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“Gothic and Horror literature often explores the theme of identity of ‘the
other’”. Compare and contrast the presentation of personal identity and
isolation of ‘the other’ in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis. Examine how isolation can cause issues with personal
identity.

The theme of ‘the other’ in American Psycho and Frankenstein if beautifully mirrored throughout
both novels in the characters of victor and his monster and Patrick Bateman who both have
been lead to insanity by isolation and lack of identity. Patrick and the monster ultimately similar in
the fact that the monster and Patrick’s darker side represent ‘the other’ throughout both novels ‘the
other’ is explored as victor and Patrick get both physically and mentally closer and in touch with
their ‘’other’’ side. Furthermore, the theme of desensitization runs through both novels as Patrick,
Victor and the monster- which is maybe the reason why they are cast as ‘the other’- perhaps have
been forced into desensitization in order to overcome with the isolation they are in.

The exploration of ‘the other’ in American Psycho is canvassed through Bateman’s

psychopathic behaviour as he uses his looks, employment, women and friendship group in order to
‘fit in’ and cover up his ‘other’ side in order to blend in seamlessly into society. At the beginning Ellis
shows us an in depth view of his strict beauty routine of exercise and grooming using specific
skincare products and procedures such as a ‘herb-mint facial masque’ or sun bedding which feeds
into his psychopathic charm and make himself as attractive as possible, a generic office job -that was
actually never specified which show us the lack of importance it has to Bateman- and a shell of an
engagement to Evelyn Richards where both Evelyn and Patrick are ‘the other ‘openly uninterested in
each other and use each other for status and image. Bateman’s social life along a wealthy group of
New York business men revolves around yuppie and consumerist culture of the 1980. As readers, we
never really get to know any of his co-workers or friends who are often misnamed and new ones are
often introduced but are only described by what brand of clothing they are wearing which creates in
insular landscape of faceless men only identifiable by the brand of the business suit they are all
wearing. Even though numerous friends, women and sexual partners constantly surround Patrick, he
still lacks close personal connections. This links to the ending of the novel where, out of sheer panic,
Patrick confesses he murdered Paul Owen but one of the other faceless business men claim he “had
dinner… with Paul Owen… twice… in London… just ten days ago.” This further emphasises the lack of
identification and importance of other put by Patrick, we see how little he cares about others to the
point that he doesn’t even know who he killed.

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This creates an insular semantic field which highlights the irony of how even though he has a busy
social life he is still isolated as his ‘other’ psychopathic part of him that is obsessed with slaughter is
hidden deep below the skincare, exercise, ‘Ralph Lauren overcoat’ and his charming manner. “I had
all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so
intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the
victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human
being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning”. The self-awareness of his
particularistic behaviour creates a light-hearted, comical characteristic to the novel that most other
horror or thriller novels tend to lack – he is aware of the fact that he is a psychopath and is aware of
the fact that he is an outcast or ‘the other’. In a way, his self-awareness gives him the confidence to
further integrate himself into society accentuating the juxtaposition between his behaviour in social
situations and his ‘other’ psychopathic side. The fact that he is self-aware and yet still continues his
psychopathic tendencies creates a sense of irony throughout the novel which again can be seen as a
comical aspect of the novel and perhaps a feature of modern Gothic literature. Bateman’s
preposterous behaviour as a comical feature of the novel is an element that is often unnoticed by
many readers as it tends to be overshadowed by the overwhelming series of brutal murders.

Both Victor’s and Patrick’s isolation leads them to lose value of humanity and sets the path for a
rampage of slaughter and monstrosity. Isolation in Frankenstein, however, is more physical and
obvious to the readers as the characters of victor and his monster are both physically alone at one
point or another in the story so it is very prevalent to the readers in comparison to American Psycho.
Frankenstein’s isolation is powered by his obsessive and narcissistic nature (similar to Patrick), his
compulsion with creating something bigger than science and nature itself by playing god ultimately
leads to his isolation from society due to his devotion to his work. This allows for the weakening of
his morals, vales and norms, which leads to his insanity. Once again the representation of ‘the other’
is more physically portrayed in Frankenstein through his monster as the monster is a physical
manifestation of Victor’s ‘other’ side. Victor’s insanity starts off with the creation of the monster and
it builds up to the point where it is actually brought to life and reality takes over to bring him to a
separation with is ‘other ‘side the monster being a physical representation of it. In comparison to
American Psycho where Patrick and his ‘other’ switch between night and day to start off with and
eventually over the course of the novel blend together and his insanity takes over him, "I feel lethal,
on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.” Or perhaps their isolation allows
them to get in touch with their inner most thoughts and true identity to truly become the monsters
they are. And perhaps us as readers can relate on some level to both characters as isolation allows

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for headspace and mindfulness to help us get in touch with our own ''other'' side or develop a new
perspective on an aspect of life.

However, isolation could also have us question our identity as it allows for time for self-reflection
which is vividly portrayed in Frankenstein when the monster was isolated in the shack in the woods.
that time of isolation allowed for the monster to understand his lack of identity and give him time to
gather the resources of knowledge and teach himself manners and language by observing the De
Lacey family and reading a wide range of literature. Ultimately the both victor and his creation even
though separated are still similar in their thirst for knowledge, unlike the monster, Frankenstein
loses his identity in the peruse of knowledge through isolation whereas his monster develops his
identity through the gain of knowledge because of isolation. Traditional gothic literature such as
Frankenstein is heavily inspired by a mix of both Romanticism and Enlightenment literary
movements. Others however might argue that the monster wasn’t really isolated as he was
observing the De Lacey family. So does isolation lead to insanity and does that insanity make us ''the
other'', or does isolation allow for more self-reflection and improvement? Patrick Bateman's
solidarity grew over the course of the novel as he became more deeply involved with his ‘other’ side
as it made his wrong doings more and more clear to him which ultimately lead him to owning up to
his serial murders only to not be taken seriously.

Perhaps Ellis was trying to make a comment on wider society in the 1980s through the theme of
yuppie and consumerist culture- even though Patrick was very open about his psychotic behaviour,
all of his social companions or ‘’friends’’ were very negligent of it and quickly overlooked it or just
assumed he was making a dark humoured joke. Having the book set in New York helps highlight the
juxtaposition between how busy and cramped the city is and how ignorant people can be of their
surroundings – Patrick Bateman having murdered multiple people without a work being said about
it. This creates a lexis specific field of isolation especially through the first person narration, we only
see things through Bateman’s point of view and how things are only in his head. Furthermore, the
use of blunt, plain spoken language with the only deep description being of branded clothing
canvasses just how cold blooded the protagonist is as well as portraying his psychopathy in a more
ambiguous linguistic manner, Ellis uses simplicity for effect. This could be a comment on how
desensitized people have become to violence and instead are more self-involved, perhaps in Ellis’
eyes that is defined as ‘the other’. In addition, we see this consumeristic behaviour start to
overpower Patrick’s life as branded clothes and expensive items no longer fulfil his consumeristic
needs so he turns to consuming lives to holistically satisfy his needs.

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A modern feminist reading of this would take a larger focus on the aspect of how women are used in
search of sanity and tranquility for escape from isolation and stabilization of identity in both
American Psycho and Frankenstein. Evelyn Williams for example is blatantly and knowingly used by
Bateman and both use each other for social status and in order to blend into society in order to
cover up any suspicions about his other side. He needed a female partner to normalise himself
however it could also be seen as a further push into the realm of isolation as their relationship is
based on public acceptance so it is clearly not based on love but instead is an empty shell which
further emphasises his isolation through juxtaposition between his constant surroundings of people
but lack of connection. Although this is the modern text, female characters are still used by men for
their own personal gain which speaks volumes for that even though women have managed to
achieve some equality, they continue to be mistreated and used as a Femme Fatale in gothic
literature. An even better example of this is the character of Christie (who was never given a
surname) which Patrick mistreated as a prostitute and murdered for his own enjoyment. “No, really
Patrick. What do you want me to call you?" -King, I'm thinking. King, Evelyn. I want you to call me
King. But I don't say this. "Evelyn. I don't want you to call me anything. I don't think we should see
each other anymore." Patrick’s blatant patriarchal treatment of women and need for superiority
over them again highlights his absurd behaviour and furthers the comical relief throughout the
novel. It also highlights modern day sexism, Frankenstein and American Psycho, although hundreds
of years apart, show no development in the social attitudes towards women. Feminists would find
the representation of women in American Psycho either disappointing as it represents them as
victims of Patrick’s toxic masculinity or empowering in that it addresses the issue.

Merry Shelly being a feminist herself is reflected in her writing and it again highlights the
maltreatment of women and standardized sexism in the contextual patriarchal world of
Frankenstein. Victor’s scientific manipulation is symbolic of the robbery of a females biological
reasoning. Victor is ‘playing god’ by eliminating the need of women for reproduction and thus
creating a feminists’ inmost fears. This was maybe inspired by her mother’s feminist work ‘’A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman’’. The use of women is mirrored between Victor and his creation
as they both seek a companion in order to be sane ‘’You must create a female for me with whom I
can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I
demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede." Here the monster specifically
asks for a female companion shortly after seeing Victor being involved with a woman. Men of
isolation in literature are in seeking of female attention to relieve them of that isolation which is the
reason for them to be casted as ‘’the other’’.

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Structurally, Merry shelly uses an embedded narrative and a cyclical structure which provides us as
readers with a deeper understanding of each individual character by being exposed to their
unfiltered and pure thoughts. Shelly builds a more well-rounded perspective for the reader as we are
able to understand Walton’s, Victor’s and his creation’s inner most thoughts and feelings, we being
to understand the effects of isolation and alienation on the characters themselves. The complexity
of the structure provides a more visually organized aspect of the story as we develop a heightened
and profound understanding of the story. Walton canvasses a basic idea or understanding of the
story to his sister but then as Victor himself becomes a narrator it is further developed and finally
explored in the monster’s point of view. This creates a sense of layers to the story which although
might feel complicated reading at first, actually helps in the overall understanding of the
novel. Perhaps this was used by Shelly to symbolise the isolation of the characters in the structure of
the story its self. Using first person narrative ultimately mirrors the separation between each
character and creates the sense of ‘'the other’’.

A similar technique has been used by Bret Easton Ellis, the story is only told in first person narrative
which again conveys the sense of isolation of the character himself and a sense of trust as we are
shown his truthful innermost thoughts. However halfway through the book we begin to question the
reliability of his narration as he reports on strange events such as the ATM machine telling him to
‘’feed me a stray cat’’ and Patrick himself being self-aware ‘’I simply am not there’’. As readers, we
naturally start to question the validity and reliability of the narration, did any of the murders actually
happen? Did any of it happen? Is it all just in Patrick’s head? Was any of it real? And then it all starts
to add up, the constant confusion of names and faces, the dismissal of his confessions, ‘’I am into,
uh, well, murders and executions, mostly.’’, the fact that there were no consequences after he kills
police officers- something that wouldn’t be easily dismissed. Even after confessing to committing the
murder of Paul Owen he begins to question himself as another one of his collogues had lunch with
him two days ago or is he just mistaken for another nameless Wall street ‘yuppie’. Patrick, although
painfully honest, is an unreliable narrator because the story doesn’t quite add up. The fact that this
could all just be a fragment of his imagination furthers how the idea of isolation could lead one to
insanity, ultimately casting them as ‘the other’.

Patric Bateman, although a social butterfly and a successful businessman appearing to be well
integrated into society on the surface is actually isolated within his own thoughts. Perhaps Ellis is
trying to suggest that today’s society is one perfectly suited for a psychopath like Patrick himself, to

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thrive and survive in and is trying to portray a larger social message about 1980s capitalist America
and how that is what ultimately leads to the insanity and otherness of people like Bateman. In
contrast, Frankenstein’s monster who desperately tried to intergrade to society by the book was
shunned purely because of his appearance- he clearly did not follow the same skincare routine as
Bateman- which cast him as ‘the other’ and lead to his spree of violent murders. Victor Frankenstein
knew he needed the isolation from society in order to feed his thirst for knowledge, which was
hugely inspired by Darwinism and the Enlightenment period at the time, to commit such gruesome
acts just to make something as disturbing as that monster. Their long lost identities are curated
within their isolation.

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/Bibliography /

https://www.gradesaver.com/american-psycho/study-guide/themes

https://the-artifice.com/american-psycho-a-post-modern-horror/ 25/09/19

https://study.com/academy/lesson/isolation-in-frankenstein-analysis-
quotes.html#targetText=Isolation%20Is%20Destructive,whether%20it's%20forced%20or%20chosen.
10/10/2019

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/frankenstein/themes/family-society-isolation. 10/10/2019

http://www.public.asu.edu/~hiroshi/eng400/frankenstein/project/student/bangerteressay.html.
10/10/2019

http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/mellor6.html 29/11/19

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/american-psycho/themes/identity-and-isolation 13/12/19