Don't judge a book by its cover. These are the words of a famous American proverb that says that a person's character cannot be judged by their appearance. This proverb is very apt when it comes to Frankenstein's monster. From the outside he looks terrible and as a result he is victimized and made to suffer by those who cannot see beyond his appearance. However, he has a kind soul and simply seeks happiness and a little compassion from others. Both the book and the play present him as a victim in a cruel world, but ultimately the book better describes his pain and elicits empathy from the reader. The monster in the book details his suffering in more detail, is more eloquent and convincing, and also meets a more tragic end, and as a result the reader feels more sympathy toward him than an audience member would feel toward the monster in the room. more detail provided by the book about the monster's experiences allows the reader to empathize more with the monster than with an audience member. When Frankenstein's monster recounts the trials he endured, he brings up events that were overlooked in the play. An example of this is when the monster saved a girl's life. Such an act would normally be considered very heroic and would receive much praise under any circumstances, but instead the monster is rewarded by being slaughtered, receiving only "the miserable pain of a wound that shattered flesh and limbs." bone ". (Shelley 135) The book also examines the months of hard work the creature put into learning human nature and language in order to be fully accepted when he chose to reveal himself. The monster hid near the cabin for about a year, listening and learning during the middle of the essay......understanding, but he did everything in his power to fit in. He did his best to help others, wanting nothing more than acceptance in return. Yet he was cursed with a monstrous appearance. It was the one characteristic he had no control over, but it was one that negated all of his good intentions in the eyes of society, causing him enormous misery and ultimately leading him to do terrible things. If his monstrous appearance is just one example of a characteristic that society despises, then his story is a powerful lesson for any reader. It highlights the misery and pain inflicted – perhaps unknowingly – by society on those who do not find their place there. With this in mind, a simple question remains: who really was the monster in the novel? Work Cited Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ed. Susan J. Wolfson. New York: Longman, 2003.