In Frankenstein, the Creature's perceived monstrosity is inseparable from his ugliness. But what are the implications of his ugliness? Why is he ugly?
By: Coach Ken
What is lookism and how is it relevant to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein?
Lookism is defined by the Merriam-Webster as:
Prejudice or discrimination based on physical appearance and especially physical appearance believed to fall short of societal notions of beauty.
In Frankenstein, the Creature is noted to be "ugly", and consequently, discriminated against throughout the novel due to his monstrous appearance. In this article, we will explore why he is considered "ugly", and the significance of and thematic issues arising from his supposed "ugliness".
Why is the Creature ugly and why is it significant?
One may argue that the creature is considered ugly because he does not fit into any traditional beauty standards or classifications. It is clear that the value of acceptance and inclusion is predicated upon the concept or perception of beauty, evident in Victor's description of Elizabeth:
“The saintly soul of Elizabeth shone like a shrine-dedicated lamp in our peaceful home. Her sympathy was ours; her smile, her soft voice, the sweet glance of her celestial eyes, were ever there to bless and animate us." (my emphasis)
Note the preoccupation with appearances in the corporeal imagery of Elizabeth's beauty, "her smile" and "sweet glance of her celestial eyes" here. The adjective in the aforementioned corporeal imagery, "celestial", connotes a sense of heavenly, unparalleled beauty to Elizabeth and thus, ascribes all of the conventional associations of goodness to Elizabeth's personhood. This notion of heavenly goodness is further developed with the use of verbs, "bless and animate", ascribing a God-like ability to create, or at least, sustain life and vitality, to Elizabeth's beauty. These sublime corporeal images are also highly connected to the collective whole/unity and the concept of family, as seen in the repeated use of the possessive pronoun, "our" and the image of a "peaceful home", suggesting that acceptance and oneness are enabled by the unifying force of Elizabeth's sublime aesthetics.
The concepts of beauty and ugliness then, are perhaps conduits that foreground the Creature's exclusion or alienation from the humans. Gazing at a portrait that young William Frankenstein possesses, the Creature evaluates Caroline’s beauty against his own ugliness:
"As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering on his breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most lovely woman. In spite of my malignity, it softened and attracted me. For a few moments I gazed with delight on her dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her lovely lips; but presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was forever deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures could bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated would, in regarding me, have changed that air of divine benignity to one or expressive of disgust and affright." (my emphasis)
Her “dark eyes,” “deep lashes,” and “lovely lips” present a stereotypical beautiful woman. Beauty, for the Creature, produces both dismay and comfort because it is in this moment of recognising beauty that he also recognises his own ugliness. Moreover, the contrast between the Creature's drab physical appearance, “dull yellow eye,” “dun white sockets,” and “straight black lips” and the beautiful corporeal images above,"deep lashes", "lovely lips" and "dark eyes", reinforces his status as an outsider.
Beyond the understanding of the Creature's ugliness as a function of his alienation from human society, his ugliness is more significantly a reflection of Victor Frankenstein's moral bankruptcy. It is interesting to observe that the ghastly Creature is an incorporation of the sublime or beautiful individual corporeal parts and that Frankenstein's initial intentions to create something beautiful ultimately becomes something monstrous:
"His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. 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." (my emphasis)
In this extract, there is a dominant pattern of contrastive colour imagery, which Shelley uses to foreground Frankenstein's corruption of the beautiful corporeal parts. The individual corporeal parts lose their radiance and allure once they form the complete body of the Creature, as seen in the contrast in the shades of black ; between the "lustrous black" and "straight black lips" on the Creature, and the contrast in the shades of white,"pearly whiteness" and "dun white sockets".
This begs the question: Does everything degenerate in the hands of man? Perhaps. Let us consider Professor Chris Baldick's application of Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge's distinction between the assembling function of Fancy and the unifying, harmonising Imagination, which makes something whole and beautiful:
"[T]he beauty of the whole can arise only from a pure vital principle within, to which all subordinate parts and limbs will then conform. The parts, in a living being, can only be as beautiful as the animating principle which organizes them, and if this "spark of life" proceeds, as it does in Victor’s creation from tormented isolation and guilty secrecy, the resulting assembly will only animate and body forth that condition and display its moral ugliness." (Baldick, my emphasis)
The problem of appearances: Is the Creature human or not?
So far, we have established that the Creature's rejection from society is largely due to his otherness of appearance, and ugly exterior. It is thus significant and not a surprise that he is only truly accepted by the blind and old man, De Lacey. To old De Lacey, appearances and visual stimuli are irrelevant to his judgement of the Creature:
“If you will unreservedly confide to me the particulars of your tale, I perhaps may be of use in undeceiving them. I am blind and cannot judge of your countenance, but there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere. ” (my emphasis)
Here, Shelley uses a contrast between appearance, "countenance", and the spoken word, "there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere", suggesting how appearance often belies a person's true nature. This foregrounds the notion that the Creature is indeed human, at least in spirit and spirituality. Further contributing to the humanness is Shelley's use of possessive language and language of nationality, "By your language, stranger, I suppose you are my countryman; are you French?”. Here, De Lacey's ability to identify a shared nationality and hence, cultural identity immanent in the Creature, further suggesting that the Creature is no alien, but spiritually human.
Moreover, it is only in the presence of an unprejudiced human, De Lacey, that the Creature's otherness or distinction from the human race dissolves. This is seen when the Creature uses the categorical term typically used solely for himself,"creatures", on humans too: This conversation marks the Creature's first attempt to imply that he and the humans are "creatures", all the same in kind. By the same token, the Creature and De Lacey are seen to communicate effortlessly through a common language, further dismantling the differences and distance between man and so-called "monster".
Unfortunately, the Creature's humanness is made obscure by his corporeality. This is however, not by any fault of the Creature, nor is it solely the responsibility of Victor Frankenstein. The mistreatment of the Creature and the prejudice it receives is indicative of a universal human flaw: Humanity's superficiality and inability to supplant its propensity for prejudice. Just as the Creature and De Lacey are about to form a deeper connection, Felix disrupts this friendly connection and greets the Creature with hostility:
“Felix darted forward, and with supernatural force tore me from his father, to whose knees I clung, in a transport of fury, he dashed me to the ground and struck me violently with a stick. I could have torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope. But my heart sank within me as with bitter sickness, and I refrained.” (my emphasis)
In this extract, Shelley's use of kinaesthetic imagery, "darted forward" and "dashed me to the ground", is indicative of quickness, suggestive that Felix's aggression towards the Creature is born out of prejudice, for he fails to truly evaluate the Creature's genuine intent of forming human connection and his congeniality with old De Lacey; nor does he allow himself the time to do so. As such, the Creature's attempts to communicate and participate in community are met with rejection solely due to his perceived monstrosity and appearance. Shelley thus comments on the dangers of human prejudice, for prejudice risks alienating those who fundamentally similar or share a fundamental humanity.
It is by no accident that Shelley follows up Felix's violence to the Creature with a second instance of mistreatment and unwarranted human hostility, which solidifies the Creature's isolation from society, and foments his destructive vendetta against mankind. The Creature's altruism in saving a drowning girl is only requited with violence, paralleling his reception of violence at the De Lacey household earlier. This is perhaps suggestive that this prejudice is a shared human flaw, and thus making the Creature's acceptance into the human community even more impossible:
“On seeing me, he darted towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank to the ground, and my injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped into the wood.” (my emphasis)
This time, the consequence of the Creature's kindness is more painful:
“I had saved a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which shattered the flesh and bone.” (my emphasis)
Here, Shelley's use of organic imagery of pain and the corporeal image of the Creature's"shattered" "flesh and bone" indicate a more severe injury and hence, worse trauma in this conflict than in his with Felix. Also, the juxtaposition between human destruction and the Creature's injury suggests that human existence and the Creature's wellbeing are mutually exclusive. Perhaps, it is this dichotomy and the Creature's excruciating alienation that inform his loss of innocence and goodwill towards mankind:
“Inflamed by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to all mankind.”
Beyond physical violence, the Creature's alienation is also defined by mental and verbal violence. This is seen in Victor Frankenstein's own abandonment of the Creature and refusal to recognise the human spirituality that exists and operates underneath the "monstrous" body. Across the novel, there is a motif of insults hurled at the Creature, which often focus on his appearance rather than his spirit, "the wretch, the filthy daemon", "hideous monster". In addition to the consistent othering of the Creature, the denial of his humanness is most clearly seen in Victor's egocentric indulgence in his suffering, "you have made me wretched beyond expression. You have left me no power to consider whether I am just to you, or not". Victor's accusatory language here suggests that even though he has been integral to the creation of the situation he bemoans, he presumptuously insists that he alone is the innocent sufferer. The sheer lack of empathy here is not only expresses the pathology of Victor's self-absorption, but conveys a more fundamental inability to recognise of the Creature's humanness and personhood as he denies the Creature's right to sympathy and justice.
Conclusion
I see the Creature as a person at heart, a person trapped in a body that is not necessarily "monstrous", just different; a person trapped in a body that is excluded from the conventional aesthetic standards of human corporeality. His psychology, emotional complexity, philosophical sensitivity, mastery of language, foibles, and follies are most familiarly human.
Instead of recoiling from the unfamiliar with horror and disgust, give yourself some time and space before reacting to said alterity. What is initially deemed unacceptable, ugly and abhorrent may belie a deeper goodness, or reflect our own undiscovered prejudices. Is there anyone in your life, past and/or present, that reminds you of the Creature? How would you treat them differently if given the chance to start afresh?
If you found our article insightful and would appreciate a more personalised learning experience for Literature, then consider Literature coaching at A Way With Literature (AWWL).
Click the button below to explore our pedagogy and the AWWL experience!
