Juxtaposition in Frankenstein

Juxtaposition in Frankenstein is best utilized to highlight the irony of Frankenstein’s monster itself: the contrast between the monster’s elegant speech and comprehension to its grotesque inhumane appearance. Frankenstein’s monster is described by his creator as a “catastrophe” and a “wretch with infinite pains” (35), yet is showcased to display an educated form of speech; “Thus I relieve thee, my creator. Thus I take from thee a sight which you abhor. Still thou canst listen to me and grant me thy compassion.”(70). The monster displays sensical and intellectual thoughts like a human does, as it displays its ability to comprehend its plight of thinking like a human and containing all the feelings that a human does, yet looking like a monster, which dooms him to never be allowed to be a member of society. Shelley utilizes the juxtaposition of the monster’s character in order to highlight the irony of one’s appearance in society. Frankenstein’s monster has, by all means, the mental facilities to become a productive member in society, yet cannot ever be loved by another human being because of his appearance, connecting to Shelley’s overarching narrative of not crossing the ethical boundaries of science, as tragedies like Frankenstein’s monster will happen. Shelley uses the juxtaposition of the monster’s elegant speech with his grotesque appearance as a catalyst to demonstrate the monster’s plight, but more deeply connect the monster to her rhetorical purpose: to expose her educated english peers about her fears about scientists crossing moral boundaries in order to advance technology without any real justification but for ‘more knowledge’. In other words, Frankenstein’s monster, apart from being a symbol about the importance of appearance in society, is a representation of a science with no morals, and is Shelley’s way of communicating to her other educated peers/members of the scientific community in England that humanity’s own creations could ultimately destroy society and humans. 

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