Frankenstein on Individualism

Frankenstein's creature explains his realization of his monstrosity: "I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man. I was more agile than they and could subsist upon a coarser diet; I bore the extremes of heat and cold with less injury to my frame; my stature far exceeded theirs. When I looked around I saw and heard of none like me. Was I, then, a monster, a blot upon the earth, from which all men fled and whom all men disowned?" (Frankenstein, Penguin Classics, 150)

The creature's realization of his individuality, his overwhelming uniqueness is the realization of his monstrosity. To be utterly different and unrelated is to be a monster, an outcast. It is in fact our relatedness to others that establishes our identity, and that identity is already bound up with others. And then there are all of the characteristics that we share with one another. The Disney-MTV Gospel proclaims the glory of difference, the salvation of isolation and autonomy, and is it any wonder then that this comes to its fullest expression in people that embrace increasingly monstrous expressions. To be completely different, to be completely unique, one must become completely other, completely severed from the human race. One must become a monster to become a pure individualist.