Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemlance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred.' - Frankenstein
Interpretation
The quote reflects the deep anguish and isolation felt by the creature created by Victor Frankenstein, highlighting themes of creation and the quest for acceptance.
In this quote from Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein,' the creature grapples with feelings of abandonment and despair upon realizing that his creator views him as a monster. This profound sense of loneliness and self-loathing speaks to broader philosophical questions about existence, the nature of beauty, and the responsibilities of creation. The creature's lamentation illustrates a tragic irony: while humanity is made in the image of a divine creator, his own existence is marked by grotesqueness and rejection, leading him to feel both monstrous and isolated in a world that condemns him for his appearance.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the ethical implications of scientific discovery and creation.
Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of a void, but out of chaos; the materials must in the first place be afforded; it can give form to dark, shapeless substances, but cannot bring into being the substance itself.
The instructor can scarcely give sensibility where it is essentially wanting, nor talent to the unpercipient block. But he can cultivate and direct the affections of the pupil, who puts forth, as a parasite, tendrils by which to cling, not knowing to what - to a supporter or a destroyer.
What terrified me will terrify others; and I need only describe the spectre which had haunted my midnight pillow.
I shall commit my thoughts to paper, it is true; but that is a poor medium for the communication of feeling. I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine.
Heavy misfortunes have befallen us, but let us only cling closer to what remains, and transfer our love for those whom we have lost to those who yet live. Our circle will be small, but bound close by the ties of affection and mutual misfortune. And when time shall have softened your despair, new and dear objects of care will be born to replace those of whom we have been so cruelly deprived.
I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.
Being harmless means being so strong, so empowered, that the idea of showing power through harm is not even a part of your consciousness.
There is no greater romance in life than this adventure in realization.
Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.
Everyone has a responsibility to not only tolerate another person's point of view, but also to accept it eagerly as a challenge to your own understanding. And express those challenges in terms of serving other people.
Beggars should be entirely abolished! Truly, it is annoying to give to them and annoying not to give to them.
It's not very interesting to establish sympathy for people who, on the surface, are instantly sympathetic. I guess I'm always attracted to people who, if their lives were headlines in a newspaper, you might not be very sympathetic about them.
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