Monsters and Misunderstanding: Seeing the “Other” in Frankenstein

Post: Tim Hall, Ph.D., Executive Director, Religion Matters

When students first meet the creature in Frankenstein, they often see a monster—grotesque, ugly, and violent. But Mary Shelley invites us to look deeper. Her creature begins not as a monster at all, but as a learner: curious, articulate, and yearning to belong. When his outstretched hand is met with rejection—first by his creator, then by society—he turns that longing into vengeance.

That transformation is less about horror than humanity. It’s a mirror held up to every society that defines who counts as fully human and who does not. In that way, Frankenstein becomes a classroom text for exploring empathy, alienation, and the moral dimensions of belonging. This is the same ground where religious literacy and global competence meet.

Seeing the “Other”

Shelley wrote during the early 19th century, when the Enlightenment’s faith in progress was colliding with Romanticism’s plea for feeling and imagination. Yet her question is timeless: What happens when our pursuit of knowledge outruns our capacity for compassion? The creature’s story offers a lens for discussing how fear shapes our view of the “Other.” His need for acceptance is a throughline across religious traditions, from the biblical call to “welcome the stranger” (Luke 10:25–37), to the Buddhist practice of metta (loving-kindness), to Islamic teachings on hospitality (Hadith, Bukhari Book 73), to Indigenous principles of relation and balance. Religious literacy allows students to explore how these moral vocabularies, though different in form, share the same concern for human dignity. While global competence extends that conversation, it also asks how such morals translate in a pluralistic world where misunderstanding can create division.

Naming, Power, and Dignity

The creature in Frankenstein is never named—and that absence speaks volumes. Across cultures, naming carries meaning. To name is to recognize existence, history, and relationship; to withhold a name, as Victor does, is to erase them. He has no identity. In the classroom, this lack of a name can be a starting point for classroom discussions: What does it mean to name or not name someone? Across cultures, naming carries importance. To name is to acknowledge existence, history, and relationship. To withhold a name, as Victor Frankenstein does, is to erase those things.

The Ethics of Encounter

Victor Frankenstein’s failure isn’t scientific. It is relational. His greatest experiment collapses not in the lab, but in the heart. When he recoils from his creation, he refuses the empathy that could have redeemed them both. As the creature later pleads, “I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend.” That line reframes the novel as a moral study. What if Victor had responded with compassion instead of fear? What if society had seen the monster’s yearning for connection instead of recoiling from his difference? Those “what ifs” open space for student reflection on isolation, difference, and growth.

Teachers can pair the novel with global examples of empathy and compassion, stories of communities that choose relationship over rejection. In doing so, Frankenstein becomes less about science gone sideways and more about humanity lost.

Religious Literacy in Practice

Religious literacy, as defined by Diane L. Moore and others, is not about teaching belief. It is about understanding how religions shape human experience. For Shelley’s Frankenstein, this means helping students see how moral and ethical questions, such as creation, responsibility, and forgiveness, emerge in both secular and sacred sources. You might introduce short comparative readings that highlight Shelley’s themes:

• A parable about the Good Samaritan (Christianity)
• A Hadith emphasizing kindness to strangers (Islam)
• The Buddhist Metta Sutta on compassion
• An African proverb: “A person is a person because of other people.”

Students quickly see that empathy is cross-cultural and interreligious. It is a shared moral language that expands students’ capacity for civic understanding.

Global Competence and Moral Imagination

Global competence asks students to investigate the world, recognize perspectives, communicate ideas, and take informed action. Shelley’s Frankenstein provides opportunities for each:

• Investigate: How have different cultures retold Shelley’s story from Japanese anime to African science fiction?
• Recognize perspectives: What cultural values influence how “monsters” or “outsiders” are portrayed?
• Communicate: Write an email to Victor Frankenstein or to the creature from the viewpoint of someone who chooses empathy over fear.
• Act: Design a classroom project that addresses exclusion or misunderstanding in your community.

Such activities align with inquiry-based learning while remaining squarely in the civic and cultural domain.

Inquiry Questions for the Classroom

• What makes someone a “monster”?
• How do societies decide who belongs and who doesn’t?
• How do different cultures and worldviews shape ideas of compassion and justice?
• What responsibilities do we have once we recognize someone’s humanity?

A summative task might invite students to create an exhibit that pairs Frankenstein passages with global stories of exclusion and reconciliation, humanizing the other. The goal isn’t to moralize, but to help students read with empathy and think with different perspectives.

For Educators: A Reflective Turn

As educators, we might ask ourselves: When have I turned away from understanding because I feared what I did not know? The answer is rarely simple. But reflection, not perfection, is where empathy begins. 

Shelley’s Frankenstein reminds us that moral failure often begins not in hatred but in neglect, the refusal to see humanity in everyone.  Religious literacy equips students to recognize the ethical dimensions of that refusal.  Global competence helps them take action with that recognition. Together, they transform Frankenstein from a story of horror into a story of hope. One that calls each of us to see the humanity in those we are tempted to label as “other.”

Additional References

Moore, D. L. (2007). Overcoming religious illiteracy: A cultural studies approach to the study of religion in secondary education. Palgrave Macmillan.

OECD. (2018). Preparing our youth for an inclusive and sustainable world: The OECD PISA global competence framework. OECD Publishing.

Nussbaum, M. C. (1997). Cultivating humanity: A classical defense of reform in liberal education. Harvard University Press.

Scripture & Wisdom Traditions

• Christianity: The Parable of the Good Samaritan — Luke 10:25–37, New Revised Standard Version Bible

• Islam: Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 73: Good Manners and Form (Hadith 6011). Compiled by Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari. Retrieved from Sunnah.com.

• Buddhism: Metta Sutta — Discourse on Loving-Kindness (Sutta Nipāta 1.8). Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (2013). Retrieved from Access to Insight.

• African Philosophy (Ubuntu): “A person is a person because of other people.” In Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness (1999). Image Books.

Image Credits

• Frontispiece illustration from the 1831 edition of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus — artist Theodor von Holst, engraver William Chevalier. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

• Manuscript page with handwriting edits by Percy Bysshe Shelley to the 1818 draft of Frankenstein — Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

• Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley by Richard Rothwell (1840s). National Portrait Gallery, London. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

AI Disclosure: Portions of this post were supported by ChatGPT and Grammarly for structure and clarity. All ideas, framing, and educational applications are my own.