Mary Shelley and Shakespeare both present Caliban and Frankenstein’s creation as victims of circumstance. They do this by using different language features and different themes through the novels. Frankenstein was written in 1818 when there was much unrest and debate between which was the truth, the church and religion or science. The Tempest was written in 1611, when slave trade and freak shows were still allowed. The context of each novel or play directly correlates with these two characters being victims of circumstance. There are many examples where they are presented as victims of circumstance which I am going to look into detail on.

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creation is presented as a victim of circumstance due to being abandoned at birth. This is a clear example of being a victim of circumstance as the creation has no control over what happens when he is born/created. Not having a parent or a person to guide him in life, could be the reason that the character isn’t accepted into society, as he hasn’t been shown basic morals and rules to follow. ‘Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room.’ This quotation uses particular and purposeful language devices to express the theme of being a victim of circumstance. The purpose of the word ‘rushed’ is used to emphasis his disgust of his creation and how within a split second he chose to abandon the creation, which he had no choice over. This particular word connotes panic and disgust. As well as this hyperbole is used to over-exaggerate the situation by saying ‘unable to endure’ something that he had worked two years on. This quote shows that the creation is a victim of circumstance as hyperbole is used to emphasise and over-exaggerate the point that even his own father/creator doesn’t want him so if his father abandon him then everyone will.

A similar thing occurs in Shakespeare’s, The Tempest, as Caliban has to grow up without his parents as his mother dies early on. Again, Caliban has no control over this and can’t change his situation. However his upbringing is slightly different to the creation’s as Caliban has someone to guide him in life, Prospero. Even with a better upbringing Caliban still attempts to rape Miranda which turns Prospero against him. With Prospero being a sorcerer, Caliban has now been made a slave by his father figure. Even though he didn’t try and rape Miranda for the reasons we presume, he wanted children and probably didn’t understand the severity of what he had done. This shows he is a victim of circumstance as he probably didn’t realise that what he was doing was so bad and may have been normal to him. ‘This islands mine by Sycorax my mother, which thou tak’st from me.’ This quote shows us that Caliban was robbed of the island and had no choice over it due to the power of Prospero. Shakespeare uses very harsh language and is very blunt as the tone of that quote is very angry and personal. This also shows a change in status as Caliban is no longer being as submissive as before which could show he has had enough of being a victim and wants to change that. Caliban uses direct speech to address Prospero and put the blame on him for the situation he is in. This shows how these two characters are victims of circumstance due to their parents/creators not being around to guide them and teach them right from wrong and basic morals.

In Frankenstein, the creation’s appearance also makes him a victim of circumstance, as again he has no choice in how he was created. ‘I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God!’ This quote shows that even though his creator tried to make him beautiful, it couldn’t happen. It is to unnatural to bring someone from the dead that he will always be an outcast due to his deathly looks. Mary Shelley uses another hyperbole to really emphasis the appearance of the creation as she uses an exclamation mark. However I believe that Shelley uses the creations appearance to show us a problem within our society, not only when the novel was written but even now. When someone looks different due to a disability or another factor, they immediately are blocked out by ‘normal’ people. I can make this inference as Frankenstein’s creation was chased out of villages and abandoned by his creator before he had even done anything wrong, simply because of his appearance. There is evidence that the Creation is abandoned by society due to his looks as in the woods when he went and met the blind man, he had a productive and useful conversation with him and saw that he wasn’t a bad being. It was only when the son saw the creation that he screamed and began to beat him.

Shakespeare also uses appearance to make us despise Caliban and to further prove that he is a victim of circumstance as Trinclo describes him as a ‘freak’ and wants to bring him to the cities to show him off like a circus act. From the beginning of the play Caliban is looked down upon, and our first knowledge of him comes from Prospero describing him as ‘Hag-born’ and ‘not honoured with human shape’ so our first thoughts of him are not good and from there on we always see him as a lesser being. Shakespeare uses strong imagery to paint a picture in our head of a creature of our nightmares. The effect of this is that now he is always seen as the villain of the play, but when you look from a different perspective Caliban’s story is a sad unfortunate one as we see he really is a victim of circumstance, but it all starts with the way his appearance is presented to us by Shakespeare using imagery.

We can already see that Frankenstein’s creation and Caliban are victims of circumstance but to further provide evidence for this point I will look into they’re absence of home. In Shelley’s Frankenstein, the creation is constantly looking for a place to call home, whether that’s with his creator or the kind little family at the cottage, that is all he seems to want. At one point he has nowhere to go but is contempt with just finding a place to sleep that keeps him out of the bad weather. ‘Here then I retreat, and lay down happy to have found shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man.’ Shelley uses juxtaposition as he is happy at one point then sad a miserable later on in the sentence. These two points contrast which symbolises the confusion and anger the creation must have against his situation which he has no control over. This absence of home is what turns the creation evil as when he is rejected from his perfect home, he burns it down and goes on to kill William. Where as if the creation was accepted or even just given a home then he may well of turned out differently and not like it did with the monstrous crimes it committed. This shows that the creation is a victim of circumstance as he is rejected wherever he goes so must make his own way in life without anybody else.

Similarly in the Tempest, Caliban’s home is stolen from him, the island. He says he was happy before Prospero came but now he is a slave to the person that hated his mother and is now in control of the island. Caliban also has a lack of belonging. I see infer this as when Caliban believes he meets two gods he bows down tot them and wants them to love him as he says ‘il show thee every fertile inch o’ th’ island; And I will kiss thy foot: I prithee, be my god.’ Caliban almost submits himself to Trinclo and Stephano straight away, he just wants to feel apart of something. Caliban uses direct speech and asks a big request for them to be his ‘god’. If Caliban still had his mother or his island was not stolen from him then he also wouldn’t of turned evil, it was the absence of home and belonging which gave them no choice but to be bad. This shows how they are victims of circumstance as they’re options were limited as to what they could do and become.

Frankenstein’s creation was underestimated, this allowed him to almost go under the radar until he was able to reach Frankenstein. Both Frankenstein and Caliban knew they were victims of circumstance but used it to their advantage. In the novel Frankenstein, the creator didn’t think he would ever see his ‘hideous’ doing ever again but his being had intelligence and great physical power as ‘his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of his muscles and arteries beneath’ so the creation was able to surprise him and take advantage of the situation which he had unfairly been put into. Shelley uses imagery to allow us to understand this marvellous being that was created. In Caliban’s situation, he used intelligence to take advantage of these two ‘gods’ that came out of nowhere. He convinced them to try and take over Prospero and to have the island that had been stolen from him. He noticed the opportunity to retake what was rightfully his and payment would be to ‘show thee every inch o’ th’ island. Shakespeare uses persuasive language to show to us the intelligence of Caliban and that he is underestimated by us, the readers. Here we see both characters take advantage of their unfortunate situations which we could infer that it was purposeful from Shelley and Shakespeare to show us that no matter what situation we may be in there is always a way out.

Ultimately, we can see that the creation and Caliban are victims of circumstance as they are constantly having wrongs committed against them. If you have everything going against you and people are still not caring for you then there is only one way to go, to become evil. Frankenstein’s creation has just been rejected from the family in the woods so will be depressed yet when he sees a girl fall into a river he runs and saves her, immediately when seeing him the man shots him out of fear. This shows he is naturally benevolent This also brings the creation to an all time low as he says ‘Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish in the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?’ The tone of this quote is very depressing and Shakespeare uses exclamatory phrases to emphasis the creations pain of the situation. Shakespeare uses a triplet of questions to symbolise his confusion and desperation. In the Tempest, our first encounter of Caliban is of him being a slave, this is a massive wrong against him as no living being or person or creature should be a slave, we are all equal. This would of turned Caliban evil and nasty as he and the Creation are both naturally benevolent and kind as when Prospero first came to the island him and Caliban were friends and they taught each other. ‘Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee’ Shakespeare uses emotive language to describe Prospero’s view on Caliban and the ‘I pitied thee’ symbolises the sad existence that Caliban lives. We can tell that the creation and Caliban are victims of circumstance as they seem to be naturally benevolent and kind but the circumstances they find themselves in leave them no choice but to be evil and monstrous.

Throughout the novel and play we see that everything that could possibly go wrong for these two specific characters went wrong, from their appearance to wrongs being committed against them. This gave them both no choice but to turn out like they did. If it wasn’t for each of the circumstances they were put in then both could of been a benefit to society or others close to them as both were intelligent and physically able. This shows the the circumstances that Frankenstein and Prospero put them in caused the problems. Shelley and Shakespeare also use different language feature and techniques such as imagery and juxtaposition to present to the reader that Frankenstein’s creation and Caliban would also be rejected by us and that the problem isn’t them, it is us as a society. This is how the creation and Caliban are victims of circumstance and how we can learn from it.