted, the monster had bad experiences with people before. However, his experience with the cottagers and their society -- which was essentially the nucleus of the family -- offered him, on the one hand, the best of experiences in that he saw that they were not lonely and could depend on each other.

On the other hand, it proved the worst of experiences because it taught him that no matter how much he did to help and desperately become a part of the family of the cottagers (or of any family, for that matter), his physical appearance was too grotesque and instantly nullified any good he could do. As to the first of these points, Frankenstein's monster was profoundly affected by the interactions of Felix, his father, Felix's sister, and later on, Felix's lover.

The monster witnessed how although they did not have much to eat or a substantial amount of material goods, they were able to sustain one another through cooperation and the mere presence of one another. Initially, the monster was so moved by this revelation that, "benevolence and generosity were ever present before me, inciting within me a desire to become an actor in the busy scene where so many admirable qualities were called forth and displayed" (Shelley 173).

Still, the fact that these cottagers were a family that supported one another merely emphasized the fact that the monster had no one with whom he could socialize or even amicably interact with. The reason why he wanted to become a part of the family of the cottagers was because in watching them he realized how lonesome his own existence was. That is why he "longed to join them, but dared not" (Shelley 156). After he has.