Essay: Intolerance
The theme of intolerance is quite a prevalent one in the novel Frankenstein and throughout the
story the characters show and experience intolerance. The noun ‘intolerance’ itself is described as
an unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behaviour that differ from one's own or the norm of
society. This definition is true to the intolerance shown in Frankenstein, however in the novel
intolerance is often interchangeable with prejudice. The causes and effects of intolerance and
prejudice are traced by Mary Shelley in the novel and are mostly centred on the experiences of the
creature. Rejected by his creator and every other human he encounters, the creature soon finds
itself despised and alone in the world. It withdraws into a state of isolation and utter misery, but this
in turn leads to the development of an intense hatred and a desire for revenge. The central
wrongdoer in its eyes is his creator, Victor.
The most common type of intolerance in Frankenstein, is the intolerance shown to and directed at
the creature, this type of intolerance can also be described as unfiltered prejudice. The first time the
creature experiences intolerance towards himself is at the very moment of his ‘birth’ and from his
very own creator and ‘father’. This is shown when Frankenstein says: ‘seemingly to detain me, but I
escaped, and rushed downstairs’; Frankenstein believes the worst of the creature and instead of
showcasing any paternal instincts towards his creation, he believes that the creature will harm him
and flees. The verb ‘escaped’ shows that he believes himself to be the victim in the scenario and that
he doesn’t even stop to think of the creatures' feelings or well-being. Bearing in mind that the
creature has only just opened its eyes and has no knowledge of anything yet, like a baby. And as
John Locke theorises, the creature’s mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate), therefore despite the
creatures ugly looks he isn’t inherently evil. The fact that Frankenstein runs away from his creation
only having looked at the creature without any form of communication shows how intolerant and
prejudiced he is against anyone who doesn’t look conventionally beautiful, no doubt a product of his
idyllic childhood in which he was constantly surrounded by beautiful people. Not only this, but by
observing that the creature is ugly on the outside, Frankenstein assumes that the creature is ugly on
the inside, depicting him to be an evil monster who is out to get him: ‘seemingly to detain me’; the
adverb ‘seemingly’ shows that Victor is jumping to conclusions and making the wrong assumptions
about the creature based on only his looks, by doing this Frankenstein is proclaiming that anyone
who is not beautiful cannot be good or kind. Throughout the novel Frankenstein constantly shows
intolerance towards the creature through his harmful words and ill-judged actions, this is most
apparent when they meet in the mountains after the news of Williams death, (which Frankenstein
blames on the creature immediately without having any proof). Immediately he says ‘Begone!’; this
exclamation shows that Frankenstein’s default response to the creatures presence is to reject him
and cast him away. This instant rejection shows just how intolerant Victor is towards the creature
and at this stage, for no good reason.
Not only does the creature experience intolerance from his creator but also what seems to be the
rest of mankind. His first encounter with humans, who are not Frankenstein, the people of the
village take one look at him and do one of three things: pass out, run away or attack: ‘some fled,
some attacked me, until grievously bruised by stones…I escaped’; the verb ‘escaped’ shows that the
creature had to flee from the viciousness of man making us question if humans are the real
monsters. This, in of itself, shows the way in which the humans show intolerance towards the
creature and again solely because of his looks. It is at this point when the creature is beginning to
lose all hope in ever being accepted by any human when he sees the De Lacey family for the first
time. The creature stays with this family, no that they know this, and learns about humanity and
communication from watching them. Despite the fact that he knows that humans will not tolerate
