Presentation & Key Quotations
English Lit: AQA GCSE Frankenstein, topic 3.2.1
The Theme of Prejudice
Shelley presents the reader with various examples of characters who are prejudiced against others, and this prejudice often leads to isolation or even death.
Justine
- Justine is prejudged against and assumed to be guilty. This, in part, is what leads to her execution.
Victor
- Victor is treated poorly by the Irish locals because he is foreign to them.
- Victor himself is prejudiced towards his creation of the Monster, immediately responding negatively to its hideous appearance.
The Monster
- The Monster never seems to be able to escape the innate prejudice of a society which focuses so heavily on appearances.
- He is shunned and attacked by villagers, violently rejected by the De Laceys, and shot by the companion of a girl he saved from drowning.
Key Quotations on the Theme of Prejudice
Shelley presents the reader with various examples of characters who are prejudiced against others, and this prejudice often leads to isolation or even death.
The Monster's first experience
- 'I had hardly placed my foot within the door, before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted. The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country, and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel' (Volume Two: Chapter 3).
- This is the Monster's first experience of prejudice.
- The Monster does not do anything to cause alarm – merely taking a step inside – and so the villagers' violent response seems unfair and disproportionate.
The Monster's kindness
- 'I rushed from my hiding-place; and, with extreme labour from the force of the current, saved her, and dragged her to shore. [...] when the man [the girls's companion] saw me draw near, he aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body, and fired.' (Volume Two: Chapter 8).
- The way in which the Monster is attacked for committing a kind deed seems particularly cruel, and the reader sympathises with him.
- The people that the Monster encounters are small-minded and hold prejudices based on his hideous appearance.
Test yourself on Presentation & Key Quotations
Where does the Monster seek refuge after being attacked by the Villagers?