Friedrich Nietzsche exclaimed, “Love and hatred are not blind, but are blinded by the fire they bear within themselves.” Fire can illuminate, but it can also destroy. The same can be said of the human desire for connection and belonging.
More than two centuries after its publication, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein remains remarkably relevant not only as a gothic story about creation, ambition, and consequence, but as a story about exclusion, identity, rejection, and the human need to belong.
Frankenstein & Pride Month
During Pride Month, Frankenstein invites us to ask a fundamental question: Who becomes the “monster” when society rejects those who are different?
At its core, Frankenstein is not a novel about scientific ambition alone. It is a story about otherness and the need to belong. Victor Frankenstein’s creation enters the world seeking acceptance, companionship, and understanding. Instead, he encounters fear, rejection, and isolation at every turn.
The Creature’s suffering does not originate from his appearance alone. Rather, it stems from being denied recognition of his humanity.
As Victor reflects, “My internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil” and he commenced “a nervous fever, which confined … [him] for several months … concealing the extent of … [his] disorder” (Shelley 53, 64).
Victor’s anguish mirrors the emotional turmoil experienced by many individuals who struggle to reconcile societal expectations with their authentic selves. In this context, Barker (1999) defines self-esteem as “an individual’s sense of personal worth that is derived more from inner thoughts and values than from praise and recognition from others” (432).
Yet self-worth rarely develops in isolation. Instead, human beings form their identities through relationships, communities, and experiences of acceptance. When those experiences are replaced with rejection, shame, or exclusion, the consequences can be profound.
The Creature desperately seeks connection. After observing human interactions from afar, he learns language, empathy, and compassion. He dreams of companionship and belonging. His loneliness is not a side issue in the novel; it is central to his pain.
The Creature’s pain reflects a universal human truth: belonging is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
Pride Month
For many LGBTQ+ individuals, Pride Month represents more than celebration. It acknowledges the ongoing pursuit of visibility, acceptance, and community. It honors those who have experienced exclusion and affirms the right of every person to live authentically.
Shelley’s novel demonstrates the consequences of denying that right.
The idea for Frankenstein emerged in 1816, when five people gathered to share German horror stories and entered a contest to write a ghost story. The group included Lord Byron, Dr. John Polidori, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Claire Clairmont, Mary’s stepsister. Mary became the lover of Percy Bysshe Shelley “despite the inconvenient fact that he had been (and still was) married to someone else” (Hoobler and Hoobler 3-5).
Polidori wrote The Vampyre, and Mary wrote Frankenstein, a story of a hideous progeny brought to life through Victor Frankenstein’s scientific ambitions. Mary lost her mother shortly after birth, like Victor Frankenstein, who lost his mother to scarlet fever (Walling 9, Shelley 49). She also endured the deaths of three of her four infants (Walling 9-10).
These losses likely shaped Shelley’s understanding of loneliness, grief, longing, and human vulnerability. It is perhaps no coincidence that the novel’s central figure is not inherently monstrous but is made monstrous through abandonment and rejection.
Repeatedly rejected by his creator and society, the Creature internalizes the belief that he is unworthy of love and connection. His transformation throughout the novel raises an uncomfortable question: How often do societies create the very outcomes they fear by refusing to embrace those who are different?
The true tragedy of Frankenstein is not that Victor creates life. Instead, he abandons it.
Victor admits: “I felt as if I had committed some great crime; the consciousness of which haunted me. … During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic frenzy has blinded me to the … horror of my proceedings … and my heart often sickened at the work of my hands” (Shelley 142-143).
His failure is not scientific; rather, it is relational.
He refuses responsibility for the being he created and rejects opportunities for empathy, understanding, and reconciliation.
In Frankenstein, there are many heartbreaking relationships. In particular, some literary scholars have interpreted the novel through queer and homoerotic lenses, exploring Victor’s relationship with the Creature, Robert Walton’s emotional attachment to Victor, and the novel’s anxieties around intimacy, identity, and social norms.
Eberle-Sinatra (1998) suggests that there may be an “issue of homosexuality … [with] Victor Frankenstein’s relationship with his creature” and may be “an instance of repressed homosexuality [and other] homoerotic dimension[s] of the novel” (185-187).
Beginning in the prologue with the letters of Arctic explorer Robert Walton to his sister, Walton notes Victor is “the brother of my heart” and continues, “I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me; whose eyes would reply to mine” (Shelley 31, 37).
Whether readers approach these passages through a queer lens, a psychological lens, or a broader human lens, the emotional pattern remains clear: the novel is filled with people longing to be seen, understood, and loved.
The Creature eventually returns to plead with Victor, as a child to a neglectful parent, by asking him to create a female companion, stating: “I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself” (Shelley 129).
Victor considers the request but ultimately destroys the female “creature on whose future existence [the monster] depended for happiness” (Shelley 145).
In that moment, the Creature is denied not only companionship but the possibility of belonging with someone who might understand his experience. As a result, his rage does not excuse his violence, but it does reveal the devastating effects of isolation.
Mary Shelley’s characters, and the heartbreak of what becomes of them, reflect themes from her own life: loss, separation, grief, longing, and the need for connection. Both Shelley and her characters endured repeated deaths and tragedies, and writing may have helped her process internal pain.
The enduring power of Frankenstein lies in its challenge to readers to look beyond appearances, assumptions, and societal expectations.
Who do we exclude?
Whose stories do we fail to hear?
Who among us is still waiting to be seen?
Pride Month reminds us that belonging begins with recognition – the willingness to acknowledge each person’s humanity and inherent worth. In that spirit, the Creature’s story serves as a warning about the damage caused by exclusion, but it also offers an opportunity for reflection.
The Creature’s story serves as a warning about the damage caused by exclusion, but it also offers an opportunity for reflection. From that reflection, we can ask what might have happened if Victor had responded with compassion instead of fear.
What might have happened if Victor had responded with compassion instead of fear?
What becomes possible when people are accepted rather than judged?
Mary Shelley’s novel does not provide easy answers. Instead, it invites us to examine our responsibilities to one another.
Perhaps the most unsettling realization in Frankenstein is this: monsters are not born of difference. Rather, they are created through isolation.
They are created through isolation.
The lessons of Frankenstein extend far beyond the pages of a nineteenth-century novel and into our workplaces, communities, and everyday interactions. In those spaces, every person wants to feel seen, valued, and respected. Belonging is not simply a diversity initiative or a corporate buzzword; it is a fundamental human need. Inclusive workplaces are built when leaders and colleagues recognize that each individual brings unique experiences, perspectives, and strengths to the table.
Acceptance does not require agreement on every issue; it requires empathy, dignity, and a commitment to treating one another with respect. After all, we all carry unseen challenges, hopes, and fears, and our words and actions can either create connection or deepen isolation.
Pride Month reminds us that when people feel safe to be authentic, they are more likely to thrive, contribute, innovate, and build meaningful relationships. In that context, the question Frankenstein leaves us with is as relevant today as ever: will we create environments where people feel excluded because of their differences, or will we choose to foster workplaces where everyone knows they belong?
This Pride Month (and beyond), may we choose empathy over fear, curiosity over assumptions, and belonging over exclusion.
Happy Pride Month!
References
Barker, Robert L. The Social Work Dictionary. Washington, D.C.: NASW Press, 1999.
Eberle-Sinatra, Michael. “Readings of Homosexuality in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Four Film Adaptations.” Gothic Studies 7.2 Nov. 2005: 185-202.
Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. The Monsters: Mary Shelley & the Curse of Frankenstein. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2006.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000.
Walling, William A. Mary Shelley. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1972.
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AUTHOR BIO
Lynne M. Williams is the Executive Director of the Great Careers Network, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides career development and networking connections for 1) job seekers in career transition, including veterans, and 2) employed and self-employed individuals for career management.
Aside from writing keyword-focused content for ATS resumes and LinkedIn profiles, Lynne is a contributing author on “Applying to Positions” in Find Your Fit: A Practical Guide to Landing the Job You Love, along with the late Dick Bolles, the author of What Color is Your Parachute?, and is also a speaker and writer on career topics.