Abstract
In a disconcertingly candid manner, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein offers its readers a sensible critique on the callous superficiality of human social interaction. Shelley imaginatively introduces a repugnant, yet kindhearted monster into the world of man, who is only to be received, and understandably so, with violent rejection and absolute contempt. Even the monster himself cannot bear the sight of his own physical appearance and his repulsive exterior accounts entirely for his exclusion from social relations. There is, however, one sole person in the novel whose blind eyes manage to look beyond the hideousness of the monster and treat him as an equal, and that is the old man De Lacey. This maverick character helps to illustrate the judgmental nature of human beings since his actions are not influenced by appearances and by doing so he reinforces the theme of superficiality that Shelley persistently ascribes to the rest of the characters in the book. Every character besides old man De Lacey is not even able to choose to look past the monster's appearance, despite his greatest efforts to make them, and this suggests that being visually judgmental is part of who we are as human beings; we cannot willingly prevent ourselves from being utterly shallow. De Lacey is exceptional as his symbolic blindness allows him to transcend the human superficiality that Shelley presents, while at the same time reinforcing its significant impact on social interaction and acceptance.
