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Comparison of The Creature from Frankenstein and Travis Bickle
The creature from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is a creation, sewn together from dead
bodies in Europe. Travis Bickle is a Vietnam veteran who drives a taxi around New York City.
The characters seem quite different on the surface. However, if one looks deeper into the
emotions of these characters, and how they feel in society, the parallels are revealed. Travis and
the Creature are similar in their feelings of loneliness, denial of a female partner, and their
resulting desire for revenge.
In Frankenstein the creature is unimaginably ugly. As a result, anybody who sees him
considers him a wretch, and shows him immediate hostility and hatred. Even instantly from his
creation, his maker rejects him. “For the creature it is his constant rejection and abandonment by
Frankenstein at birth that lead it to loneliness and desperation” (Downward Spiral of Loneliness
in Frankenstein). He is cast out, forced to live in the woods for a period of time. No matter how
much love he shows to people, they react violently to his mere sight. This leads him though a
wretched life. “Everything the creature does or feels is directly related to his emotional
seclusion” (Downward Spiral of Loneliness in Frankenstein).
Travis Bickle is lonely, not for his appearance, but for other reasons, that are not
necessarily clear. “Travis is never a part of the normal world” (Taxi Driver Sparknotes). It is
clear, however, that he is a reject of society. “Loneliness has followed me my whole life.
Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely
man” (Taxi Driver). Travis drives around New York City completely isolated in his taxi. In most
camera shots showing Travis driving around, the audience is shown angles from inside of the
cab, with the city extremely out focus. In fact it is rare that Travis is in the same focus as anyone
else, unless they are in a conversation. Even when Travis talks to people, the camera moves
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around, showing things unrelated to the dialogue, showing us Travis’s head is not where it
should be. These tricks of cinematography are skillfully used to display Travis’s isolation. “Taxi
Driver is an extended close up of Travis Bickle and revealing his loneliness. We’re so close to
him we can feel his paranoia, embarrassments, infatuations, and most important, loneliness as if
they were our own.” (Taxi Driver Sparknotes).
These characters are not only rejected by society, but denied a female partner, which they
both find to be the worst part of their being cast out. Although human beings in Frankenstein
treat the creature poorly all through his life, it is the refusal of a female companion that sets the
creature into a rampage of vengeance. The creature orders Victor to make a female partner.
Victor begins this creation, and the creature is teased with finally having companionship, but at
the last minute Victor destroys the female, and all the creature’s hope. This guarantees the
creature will never be loved.
Travis Bickle is an outcast, and finds the city to be full of awful people, but he never has
a desire to do anything about it until he is rejected by Betsy, a beautiful woman working at a
political office. He asks her on a date to a movie, but due to his social awkwardness, Betsy
refuses to see him again. All Travis wants, just like the creature from Frankenstein, is
companionship. He is teased with the date, but is ultimately turned away by Betsy. This causes
his downward spiral, and his backlash on society. “After Betsy rejects him, Travis becomes
hysterical, violent, and obsessive, and from here descends into madness” (Taxi Driver
Sparknotes). Travis changes his attitude, and decides to take action.
Society’s rejection of these characters does not come without consequence. They both
seek revenge against their “creators.” In Frankenstein the creature is, for his entire life, treated
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with hatred and rejection. He is immediately shown extremely negative feelings from Victor. No
matter how much effort he puts towards gaining love or relationship, he is cast out. “All he wants
is to be accepted, but will never be, when he makes this realization, he reacts with violence”
(Brannstrom 12). The creature is not born evil, his violent actions are only the result of society’s
refusal to treat him kindly. Humans treat him poorly, so he strikes back. “The rejections by
humans and his creator fuel the creature’s feelings of loneliness and result in anger” (Downward
Spiral of Lonliness in Frankenstein). The creature best explains his actions himself. “I was
benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend” (Shelly). As a result, the only thing the creature
can find joy in is to get revenge against Victor. “From this moment I declared everlasting war
against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery” (Shelly). The
creature makes Victor’s life misery, killing everyone he cares about. This punishment for Victor,
however, does not make the creature feel any better. The creature is still miserable. “The creature
shows that revenge does not alleviate the loneliness it feels” (Downward Spiral of Loneliness in
Frankenstein).
In Travis’s case, he seeks revenge on the people running a prostitution house. This could
also be interpreted as his “creator” because he kills the kinds of people that make him so sick,
and cause his hatred for the outside world. “All the animals come out at night. Whores, buggers,
junkies, dopers, sick, venal. One day a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets”
(Taxi Driver). Travis speaks this line early in the film, but he will eventually become the “rain.”
He teaches a lesson to the wrong-doers of the city by shooting a two pimps and a “customer.”
Another notable similarity of these characters, is that they are both portrayed by actor
Robert DeNiro. DeNiro plays Travis Bickle, in Taxi Driver, a role that got him nominated for an
Academy Award for best actor. His performance in Taxi Driver captured audiences. He played a
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lonely, and somewhat crazy man, but somehow the audience sympathizes. It is captivating to
watch such an interesting character played so well. In the 1994 film Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein
Robert DeNiro plays as the creature. This casting decision shows that DeNiro can properly play a
lonely character, who draws sympathy from an audience. This fact just closer relates these
characters.
At first glance, Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver and the creature from Frankenstein are
very different characters. However, if one analyzes their feelings, social situations, and motives,
they mirror one another strongly. Both characters are outcast from society, denied a female
companion, and these factors cause them to seek revenge. The similarities between these two
characters are plentiful.