Frankenstein Theme of Appearances

In Frankenstein, beauty is considered a virtue of the good, while deformity and ugliness are automatically associated with evil. Because of this stigma, the monster’s outward defects prevent him from gaining acceptance into a social sphere – even though he is full of compassion and goodness on the inside. Even the monster’s attempts to befriend a blind man fail because social stigma against ugliness is so deeply rooted here. This dichotomy of beauty and ugliness as related to good and evil stems from the book’s Romantic influences.

Questions About Appearances

1. Shelley devotes some text to describing the beauty of the natural world. What does this have to do with the monster’s ugliness? Is he necessarily unnatural because he was created by man? Is he unnatural for some other reason?
2. The monster believes it is his ugliness that keeps him alienated from society. Is he simply a hideous dude, or does he do anything else to alienate himself? Does he murder because he’s ugly, or because he’s ostracized? Or is he ostracized because he murders? Is he simply fated to be scorned or could he change his life’s destiny if he chose to do so?
3. Why do you think goodness is linked to outer beauty and evilness linked to ugliness? How does this relate to the time period in which this book was written? Is this notion limited to the time period?
4. How does Elizabeth fit into the attractive/ugly, good/evil paradigm? What about the fact that, even though she is supposed to be fair and beautiful, she is murdered on her wedding night? What does that say about justice?

Chew on This

Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.

The monster is innately evil, but chooses to blame his evildoings on society.

The monster is not innately evil. He becomes evil only after society treats him like he is because his outward appearance is terrifying.