One Best FriendThere are so many types of friendship that can be developed intentionally or unintentionally by all humans. It’s hard to accept that sometimes because we might need the help of someone who if it wasn’t for the current need we would be happy not to even speak a word to him or her.
All of us at some time or another we make conscious decisions on who our friends are. Frankenstein didn’t have such luxury. He didn’t have a circle of friends to choose from. He only had those who wanted to use him for their own convenience and it is in this way that he learned that friendship could be that. An exchange of favors by people he really didn’t trust.
All through the storylines that follow the book and the first movie, Frankenstein didn’t have any real friends. Even the old blind man from Bride of Frankenstein accepted him because he himself was in desperate need of any kind of human interaction. The monster’s first impression was that of an honest friendly gesture. This was the first step for him in learning that friendship could be used to acquire the things he wanted. Aristotle commented on the existence of three types of friendship: “friendship based on utility”, “friendship based on pleasure” and “perfect friendship”. The first one being based on a dependency of one another.
We all get to experience all three types of friendship. The Monster never had the privilege of knowing the last one. The third one is based on real feelings of admiration, respect, and understanding. Nobody ever had those feelings toward the monster. Almost all the characters and ever viewers of the story have nothing but feelings of fear, misunderstanding, pity and disrespect for the monster.
The closest anybody came to be a real friend to the monster was Ygor. Even Ygor didn’t really see the monster as a potential friend he was only a tool that he used to get even with those who sentenced him to be hanged and those who didn’t hide their disgust for Ygor. It could be argued that nobody got as close to the monster as Ygor did. Ygor didn’t want the monster to be his friend he didn’t hesitate to replace the Monster’s brain with his own in order to have the monster strength to be used for his own plans.
He realized that controlling the monster was becoming more and more difficult. Friendship is not about controlling somebody else. In the surface it could be argued that Ygor was the Monster’s best friend. After all we all have someone that it’s considered a best friend.
Everybody in the early years try to stay and befriend those who look like us or who share some kind of bond. In Bride Of Frankenstein the monster seems to be applying this concept to himself when he demands a partner. He had realized that people would never be able to see him in a friendly manner, they would never be able to understand him, because they were not like him. His solution was to search for someone who understood him and was in the same situation. Another monster. At the end of the movie he realized that not even someone who had been built just like himself would not accept him.
The terrified expression of the bride told him everything he needed to know. There are so many aspects to the story of Frankenstein in relation to friendship, but the most notable is that of a lonely being who could not culture a “perfect friendship” which was the cause of his destruction.English Essays
