The monster that Frankenstein creates is utterly ruthless and extremely dangerous.  It seeks vengeance against Frankenstein because he created him.  Frankenstein’s monster most closely relates to the Tyger in William Blake’s The Tyger.  In the poem, the narrator questions who could have created the Tyger because of its violence and ferocity.  The Tyger also possesses beauty as well as destruction.  Under the facade of the Tyger’s beauty lies evilness.  Although the monster is ugly in physical appearance, he appears beautiful because he actually cares for the family he comes across as if he loved them.Even though he found himself to be hideous in appearance.  He even befriended the blind father.  However the rest of the family ran away and left their home in fear and disgust.  Because the monster was not loved or accepted by the family he approached to, he decided to burn their cottage.  The monster turns to rage and live in hate.  Even though the monster seemed beautiful because he cared for the family, its true characteristics is violence.  If the monster truly loved the family, it would not have burned their home.  Similarly to the Tyger’s violent nature, the monster also commits murders in order to ruin the life of his creator.  Just like his violent act earlier in the story, the monster murders Frankenstein’s loved ones.  In the end, the monster is a dangerous beast that only knows violence.  His ways are destruction like that of the Tyger.

Blake’s Tyger most closely resembles the creature Victor Frankenstein made. The Tyger is this massive, powerful, fearsome creature that Blake suggests only an immortal being could have made. “What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (Tyger) Frankenstein’ creature was also massive and definitely invoked fear into others. How could a Lamb, so gentle and meek resemble this gargantuan figure? (He is meek and he is mild/He became a little child…” (Lamb). Frankenstein’s creature had pale yellow skin, black lips, black hair, and was ugly. “…no mortal could support the horror of that countenance.” (V I. Ch IV) The Lamb is white, fluffy, and childlike which is the opposite of the monstrous creature. Blake’s Tyger invokes terror into people “What the anvil?/what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp!” (Tyger). Frankenstein’s creature was larger than the average man which gave him the ability to have superior strength just like the Tyger. The Tyger is a beautiful creature but deadly nonetheless. Just as Frankenstein’s creature retains the beauty of life, the creature is also incredibly powerful.

The tiger from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” shows a strong comparison to the character of the monster from Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein. The correlation between the two starts off with the creation of each creature. The forging of both creatures was very difficult and labor extensive. The means by which each was created suggests an overwhelming physical presence for both creatures. Additionally, after both creatures were created it posed the question of WHY would someone construct such specimens? People are terrified of both the monster and the tiger. Without even knowing anything about them but basing it only on their looks, the two creatures are seen as hideous and dangerous beings. Both creatures are completely misunderstood considering their looks on the outside do not align with their personalities or ways of life. Although scary and intimidating on the outside, both creatures are sensitive and caring on the inside. The tiger and the monster were also both not appreciated by their creators. The monster was abandoned by Victor Frankenstein, which deeply hurt the sensitive giant since Victor was the only person he really ever had a relationship with. On the other hand the tiger is resented as well by the narrator commenting about if his creator was actually proud of his work or not. “Did he smile his work to see?” The narrator also is appalled that the same person who created the timid lamb also created such an intimidating beast. “Did he who make the lamb make thee?” Although the monster does show some of the same characteristics that are seen in the lamb, such as its sensitivity and sometimes docile ways, the monster is still more closely comparable to the tigeri

The creature exemplifies characteristics from both The Lamb and The Tyger but it is The Tyger which we see most. In William Blake’s The Tyger, he asks “What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” This refers to God and his creation of a beast so fearful as a tiger which mimics Victor Frankenstein’s creation of a beast that spreads horror amongst actual people. The tiger represents danger, or more so, the fear of danger. People fear both tigers and the creature because they are different than us and one would not know what to expect if they were confronted by these creations. Will they attack, or will they retreat? If they are different than us, we will expect the worst regardless of their true intentions. Of course the creature also relates to the violent lion as he kills multiple people throughout the novel including Frankenstein’s brother, best friend, and wife. There are, however, instances where the creature shows characteristics of the lamb, a soft calm creature with “a tender voice.” For example, Frankenstein’s creature shows signs of sensitivity and even saves a girl from drowning. The people do not see him like the lamb but rather the tiger, so he still only faces hatefulness and violence in return. In the second to last stanza of William Blake’s The Tyger, he asks “Did he who made the Lamb make thee,” and the answer is yes. While God created creatures of both violence and peace, Victor Frankenstein created one being of both with both characteristics. Frankenstein’s creature is still a violent killer who spreads fear which is why he relates more closely with The Tyger.

When the Wretch is “born”, he was innocent and free of sin. The Creature wasn’t made for evil or to bring fear to anyone. This, in my belief, makes the Creature more like William Blake’s Lamb than his Tyger. In Blake’s poem, he writes “Gave thee clothing of delight, / Softest clothing wooly bright” (The Lamb) and in the novel, Frankenstein created the Creature with features he saw as beautiful, “His limbs were in proportion, and I selected his features as beautiful.” (Chapter 4, paragraph 2). The Lamb and the Creature were both created without malicious thought and made to be wonderful creations amongst society. The Tyger, on the other hand, gives off a theme a fear and evil from the very beginning, unlike the Creature, who sins only began with his exile from the world around him. In volume 2 of the novel, the Creature says, “I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity” (Chapter 2, paragraph 12). The latter relates to the Lamb because he is too “meek…mild…[and] a little child” (Blake). The Tyger’s is never portrayed as being naïve or innocent, in fact, the whole poem dedicated to the Tyger has a very dark feeling that only develops in the Creature as the novel progresses, but isn’t prominent in the Creature upon “birth”. The Lamb represents the Creature as he is on the inside despite his flaws and actions. The Creature doesn’t mean harm, and unlike the Tyger who was made with “fearful symmetry” (Blake) from its very beginning.

A creation is a reflection of the creator’s image. “The Tyger” by William Blake delineates how such a creator or God would design a beast with physically hidden and hideous traits of aggression and wrath. The first and last stanzas within the poem describe the bright orange skin largely covering the animal’s body. Seeing it during the night within a jungle would strike immediate fear into a person’s eyes and hearts, and the poet clearly states this fear in the third stanza. Why would a supernatural entity or intellectual creator conjure up a beast such as the tiger? This question is inextricably linked with why Victor Frankenstein creates “the Creature” in the story. Both the creature and the tiger share common traits of exhibiting neural trepidation of death due to their menacing looks. The creature is also easily conspicuous such as the tiger’s brightness since they are both considered dangerous living things and when seen strike adrenaline alert. Victor’s creation of a hideous creature can be akin to why God would also design a jungle animal that slaughters preys on sight, it is this terror explained in the fourth stanza that Blake continually questions as to why God created this animal. Both living things are complexly designed by their own creators and indicate creation as an art of designing feet, hearts, hands, and shoulders. The outcome of the creature to be good or bad does not matter. The process of just creating something is itself an art.

Although towards the end of the novel Frankenstein’s creature becomes violent and dangerous as the tiger, in the beginning, and even at the very end, the Creature can be seen as most resembling William Blake’s lamb. Blake states that the lamb is “called by his [creator’s] name” and, therefore, can be seen as sharing its creator’s characteristics for both are “meek” and “mild.”  At the beginning of the Creature’s life, he too is for a while meek and mild. He is brought into a new and unknown world and abandoned. This forced the Creature to explore and discover the world on his own. In doing so, he came across a little shack attached to a family’s cottage. In that shack, he took shelter for several months. He found a little hole in which he can watch and observe the family on who’s property he was unknowingly staying on. He watched the family interact with, care for, and love each other, and this aroused many positive emotions in the Creature. He was feeling happy and compassionate and longed to be a part of such a loving environment.  He came to care for this family, who did not even know that he existed, so much that he began to do some of their chores at night in order to surprise and delight them in the mornings. Even after his later violent episodes the Creature still resembled the lamb, for when Frankenstein had passed away on the ship the Creature confessed to Walton that he felt bad for what he had done to Frankenstein, but that all he ever wanted was to be accepted, loved, and happy.

I believe that the creature is much more like Blakes “The Tyger”, I believe this because of the use of words that were in the poem, they were much more angry and it came across as scary to me. It fits perfectly with Frankensteins creature because when he became alive, Frankenstein loathed him and was scared of him. The poem uses words more eery like “fearful” and “burnt fire”. In the book Frankenstein is so excited to see this creature he creates, after year and years of research and studies he put is life into wanted to create the impossible. After it gets down to it, he soon becomes completely terrified by this monster and disgusted by him, the monster is a massive and ugly. This monster becomes Frankensteins absolute worst nightmare. In the poem it says “What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp!” This quote reminds me of when he sees the creature come alive, dread comes over him and he becomes terrified. The poem “The Lamb” is the exact opposite of Frankensteins reaction and the creature himself, he is not soft or gentle in any way. In the Tyger the line “Burnt the fire of thine eyes?” stands out to me, to me the ‘fire’ sounds like evil. Frankenstein saw pure evil in this monsters eyes. When he found out his brother was killed he knew that this monster did it and chose not to tell anyone about this creature, that since he created has now ruined his life. “The Tyger” seems to me a much darker poem which is why I felt that it fit with the creature and his becoming into a killer and Frankensteins fear of him.

I strongly believe that the creature that Frankenstein created is more like “The Lamb”, rather than “The Tyger.” The lamb is described in the poem as beautiful, soft, and innocent. “Softest clothing wooly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice!” The lamb is portrayed as a harmless and beautiful animal. It has a gentle voice, and the softest of skins. The lamb is peaceful and calm, representing a fresh start. This is where I see the resemblance with the creature. The creature was made by Frankenstein and then abandoned. The creature was born free of guilt, not harming anyone or anything. Eventually after it is treated poorly throughout the novel, the creature strikes back and kills a couple of humans. The lamb and the creature that Victor Frankenstein had created have multiple traits that are comparable. When the creature was “born”, it was a fresh start. It could have learned to act in which ever way it was taught to. It was innocent, and naive just like the lamb. “The Tyger” on the other hand is portrayed as a vicious animal that is ready to kill. The poem describes the animal as malicious and brutal. The poem asks what kind of being could have created such a violent animal. This animal is not comparable to the creature because the creature only learned to kill after it was repeatedly treated unfairly. Therefore, I feel that since both the lamb and the creature are born innocent, gentle, naive and free of guilt, they are more similar to each other than to “The Tyger.”

Look at these two clips from different film adaptations of Frankenstein. In the comments section, remark on the differences between them and Shelly’s text: How do they imagine the scene of the creature’s birth and how does these interpretations augment or diminish the theme of the novel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOcJwt8XB4M

This has been my life for the past 3 years. For as long as I can remember there have been construction happening next door to my house. I’m grateful that the house next door to mine will finally be a presentable one however for the past few years this continuous construction has been quite dangerous. There are always tools and sharp objects all around. The noise is deafening and the constant pounding gives me mind blowing headaches that make me practically OD on Advil. But now since the construction is nearing an end the house looks beautiful and I will definitely be happy to be living next door. The beauty is how I watched something get built from scratch. How with enough hands and enough time something beautiful can be constructed from  nothing.