Dear Mary Shelley,
Upon completing the novel Frankenstein, I had a question concerning how the story would have been changed if Victor hadn’t cast away the creature initially. One of the main focuses of the story is the debate between the role of nature vs. nurture in the creature’s development and eventual inclination towards evil. Once he has been brought to life, Victor looks on him in disgust and immediately runs away, abandoning his creation, leading to a string of murders enacting revenge on Victor. Many pose the question as to how the turn of events would have been different if Frankenstein had instead loved and taught the creature. However, even if he had had Frankenstein as a companion and a sort of “family,” I believe the outcome still would have been similar and that the reason is not inherently due to nature vs. nurture in the hands of Victor. The rest of society still would ostracize him for his unusual appearance and there’s no way to say that he wouldn’t become so angry as to lash out and kill those who’d looked down on him out of fear and disgust, taking his revenge on society instead. This could have even more serious ramifications on a grander scale. I would like to know how you, as the author, would interpret a version of the creature that was loved only by a few and remained hated and cast out of society.
Sincerely,
Angela Fei