Frankenstein: Social Judgment Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a complex novel written during the age of romanticism. It contains many themes typical of a common romantic novel, such as dark laboratories, the moon and a monster; however, Frankenstein is anything but an ordinary novel. Many lessons are contained in this novel, including how society acts towards anything different. The monster fell victim to the system commonly used by society to characterize a person only based on their external appearance. Like it or not, society always summarizes a person's characteristics based on their physical appearance. Society has established an unbreakable code that individuals must follow to be accepted. Those who don't follow the "standard" are hated by the crowd and banished because they are different. When the monster ventured into a city "...[the monster] had just put [his] foot inside the door...the children screamed and...the women fainted" (101). *** CAN YOU USE [HE] AS A PRONOUN HERE SINCE YOU JUST SAID “MONSTER”? ***From that moment on he realized that people didn't like the way he looked and hated him for it. If the villagers hadn't run away at the sight of him, perhaps they would have even appreciated his personality. The monster tried to achieve this when he met the De Lacey family. The monster hoped to gain the friendship of the old man and, eventually, his children. He knew it would be possible because the old man was blind; he couldn't see the monster's repulsive features. But fate was against him and the "wretch" had barely conversed with the old man before his children returned from their journey and saw a monstrous creature at their father's feet attempting to harm the defenseless old man. “Felix leapt forward and with supernatural strength snatched [the creature] from its father…” (129). Felix's action caused the monster great internal pain. He knew that his dream of living with them "happily ever after" would not come true. After that bitter moment, the monster believed that "...human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union [with the monster]" (138) and with the encounter with De Lacey still fresh in his mind along with his first encounter with humans, declared war on mankind. The source of the evil being's hatred towards man originates from his first experiences with man. In a way, the monster began with a childlike innocence that was eventually destroyed by being constantly rejected by society from time to time..