 The theme of prejudice is a really important theme that runs throughout Frankenstein, okay? So if you are writing about Frankenstein and of course learning about it, you have to be very familiar with this theme. Remember, the notion of prejudice simply means when we or when somebody has a preexisting idea or a bias against somebody based on something that this person cannot control. So for example, you can have prejudice against somebody based on their gender, based on the color of their skin, based on what country they're from, basically having a bias against somebody based on something about that person that they can't control. And especially when you have prejudice against somebody based on something they can't control and also you don't even know them, you just see them and then say, okay, they look like this or they speak in this way or something, therefore they must be like this, okay? And this is what leads to stereotypes, okay? Creating a certain idea about somebody based on lots of different prejudices. They look like this, they have this color of skin, they speak like this, therefore they must be like this. That's how stereotypes are built. They are usually based on prejudices. Now, what Frankenstein of course as a story is illustrating is how flawed having such prejudices based on somebody's outer exterior can be. You can have people who are very beautiful on the outside, however, people might have a positive prejudice towards them so they might think, okay, if they look beautiful, that therefore means they're a good person and that can then misguide them and make them trust somebody who actually, even if they look beautiful, they're probably ugly on the inside. And vice versa, of course, shown through the creature's eyes. He is very horrible to look at on the outside. Don't forget he's made up from dead body parts so he probably would be quite hideous to look at. But on the inside, he was a good person or a good creature, okay? However, it was the prejudice of human beings who only focused on his external appearance. This is what caused the creature to hate human beings, become very murderous and ultimately end up killing his creator, okay? Pursuing him, pursuing him until he died. And of course also killing some members of his creator's family, Victor Frankenstein's own family, okay? So this notion of prejudice and the idea that we as humans excessively rely on external appearance to our detriment. So it's a bad thing to rely on this. This is explored within Frankenstein and hence you have to be very familiar with this theme. So as you can see behind me, I have selected the main quotations which illustrate this theme of prejudice and also which illustrates the notion, the central idea within the story that human beings are actually very shallow. We're actually not very good people at heart according to Frankenstein and according to the creature's narrative. And of course this is something that is one of our fatal flaws. Also Victor Frankenstein runs away from his creation. He doesn't even give his creature a chance because purely based on his external appearance, okay? So let's examine the quotations related to the theme of prejudice and what you can use when you're discussing it, okay? The first quote is based on William, okay? So this is William Frankenstein. This is Victor Frankenstein's younger brother. Now the creature encounters him, sees him as a young boy and says, oh, he's a young boy. He can maybe be my friend. He can be my companion. He doesn't yet know who this young boy is because of course once he realizes that he's related to his creator, he then ends up killing William. However, when he sees this young child, he says, oh, he's a young child. He must be really innocent. He doesn't have one of these prejudices against my appearance. However, he's wrong. William sees him and calls him an ogre and he says, monster, ugly wretch. Before even the creature has a chance to talk to him, okay? And what this is illustrating is human beings have a lot of prejudices even from a young childhood stage, okay? So we as humans have these really negative biases towards appearances even from a young age. And this is what fills the creature with rage, okay? And of course, when he then realizes that William is related to Victor Frankinson, he then kills him, okay? Now, the word level analysis you want to focus on firstly are the words monster and wretch which belong to the semantic field of devil. So William, this young child already has this inbuilt prejudice against somebody's appearance, okay? And he believes that the monster, because the monster looks so hideous, he must be a devil. He must be a fiend. Also, William is screaming and this is shown through the exclamatory sentences after monster and ugly wretch. And remember, an exclamatory sentence is a sentence that shows a strong emotion and it ends with an exclamation mark. What this quote is illustrating is how we as human beings bear a lot of prejudices, especially towards outsiders and we rely excessively on appearances which of course is flawed. It's a mistake to rely on somebody's appearance then judges a whole character based on it. The second quotation related to the theme of prejudice is when the creature realizes because humans are so shallow, he is completely excluded from society. He loses hope and states, I am alone and miserable, man will not associate with me, okay? So of course, when we read this, we feel a really strong sense of empathy. We feel pathos, pathos means we feel really sad, okay? And we realize actually, we as human beings are not very good because we judge others based on external appearance. The creature based on his external appearance was totally excluded. And even if he wanted to give back to society, he couldn't and this therefore made him murderous. Now, the one level analysis you want to focus on is firstly, words belonging to the semantic field of learningness, so alone and miserable, which belong to the semantic field of learningness. Also, the alliteration of M in man and me. And of course, this alliteration is emphasizing the creature's growing resentment towards human beings for being so prejudiced. The next quotation is when the creature directly confronts Victor Frankenstein and states, you my creator, detest and spurn me. And again, here, we can see that Victor Frankenstein literally simply hates his creation, his creature, just because of how it looks, okay? So if the creature had come out looking very beautiful, the story would have been completely different. And again, what the creature is doing is accusing Victor Frankenstein of being prejudiced and relying only on appearances. Now, the word level analysis you want to focus on is firstly, the contrasting pronouns you and my, okay? So of course here, this emphasizes a separation between this creator, the father of this creature and the creature, okay? Also, the other word level analysis you want to focus on is the verbs detest and spurn, okay? So these are fairly violent verbs, violent emotions that Victor Frankenstein feels towards his creature, purely based on his external appearances, okay? Which is very unfair. The next quotation relating to the theme of prejudice is when the creature then reflects on all the bad stuff he's done, but then he's basically saying, look, I've become a really bad creature because of how human beings have treated me based on their prejudices. So is it correct for me to be the bad person? Is it fair to only label me as a bad person? Or actually, am I just illustrating how terrible human beings are? And he asked us using this rhetorical question. I to be thought that only criminal when all human kind sinned against me. So here he's basically saying, actually it's human beings that turned me into bad person and why would you blame me for all of these things? Actually it's you guys and your prejudices that turned me into this monster, okay? I was just a creature, a simple creature, but then now, because you guys all hated me based on my appearance, I then became a monster. The word level analysis you want to focus on, as I've mentioned, is obviously this is a rhetorical question, but also you want to focus on the alliteration of tea into thought though, okay? And again, what this alliteration is showing is it's making us, it's really triggering us to think and reflect on the nature of human beings and these prejudices that we hold, which then divides and separates us, okay? The other quotation to focus on is when the creature talks about humans as the barbarity of men, okay? He is highlighting just how humans, not only are we prejudiced and we have these stereotypes against others, against the people like the creature, but then we act on it in a really violent way, okay? So we're the ones who aren't civilized. The creature is basically saying because you guys are so prejudiced, actually you're the ones who are the uncivilized barbarians, not me, okay? So he's basically showing that it's the prejudice that turns human beings into animals, not the creature, the creature isn't an animal. The creature actually wanted to give back to society, but human beings, because we are so prejudiced, we have excluded him, okay? The word level analysis you want to focus on here is the hyperbole of barbarity. Now, the next quotation is, so the creature experiences some form of kindness and this is from Delacy, the blind cottager, okay? So the only human who is actually really kind towards the creature is a blind man. And of course, when the rest of his family come back, they then realize the creature is there and then they chase him away and then this is really what turns the creature into becoming really murderous. However, the blind man, when he listens to the creature, he can't see him, so he doesn't have the prejudice of his eyes. He doesn't prejudge him from seeing him and then he realizes actually the creature is a good person and then Delacy offers him hope. He says, listen, our family's gonna take you in, don't worry, my family comes back, we'll take you in, okay? And he states, do not despair, ellipsis. Men, when unprejudiced by any of your self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity. So here we can see Delacy, the blind man, the blind cottager has a really positive and optimistic outlook on human nature. He believes that humans actually, when they're not looking out for their own interests, they can be capable of being loving and charitable towards others. However, of course, he is then contradicted by the actions of his family when they come in. They then see the creature first before even giving the creature a chance and then they chase him away, they're really terrified and so on, okay? Now here, we can see prejudice is only absent when we have a blind character. Again, what this is illustrating is we as human beings are very shallow. We look first before we think and we even wonder logically and rationally whether the creature is good or bad. Now the word love analysis we want to focus on is firstly the adjective on prejudice, okay? And again, this is ironic because actually what then Delacy, he's proven wrong and his family come back and see the creature and they show all the prejudices and also the words love and charity which belong to semantic field of kindness. Again here, what he's saying is that human beings are inherently kind. However, when his family return, actually the lack of kindness is illustrated, okay? Of course, this is quite ironic because his family actually do the opposite for the creature. The next quotation related to the theme of prejudice is when Victor Frankenstein, he was working day and night, day and night creating this creature and he's so excited to create this new species. However, once the creature comes to life, it's his appearance that he finds so revolting that he runs away, okay? And he is devastated at how the creature looks. He doesn't even care whether the creature can speak, whether the creature is intelligent and actually the creature proves itself to be quite intelligent. All Victor Frankenstein cares about is its external appearance. Again, what this is illustrating is this notion of prejudice, this idea that we only focus on what we can see. We don't necessarily focus on the quality of somebody's character, okay? Now the word love analysis you want to focus on and actually the quotation you want to focus on is when Victor Frankenstein is really mournful and he states, the beauty of the dream vanished and the breathless horror and disgust filled my heart and this is his initial feeling when he sees this creature come into life. It's almost like he's given birth to this creature and then he only feels horror and disgust and he feels horror and disgust purely because of how it looks and again what this is illustrating is how human beings are very shallow and were full of prejudices, especially based on appearances. The word love analysis you want to focus on here is firstly the metaphor of dream, this idea that he had this dream, he had this idea of this perfect specimen he was going to create and of course this idea is shattered. Also, you want to focus on the alliteration of age in horror and heart and finally the adjectives horror as well as disgust which describes how Victor Frankenstein felt as a mother and father towards this creature and again here what we can see is human beings have a lot of prejudice based on what they see. They don't even stick around to even learn whether the creature is a good person or not, they're just only focused on his appearance. The final quotation is related to how when the creature gets to a village he realizes that the people they first see him and they're all running away and some of them are attacking him because he states, the whole village was roused, some fled, some attacked me and again here we can see that human beings are very violently prejudiced. Again, he goes to this village and this is when he realizes that he's really repulsive to people, his appearance really scares people off and he also then realizes his appearance scares people off so much because people are only focused on what they can see. They don't focus on the character, the quality of his character. This is illustrated in terms of word level analysis through the repetition of the word some and also the violent verb attacked. Again here we can see that human beings actually were acting less than charitably towards him based on the prejudices against the creature. So that's really it when it comes to key quotations related to the theme of prejudice in Frankenstein. Thanks so much for listening.