In Frankenstein, the monster is certainly the most despondent of Shelley’s characters. He is labelled by others as a "degenerate wretch," an evil subhuman being or passive creature devoid of humanity. He is initially depicted as a creature with a decaying frame and devilish aspect. In effect, he becomes a base "thing" and longs to be seen as a "subject."

He is also a monster goaded into villainy by those who have spurned his plea for respect. It is the barbarity of man that perverts his good character. He confesses:

I am an unfortunate and deserted creature, I look around and I have no relation or friend upon earth.... I am an outcast in the world forever. (volume 2, chapter 15)

He is denied relationship with humans, and we, as readers, pity him profusely. He occupies a tortuous emotional world and struggles with the abandonment imposed on him by his creator, Victor Frankenstein. Thus, he attempts to combat his despondency by impeding on the peace of the man who has rejected him.

Frankenstein’s despondency is also perpetual—"[he] bore a hell within [him] which nothing could extinguish" (volume 1, chapter 8). He reacts to the monster’s creation by "[shunning] the face of man...solitude was my only consolation—deep, dark, deathlike solitude" (volume 2, chapter 9) in the excess of his misery. When the monster kills Frankenstein’s companions and blood relations, Frankenstein is persistent and vengeful in his pursuit of the monster. He later bears the same cheerless solitude as his "fiendish" monster.

One could argue that Justine is an equally despondent figure. She is the blameless convict whose marginal presence in the novel serves to affirm her alienation. She is unjustly charged for the murder of William and essentially forfeits her own life for the monster's offense. Her despondency and subsequent death are undermined most ignorantly by Frankenstein. He is convinced that

The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom and would not forgo their hold. (volume 1, chapter 8)