Both writers present the protagonists as ‘others’ and demonstrate that they are isolated from their society which results in having to learn about the world from their surroundings. The creature in ‘Frankenstein’ describes himself as a “poor helpless, miserable wretch”, by using the adjectives ‘helpless’ and ‘miserable’, Shelley is demonstrating that being abandoned by Victor, the creature’s first thoughts is that he is unhappy and is unable to provide for oneself as he lacks the love and support from his so-called parental figure. The creature tries to reach out to Victor as an innocent child would for help but, even then gets rejected by his creator. As a result of this, the creature experiences the outside world by himself. The blank slate theory (Tabula Rasa) states that the mind is a “blank slate” when a human is born, and we learn from our observations; as the creature does. The DeLacey family have an impact on the creature’s development.
Through observing the family members the creature self-educates himself to speak English and to read. The creature is alienated from society because of his nature; he was created in a lab and made from body parts so, he wasn’t considered as a human being to other people and could not be accepted by society. Shelley’s development of the creature was inspired by Rousseau; humans are born with ‘compassion’ and ‘self preservation’. This may suggest that the creature had the potential to be a good human as all he wanted was to be accepted but, from his complete ostracisation, this influenced him to become corrupt. The quotation “But where were my friends and relations?…”, creates a depressive tone and implies that Shelley uses the feelings of severe loneliness in the creature’s narrative to show that he lacks affection.
The intended effect this may have on a reader is feeling sympathy towards the creature as the only companionship he had was his creator but, when Victor saw the creature’s frightening features he immediately fled. In a similar way, Ishiguro highlights that Kathy is not considered as being human because she is an imitation of society. The quotation “we took your art away because we thought it would reveal your souls”, demonstrates that being creative could symbolise that a student at Hailsham was seen as a human being.
Ishiguro may be using the theme of art to prove to the outside world that Kathy had a soul and she was just as ordinary as any other human being. Ethical questions became aware to people in the 1960’s and 1970’s when human cloning began to be a possibility. Kathy is feared by the society due to the knowledge of what she is and the view that imitation possibly plays God. From a Christian perspective, God was known to be the only powerful man that could create a life and take a life away. Therefore, Kathy is not able to be identified as a human being as from being an imitation they are interfering with the order of nature and God’s plans for an individual. Christof Tannert, a bioethicist states that human cloning “violates our basic moral principles”, which is evident as Kathy grows up believing that giving her organs to others is acceptable without realising that her main purpose of being an imitation is to provide her organs to other “normal” people.
Both the creature and Kathy appear to be feared by individuals because they contrast from the normal society. Using the first person perspective, Shelley has created an emotional attachment to the creature for the reader. We are told that the creature is ‘struck violently’ and ‘grievously bruised’, emphasising the society’s violent behaviour towards the creature. The adverb ‘grievously’ implies that the villagers attacked the creature to a severe extent because they were frightened of him and, we are given an insight to the creature’s feelings as his ‘heart sunk’ and was ‘overcome by pain’.
