The further into this book I get, the more difficult it is to climb out. It's no question that Frankenstein is a classic and it's easy to see why. I'm a reader, no doubt, disliking few contemporary novels of late, and have found it a task to get into classic literature, but this novel is not such a case. This is due to many things but one of the main factors to my increasing interest that I've been able to realize is that of the character development. Few times before have I been drawn to a character like I am drawn to the monster Victor Frankenstein has created. It says something about an author when they are able to make the reader sympathize with a character that is considered deformed and feared by the characters around it, including our protagonist, Dr. Frankenstein, himself.

It's hard at first to understand if this is a character who you would like to understand and care for when it's introduced as such a poor sight but yet already shows signs of human nature coming through, for instance at the beginning of the novel when Victor wakes and sees the monster at his bedside, "while a grin wrinkled his cheeks," (35). Thinking of the nature of the mind only highlights the nature aspect in this book as a whole.

While Frankenstein's monster becomes more and more human via the nature of his origins, it is also stressed that Victor is one to respect nature, often venturing paths and finding beauty in the simplest things. After the murder of his youngest brother, William, and the execution of the number one suspect, Justine (an old friend to the Frankenstein family) as an extension of that, Victor veers himself away from society, bringing himself to a state of complete emotional sobriety. He consoles his hidden troubles by walking and observing the world around him, bringing a slight happiness, but not enough to cure his near-suicidal thought process. As the world around him seems brighter, though, he is again confronted by the monster at a glacier at the summit of Montanvert. From here, the monster has proved his worthiness of entrance into the world that continues to refuse him access. He has learned languages, how to understand and control senses, and what life should mean no matter the hardships, telling Victor "Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it," (66).

The monster then further proves his right to be just as much a part of this world as his neighbors by moving into a hut and observing a foreign village and again beginning to understand their language, their lifestyles, their history, etc.

Watching the monster not necessarily mature but grow into something more and more comparable to a human being brings me closer to him, making me feel for this character more than many contemporary books can. Mary Shelley's ability to combine topics on worldly nature and draw parallels to human nature has given me feelings for a character who in real life it would be a challenge to feel for.