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Question #1: Have you ever called anyone a “monster?”
Question #2: Was he or she actually made from spare body parts and reanimated dead tissue?
There, in gangrenous limb, lies the secret to Mary Shelley’s monster. In Frankenstein, the monster is not so much a MONSTER! as it is a metaphor — a symbol for the beast within us all.

Video Transcription:

Monstrosity.

You probably figured that it was one of the themes in this story.

But you’d be wrong if you figured that just because this is a book about a monster. Actually, the monster himself is the least monstrous of all the monsters in this story.

Monster One is the knowledge that Victor uses to create the monster. That knowledge is dark and dangerous—and pretty freaking monstrous.

Monster Two is Victor himself. His secrecy and ambition—and later his revulsion and fear—completely alienate him from society. And eventually, Victor is consumed by an utter hatred toward the monster—hatred that makes him downright monstrous.

But perhaps what’s most monstrous of all is society’s bigotry and prejudice. The monster only really becomes a monster when he is rejected by society—solely on the basis of his looks.

I guess the good news in all of this is that it seems like Shelley is saying that monstrosity is a learned behavior—and the right kind of knowledge frees us from it.