Felix, Safie
and Agatha are terrified of this creature, this monster, and this menace to
society. After their initial shock and unexpected terror, the infuriated
monster runs away into the forest.
I could have
torn him limb from limb, as the lion rends the antelope. But my heart sunk
within me as with Bitter sickness, and I refrained. I saw him on the point
of repeating his blow, when, overcome by pain and anguish, I quitted the
cottage and in the general tumult escaped unperceived to my hovel. (Shelley 151)
Here, the monster realizes that he does
not belong in this world. With the strength of his limbs, the intelligence in
his mind and the immense size of his body enormous stature, the monster now
knows that he is not only an outsider now, but also he always and forever will
be an outsider throughout his lifespan.
The
long tree branches in this illustration represent both nature and society’s
desire to ostracize the monster. Differentiating the nature with the unknown, Ward
is intentionally drawing the distinction between the monster and the wooded
forest. The monster seems helpless in this illustration because the limbs seem
to topple over him and give him little room to break out of this natural
surrounding. Also, the monster's emotions are as erratic as the direction the
wind blows. Here, in the forest, the monster feels at first enraged, but then
enlightened. Here, the monster comes to the realization that he will never be a
part of this world. Ward wanted to emphasize the importance of the limbs of
both the monster and the tree branches. He uses this idea to show the
similarities and differences between the appearance of the monster’s limbs to
the tree’s limbs, or branches. The
proportions, lines and curves make it very difficult to distinguish between
these two elements of the image. I believe the monster is pulling on the tree’s
"limbs" which shows his overwhelming strength and superiority.
In
addition to the strength of his limbs, the monster’s intelligence develops and
quickly surpasses that of any human being. After two years of independently
learning how to live, this is the first time in the novel the monster struggles.
The monster faces challenges throughout the entire novel.
“These thoughts exhilarated me, and led me
to apply with fresh ardour to the acquiring the art of language. My organs were
indeed harsh, but supple; and although my voice was very unlike the soft music
of their tones, yet I pronounced such words as I understood with tolerable
ease.”(Shelley 125)
The monster is able to notice the actions and mannerisms of the
cottagers in order to learn their language. He instantly understands the
cottager’s language and learns to speak and discover the details of the
lifestyle of the villagers. His abilities at such a young age are far more intelligent
than any normal two-year old human. The monster processed information so
quickly that goes to prove his super-human capability to be true.
The monster
faces struggle, confinement and wants to free himself from the wooded forest.
In my opinion, the curvature of the trees looks more like a cave than a forest.
The monster is trapped inside of this cage. Rejected from society, he runs away
and feels completely and utterly rejected by mankind. The monster's immense body
appears to be larger and stronger than the large branches, which makes it very difficult
for him to escape. This small illustration holds great meaning – the reader can
see the monster’s pain and suffering. The monster will not only face challenges
getting out of the cave, but also find himself battling against all the earth’s
natural elements.
His legs look
to be in a awkward position where hes struggling and experiencing physical torment.
The lines all over the monster's body indicate scars from either the creation
or the beating by Felix. These prominent lines could show the development of
his body emphasizing his tight skin and muscles referring to the strength of
the monster. It almost looks like he is trapped in a cave and can never get
out. This is the monster’s moment of realization that he sticks out in nature
depicting that hes different from the norm. The monster looks like he is trying
to approach the light giving his freedom in society but since he is not
accepted he can never reach the light. “The symbolism of a cave relates to containment,
enclosure. In Juan Eduardo Cirlot’s, A Dictionary of Symbols, Cirlot writes
that it is probably related to the general symbolism of containment, of the
enclosed or concealed." (J.E. Cirlot) The monster’s
body looks to be trapped and his body is confining him in the cave.
The illustration on page 151, shows a distinction between nature
and the monster. The monster’s strength of his limbs and the depiction of him
pulling down on the branches proves that he is stronger than nature. The
monster immediately gains a greater intelligence than the peers surrounding him
and his enormous stature being trapped in the cage both show the monster’s
struggle towards living the life of a typical human being. The monster is
different than any other human in society. He is sophisticated, nice, strong,
and brilliant. The monster's beauty is in the inside but on the outside people
see evil, vile, and disgust. This picture depicts society's acceptance of the
monster. The monster is attempting to protect him in a society he is being
crushed by and needs to escape. The monster needs to continue his journey
independently and learn the true meaning behind nature so one day he can be
accepted.
Works-Cited
Two initial problems: it's very short (something like three pages), and doesn't include any real research. Both of these things are problems, but are also related to a larger problem: this is not a coherent essay. After having been through it a couple times, I can say that you do have interesting and worthwhile things to say - the observation about the forest being really like a cave is 100% worth pursuing, for instance. The problem is that your thoughts are all isolated: in one paragraph, the forest is like a cave. In another, the monster is stronger than nature. In another, he doesn't belong to the world. All of these are legimate, worthwhile things to say in response to Ward's illustrations - but how do they make a coherent argument? You need *one* clear argument running through an essay, animating the whole thing. I suspect (as much as I dislike that your research began and ended with a bad website) that the idea of the cave, and what it represents, would have been the best way of bringing all of your ideas together - you simply stopped far short of actually doing so.
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