Do we like them?

Do we like Frankenstein's monster?

A character from Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)

Our score: 4 out of 10. We feel for him more than we'd back him. Born kind and left alone, he answers rejection with cruelty. We'd give him a hearing, but not our vote.

In Mary Shelley's novel, young scientist Victor Frankenstein builds an artificial man from pieces of corpses and brings him to life. Victor is horrified by what he has made and abandons him at once. The creature has to learn about the world with no guide, no name and no family.

Contrary to the famous film image, the book's creature is not a grunting brute. He is intelligent, articulate and eager to learn, and he hungers for affection. The trouble is that everyone who sees him is repulsed. That rejection is what pushes a lonely, curious being toward bitterness. This is why he is one of fiction's great tragic figures, and why he scores a middling 4 rather than a 0.

Eventually he demands that Victor make him a female companion. When Victor breaks that promise, the creature goes after the people his creator loves, and the killings include a child and Victor's bride. Victor then chases him into the Arctic. At the end, the creature shows real remorse for what he has done, which is a large part of why readers still sympathise with him.