This essay examines how Mary Shelley's Frankenstein presents nature as a refuge for both Victor Frankenstein and his creature, situating each character within the Romantic antihero tradition. The paper argues that the monster is in many respects more deeply human than his creator — abandoned, longing for love, and capable of appreciating beauty — yet forever excluded from human society. Drawing on key passages from the novel, the essay traces how the monster's turn toward evil stems not from innate wickedness but from rejection and solitude, making his condition a broader metaphor for sin and suffering in a fallen world.
One of the most compelling aspects of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus is the extent to which the monster, just like his creator Victor Frankenstein, embodies the ideal of the Romantic antihero. Both characters exist on the margins of society, defined by their isolation, their capacity for deep feeling, and their complicated relationship with creation and nature. Victor uses science to challenge human limitations, while the monster is thrust into existence without consent — yet each turns to the natural world as a source of comfort and solace.
Victor Frankenstein finds comfort in nature when he feels depressed and desolate, confronting the magnitude of the mistake he has made in creating a monster. As he reflects in Chapter 10: "The sight of the awful and majestic in nature had indeed always the effect of solemnizing my mind, and causing me to forget the passing cares of life." For Victor, the sublime grandeur of the natural world serves as a temporary reprieve from guilt and despair — a hallmark of Romantic sensibility.
The monster, too, finds comfort in nature, though his reasons are more poignant. He is ostracized from the rest of humanity because of his frightening appearance, and the natural world becomes one of the few spaces that does not reject him. His soul is beautiful at first, but repeated rejection renders him bitter and hateful in his actions. The rejection by his creator, the monster believes, is the origin of his sinful and murderous behavior — not any intrinsic malevolence. This functions as a metaphor for all human beings who sin in a fallen, dark world: evil arises from circumstance and abandonment, not from essential nature.
"Monster desires love, redemption, and belonging"
The monster is by nature good; he chooses evil not by his own design but because he is effectively forced into it by his solitude. Like his creator, he is capable of appreciating the beauty of nature and the goodness of humanity — which is precisely why he wishes to become a part of society. Yet unlike human beings, who are capable of seeking salvation and finding comfort among one another, the monster was created by a man and not by God, and therefore has no one. His longing for belonging makes him, paradoxically, the most sympathetically human figure in the novel.
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