Chapters 13-15

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

In these chapters, the creature learns through observation about the previous world civilizations. His education reveals to the reader the importance of history to human nature. We are consistently defined by our past. Cultures, customs, and traditions are the product of human nature's way of holding on to history. The creature realizes that he has no history, and therefore struggles with his identity. His problems with being solitary are augmented by his lack of origins and it drives him further to make connections with the family. Other books that he finds in the woods teach him about emotion and finally he can no longer stand being hidden from the the family. When he is rejected by Felix and the women, the creature swears revenge on the one person responsible for his lack of origin: his creator Victor. "But where was mine? (Creator) He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him," (Shelley, 94). The creature expresses so much hatred towards Victor, but keeps coming back to him in thoughts and traveling. I think he seeks out Victor not entirely driven by rage, but still by the longing to make a connection with someone. He feels closest to Victor, as he thinks of him as a father, and may still hold on to the slight possibility that Victor may accept his creation because it is a part of him.