Aren't We All Monsters Deep Inside?

After reading Cohen’s Seven Theses, I tried thinking of who might be a good example and had a bit of trouble coming up with one. Though, after much consideration, I decided that I might go with a literary monster, one that could actually be a pretty good example: Frankenstein. I want to be clear, I did not choose Frankenstein because he is literally a monster; in fact, I want to analyze both Frankenstein and his creator, Victor Frankenstein, as examples of a “monster” to Cohen’s theses.

First off: Victor Frankenstein. I’d like to think that Victor may be the perfect depiction of society. I first thought of using him as an example because he is the embodiment of what societal values are like if it were a person. He is the cultural moment. Victor, in pursue of a better understanding of what life is, pursues his dream, only to find that he has made a horrendous creature. In Cohen’s theses, he talks more of the monster itself, but in describing the monster and what is is and does, he also talks about how culture is the culprit in this creation a monster. Now if you could think of Victor as a personification of “culture”, then his creation, Frankenstein, would be the “monster”.

Frankenstein: In Shelley’s novel: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Victor Frankenstein, a scientist in pursuit of his dream, creates a being by studying a technique to transmit life to a non-living matter. Thus, the creation of the monster is born. Horrified of what he has created because of how disproportionate it is to the normal human being, Victor flees and leaves the monster to fend for himself. Other than the fact the monster is a literal monster, I want to focus that despite this fact, his mindset is as human as any of us can be. If you look at it that way, the monster may not be a monster at all. Anyways, just as Cohen’s states that society creates monsters, Victor is the creator of his monster.

“Monsters must be examines within the intricate matrix of relations (social, cultural, and literary-historical) that generate them.”

In the novel, we get a glimpse of the life that the monster had lived, in the 4 months that Victor was gone. We get to see that the monster, in fact, had developed humane feelings and only wanted to befriend people, even though they rejected him. It’s interesting to see that despite being a monster, he had the ability to develop fondness over the humans that he lived with and he actually felt lonely without his master. Like Frankenstein, we are the monsters that society/Victor created. Though they see us as atrocious, we are still deep down beings with emotions.