Grendel & Frankenstein an Analysis of the Two
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imply wishes to live in harmony with them.
Like Grendel, Frankenstein also learns to live in a society that despises his kind. Frankenstein also must kill, but this is only in response to the people's abhorrence of him. Ironically, the very doctor who bore him now searches the globe seeking Frankenstein's destruction. Even the ever-loving paternal figure now turns away from this outcast from society. Frankenstein journeys to the far reaches of the world to escape from the societal ills that cause society to hate him. He ventures to the harshest, most desolate, most uninhabitable place known to man, the north pole. He lives in isolation, in the cold acceptance of the icy glaciers. Still, Dr. Frankenstein follows, pushing his creation to the edge of the world, hoping he would fall off, never to be seen or heard from again. Frankenstein flees from his father until the Doctor's death, where Frankenstein joins his father in the perpetual, silent acceptance of death.
Frankenstein never makes an attempt to become one with society, yet he is finally accepted by the captain to whom he justifies his existence. Frankenstein tracks Dr. Frankenstein as to better explain to himself the nature of own being by understanding the life of his creator. "Unstoppable, [Frankenstein] travels to the ends of the earth to destroy [his] creator, by destroying everyone [Dr.] Frankenstein loved" (Shelley afterword). As the captain listens to Frankenstein's story, he begins to understand his plight. He accepts Frankenstein as a reluctant, yet devoted, servant to his master. Granted that Frankenstein does not "belong," he is accepted with admiration by the captain. The respect that Frankenstein has longed for is finally given to him as he announces his suicide in the name of his father, the late Dr. Frankenstein.
On the other hand, Grendel makes numerous attempts to assimilate into society, but he is repeatedly turned back. Early in his life, Grendel dreams of ...