How Mary Shelley Influences the Readers Reaction to the Creature :: Mary Shelley Frankenstein Essays

How Mary Shelley Influences the Readers Reaction to the Creature When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1816, it was the birth of a new genre – the creation of a being, sci-fi at its earliest. Frankenstein’s creature, the concept way ahead of its time but a terrifying thought to its first audiences. In the following pages I will be discussing how Mary Shelley influences the readers reaction to the creature, I will be viewing the context of her writing, the way she portrays her view of what it means to be human, the anticipation of the creature’s coming to life, and the language Walton and Frankenstein use to describe the creature. In Walton’s first letter, after he sees the creature, he describes it as ‘the shape of a man†¦ but of apparently gigantic stature’ At first Walton doesn’t know what he saw but thinks the creature is a local and the crew is intrigued that there, out in the ice deserts, man has strayed. Through Waltons enquiring nature, Shelley encourages curiosity in the reader, and Waltons encounter with the creature ‘excites our unqualified wonder’. When Frankenstein first describes the creature, he describes it not as a mother would her newborn baby, but with horror and disgust, he describes its waking moments and its appearance, with and abhorrent attitude, and as soon as the creature awoke, Frankenstein, with a mixture of fright and disgust ran to his bedroom. When Shelley first describes the creatures coming to life, it gives the reader a feeling of both anticipation and anxiety, the detailed and emotive language of the description draws the reader in and captures their imagination. Frankenstein’s first description of the creature, â€Å"†¦ His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was a lustrous black and flowing, †¦ but these luxuriance’s only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white socket in which they were set† The adjectives Shelley uses to describe the creature are visual allowing the reader to visualise the creature as Shelley portrays. The use of rich, textural language animates the creature in the readers mind, such as ‘his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath’, and ‘his hair was of lustrous black, and flowing’. Shelley’s use of the words â€Å"horrible contrast† give the reader the opinion that the creature is too ‘horrible’ and thus Shelley imposes an opinion on the reader. Before the creature awakes, Shelley has already created an anticipation in the readers, when Frankenstein goes grave hunting and when he is first up in his room where he assembles the creature,