i've finished reading the story for the second time today it seems to me, even though the creature's revenge was influenced by mankind's ways and mankind's history, the creature is still a monster. the creature had the ability to refrain from murder, he even felt bad about what he was doing to other lives. just as mankind influenced his revenge and murderous temptations, why didn't mankind influence him to have faith in his god/creator (dr. frankenstein) ? this makes me reason with the idea that the creature was a monster from the get-go. the creature read "paradise lost", so he surely must have understood that all who claim revenge on their creator are damned. maybe i'm completely wrong here. -josh