The video I selected started from the quote read by a forensic psychotherapist, Dr. Gwen Adshead. “I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing.” Her interpretation of this great literature from a psychological standpoint presents a very interesting view, the cruelty in each of us and not the monster himself.
As animals, the human has a unique defense mechanism, the monster in Mary Shelley’s book presented three types of defense mechanism; projection, displacement, and rationalization. The monster displays all three of defense mechanism and brings the aggression to the most radical form. He brings the distress and hatred out on other people, and there, we can’t say we aren’t like the monster. When we experience the constant rejection and disappointment by the “real society” which perceived to be different from the “ideal” ones, the unspeakable pain arose from the unconscious mind but pressed down by the conscious understandings of love and hope. Children rejected by the creator who is hostile and irresponsible grow up in the environment of hostility and fears are going to become the monster itself because there is no love, understanding, and appreciation.
The whole purpose of the literature is humanity and its meaning. Although Frankenstein, the scientist, is an intelligent creator his acts and irresponsible acts are criticized for being inhuman. The monster, despite his hideously ugly appearance and unforgivable, murderous actions, his desire to be accepted and loved is just as normal as ordinary human beings.