Themes — Isolation, Prejudice & Responsibility

This lesson continues the thematic analysis of Frankenstein, focusing on isolation, prejudice, and moral responsibility. These themes are woven throughout the novel and connect every character to its central questions about what it means to be human.

---

Theme 4: Isolation and Loneliness

The novel's most pervasive theme

Almost every character in Frankenstein experiences isolation. Shelley presents loneliness not as a minor inconvenience but as a destructive force that distorts personality, corrodes morality, and ultimately kills.

Isolation across the characters

Character	Type of isolation	Consequence
Victor	Self-imposed — he isolates himself through obsession and secrecy	Loses connection to family, morality, and health
The Creature	Forced — society rejects him based on appearance	Turns from innocence to violence
Walton	Chosen — he pursues an expedition to the unpeopled Arctic	Longs desperately for a friend
Elizabeth	Kept in ignorance by Victor — emotional isolation	Cannot help or protect herself
Justine	Social isolation — a servant without powerful allies	Condemned and executed without real defence

Key quotes about isolation

Quote	Speaker	Analysis
"I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me"	Walton	The novel's opening words establish loneliness as a central concern. Walton's desire for a companion mirrors both Victor's and the Creature's needs.
"I shunned the face of man; all sound of joy or complacency was torture to me; solitude was my only consolation"	Victor	Victor's guilt drives him into isolation — but isolation only deepens his despair. Shelley creates a vicious cycle: guilt produces isolation, and isolation prevents healing.
"Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded"	The Creature	The Creature's exclusion is total and permanent. The word "irrevocably" is devastating — there is no hope of inclusion. His isolation is not self-imposed but enforced by society.
"I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me"	The Creature	The simplicity and directness of this statement makes it deeply affecting. The Creature does not ask for power or revenge — he asks only for company.

Isolation and the sublime

Shelley uses the sublime landscape — the Alps, the Arctic, the sea — to reflect the characters' isolation:

Setting	Character	Significance
The Arctic	Walton / Victor / Creature	The most isolated place on earth — the endpoint of obsessive ambition
The Mer de Glace	Victor / Creature	A vast, inhuman landscape where creator and creation finally speak
Orkney Islands	Victor	Remote, desolate — where Victor destroys the female creature
The De Lacey cottage	The Creature	He is near a family but forever outside it — watching through a gap in the wall

Examiner's tip: The Creature's isolation is particularly powerful because it is visible — he literally watches the De Lacey family through a chink in the wall, able to see love and warmth but unable to enter. This image encapsulates the theme of exclusion: the Creature is always on the outside, looking in.

---

Theme 5: Prejudice and Appearance

The novel's most socially relevant theme

Frankenstein is, at its core, a novel about prejudice — the judgement of a being based on appearance rather than character. The Creature is intelligent, articulate, compassionate, and desperate for love, but every human who sees him reacts with horror and violence.

The pattern of rejection

Encounter	What happens	What it proves
Victor at creation	Victor flees in disgust	Even his creator judges him by appearance
Villagers	They scream, throw stones, and drive him away	Ordinary people respond with instant prejudice
Old De Lacey (blind)	De Lacey is kind and compassionate	Without sight, there is no prejudice — proving it is visual
Felix (sighted)	Felix attacks the Creature with a stick	Sight triggers instant, violent rejection
William	The child screams and calls him "monster" and "ugly wretch"	Even children have absorbed society's prejudice

The blind man test

The scene with old De Lacey is the novel's most important exploration of prejudice:

De Lacey (BLIND) → Responds to the Creature's WORDS → Compassion
Felix (SIGHTED)  → Responds to the Creature's APPEARANCE → Violence

This proves that the Creature's exclusion is based entirely on how he looks, not who he is. Shelley makes the argument that prejudice is a failure of perception — a privileging of surface over substance.

Key quotes about prejudice

Quote	Analysis
"His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath"	Victor's first description of the Creature focuses entirely on physical revulsion. He does not attempt to communicate with or understand the being he has created.
"Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?"	The Creature has begun to internalise society's prejudice — he questions whether he deserves to exist. This is the psychological damage of systemic exclusion.
"All men hate the wretched"	The Creature's bitter generalisation captures a truth the novel repeatedly demonstrates: society punishes those who look different.
"If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear"	When love is permanently denied, the Creature turns to the only power available — terror. Shelley implies that violence is a consequence of exclusion, not of nature.

Prejudice and social context

Shelley's exploration of prejudice connects to several social contexts:

Context	Connection to the novel
Slavery and colonialism	The Creature is denied rights and humanity based on his body
Class discrimination	Justine (a servant) is condemned; the wealthy Victor goes free
Disability and "monstrosity"	The Creature is judged "monstrous" for physical difference
Gender	Elizabeth and Justine are powerless in a patriarchal society
Immigration and "the other"	The Creature is a stranger in every community — always the outsider

Examiner's tip: You do not need to make the novel "about" modern issues, but showing awareness of how Shelley's themes connect to broader patterns of prejudice demonstrates sophisticated contextual understanding. A strong essay might note: "Shelley anticipates modern discussions of prejudice by showing that the Creature's violence is not innate but produced by a society that judges solely on appearance."

---

Theme 6: Moral Responsibility

Who is responsible?

Frankenstein raises profound questions about moral responsibility — who is to blame for the suffering in the novel?

Victor's responsibility

Victor bears responsibility on multiple levels:

Level of responsibility	Evidence
As a scientist	He creates life without considering the consequences
As a parent	He abandons the Creature at birth
As a citizen	He says nothing during Justine's trial, allowing an innocent to die
As a moral being	He refuses the Creature's reasonable request for a companion
As a pursued man	He fails to warn Elizabeth about the threat on their wedding night

Victor acknowledges his guilt — "I, not in deed, but in effect, was the true murderer" — but never acts on it. His awareness makes his inaction worse, not better.

The Creature's responsibility

The Creature also bears responsibility:

Action	Is the Creature responsible?
William's murder	Yes — but he is driven to it by desperation and rage
Framing Justine	Yes — this is a calculated act of cruelty
Clerval's murder	Yes — revenge for Victor destroying the female
Elizabeth's murder	Yes — fulfilment of his threat

However, the Creature's argument is that his violence is the product of his treatment:

"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."

This raises a philosophical question: if a being is denied every form of love, belonging, and justice, is it entirely responsible for the violence it commits?

Society's responsibility

Society also bears responsibility:

• Every person who attacks or flees from the Creature contributes to his descent into violence.
• The legal system that condemns Justine on flimsy evidence is unjust.
• The social order that values appearance over character is prejudiced.

The chain of responsibility

VICTOR creates the Creature and abandons it
        |
SOCIETY rejects the Creature based on appearance
        |
THE CREATURE turns to violence as the only available response
        |
VICTOR refuses to help (destroys the female)
        |
THE CREATURE's revenge destroys everyone Victor loves
        |
Both are destroyed — but who is truly responsible?

Examiner's tip: The strongest essays on responsibility avoid a simple answer. Do not argue that Victor is "the real monster" without also acknowledging the Creature's choices. Shelley's genius is that she distributes responsibility across creator, creation, and society — forcing the reader to grapple with the complexity.

---

Theme 7: Knowledge and Education

Knowledge as double-edged

Knowledge in Frankenstein is both a gift and a curse — echoing the Prometheus myth (fire brings warmth but also burns):

Character	What they learn	Consequence
Victor	The secret of creating life	Catastrophe — every loved one dies
The Creature	Language, emotion, literature, self-awareness	Greater suffering — he now understands his exclusion
Walton	Victor's story — a warning	He turns back — knowledge saves him

The Creature's discovery of Victor's journal is especially painful:

"I sickened as I read. 'Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony."

Knowledge of his own creation — that even his maker found him revolting — deepens the Creature's despair. Shelley suggests that self-knowledge, without the possibility of change, is a form of torture.

The Creature's education