Frankly, Stein, I don't trust your monster.

The story of Frankenstein has been retold through all generations since its conception by Romantic author Mary Shelley. Though many of the retellings may be rather watered down, the essentials always remain. The over-reaching scientist Victor Frankenstein succeeds in creating life through piecing together remains of the dead. His result is a humongous, intellectually superior, hulking being that is most disgusting to behold. His result is the Creature.
At his creation, the creature has only the mind of a newborn infant. According to Frankenstein, he is immeasurably disgusting to behold, with yellow, watery eyes and an evil grin. These appearances cause the young doctor to flee the scene of the creation, leaving the being with only a baby’s concept of reality to fend for itself.
Contrary to popular retellings, the creature of Victor Frankenstein’s design is not initially an evil being. He is shunned by his creator and by all mankind that encounters him, and he is driven to murder through spite and deep depression. He grows in intellect for a few years before his string of murders begins, during which time he learns right from wrong, language, and family values, among other things. These were learnt while hiding in a lean-to behind a small family’s modest home. When he finally reveals himself to these kind-hearted people, he is beaten away, but interestingly, the creature does not retaliate, despite his ability to destroy whomever he pleases with his brute strength. This shows that he feels compassion for those he felt he grew close to, even though they did not accept him.
The creature flees, and happens upon his first victim, coincidentally Frankenstein’s younger brother. The boy tries to flee the beast out of fear, and the creature accidentally strangles the child while trying to hush him. This is the first “murder” committed by the creature, and it seems that it was entirely unintentional, considering the creature did not know his own strength compared to the boy’s. Later, though, the creature learns that this child was in fact Frankenstein’s younger brother, and he feels anger toward the doctor. Frankenstein feels guilt for the death of his brother and following deaths, and it is later learned that his creature does also.
The creature probably could not have made it in any human society, based on how he brought repulsion from all who saw him. He would be seen as a demon or a freak show and would be chastised wherever he ventured, as he was throughout the novel. While his character, especially at the beginning of his intellectual life, is rather honorable, it is doubtful that any human being would remain long enough to see beyond his physical attributes.
Some sympathy can be felt for the creature, despite his killings of so many dear to his creator. He was abandoned by the one who should have loved him unconditionally, his maker Frankenstein, and forced to survive in a world that would not accept him. While he did not feel any moral responsibilities at the time for killing some of his victims, at the end of the book he does express his regret for his part in destroying life. All in all, the creature does have many human characteristics, despite his being not explicitly of that species.
Mary Shelley may not have meant for her masterpiece to become a reflection on human interaction and acceptance, but it could possibly be interpreted as one. Both Frankenstein and his creature are outcasts to some degree, and such a treatise on looking beyond one’s physical appearance to the character of one’s heart is valuable to society.