Some readers have commented that Mary Shelly presents the creature as more human than his creator. How far do you agree with this view?

To some extent I agree with this statement, but there is also a point of disagreement. Shelly introduces the creature into the novel with physical human characteristics, who soon begins to learn the human language and feel human emotions and senses such as love, kindness, pain and anger. The creature takes complete responsibility for his actions, respects life more than Frankenstein, which is apparent by Frankenstein robbing graves to create the creature, and the fact that Frankenstein abandons the creature to die, only for the creature to experience the hatred of mankind. In almost every way, the monster portrays himself as more human than Frankenstein, but of course, one must not put aside the fact that ultimately, Frankenstein is a human and the creature is not.
Of course, for the creature to be more human than his creator, he must first have the typical human characteristics. He firstly shows physical human features. He is “eight feet in height” and his body parts are taken from dead bodies which his creator dug out from graves. His “limbs were in proportion” and his “hair was of lustrous black. He has also developed human emotions. Having been scared off by the villagers he began “feeling pain invade [him] on all sides, [he] sat down and wept”. This shows that his surroundings have an impact on how he feels and reacts, and to weep is a common human action. He likes warmth, company, kindness and music, and dislikes pain, cold and seeing people sad. All these qualities are typical of a human and so it makes the creature human like. The point where the creature becomes more human than his creator is when it comes to the types of feelings expressed; for instance, in the beginning of the creature's life he is loving, benevolent, passionate and desperately desires companionship of other humans; something that his creator lacks. These emotions which are shown by the creature are almost like that of a child. In the very beginning, the monster was unaware of his senses, light and dark and of many other elements which surrounded him. Like a child, the monster was required to learn about his surroundings in order to understand how to function within them. Like a child, the monster is also frightened when he discovers he is alone. This fear was innate, much like fears in young children. “It was dark when I awoke; I felt so cold also, and half frightened, as it were instinctively, finding myself so desolate”. Not only that, the creature lacked knowledge about certain things, like fire. The monster, unaware of fires ability to cause pain “thrusts [his] hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain”. Like a child, the monsters lack of knowledge regarding fire caused him to be burnt. It shows he is needy and needs a parent to guide him and teach him right from wrong, but of course the supposed Father, Frankenstein, quickly fled at the “breathless horror” he thought he created. It is in human nature for every parent, which technically Frankenstein is, to care for their child, who is technically the monster. However, the creature was left at birth to survive on its own. This is like a relationship between an animal and offspring; they leave their offspring to their own devices and force to survive on their own. This shows Frankenstein’s inhuman nature and that in a way, he is the monster as he is the one who has left his creation to only go on to think about himself. This ultimately affects his society, as the creature goes on to murder innocent people, some who to Frankenstein are of a close value. The reasons for the creature’s vengeful state are entirely on the shoulders of his creator as Frankenstein did not show the creature right from wrong. I think that the creators vengeful state is normal and every human feels vengeance; it was just a question of how far the creature was to take his vengeance, which was down to the fact that Frankenstein had set no boundaries as to what the creature should and shouldn’t do. The fact that the creature “longed to join” the family shows that he desires companionship. He eagerly wants to have a friend to talk to or a family like the De Lacey’s. This is a human desire which humans naturally want. Victor however, has few friends and his family is apart from him. For example when he arrived in Ingolstadt, Victor was faced with very different circumstance than in his childhood, for he “who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure, [he] was now alone.” To be alone, particularly whilst at a place thriving with people with similar interests, is inhuman as naturally, humans will make friends and be sociable characters, rather than thinking themselves to be "totally unfitted for the company of strangers." Therefore, Victor's isolation, initially, was a choice based upon how he felt about strangers, but later, his isolation was a result of his obsession with reanimating life. Victor isolated himself in order to dedicate all of his time in his “sole occupation” which ultimately left his family neglected. Victor forgot about his family all together and took their company for granted. This contrasts to the creature who is very grateful for the outcomes which occur, such as the time when he “found a fire which had been left by some wandering beggars” which gave him “warmth and delight”. This makes the creature more human than Frankenstein as it shows the creature is appreciative of his surroundings, which is a natural human reaction. One could also argue that the idea of discovering fire and being so amazed by it could suggest the idea of man discovering a new element of earth; like a caveman. This could present the creature as a caveman and so although they are both perhaps uneducated about the working world, they are both still human.
Another important aspect of the creature is that it takes responsibility for its actions and cares for other people. When he finds out that stealing “part of [the De Laceys’s] store for [his] own consumption” he realised it “inflicted pain on the cottagers” and instead he ate wild berries, nuts and roots. He also “took the man’s tools and brought home firing wood sufficient for the consumption of several days”. This is a very generous action and shows his human side of thinking about others. This also shows that the creature respects life and the way in which things interact with one another. Frankenstein on the other hand is very self-centred and has no feelings for other people. He sees a graveyard as “merely the receptacle of bodies deprived of life”. This shows Frankenstein’s inhuman thoughts; whilst most see a graveyard as a place to remember the dead, he sees it as a scrapyard for body parts for his creation. To add to his cold hearted feelings, he states that “if [he] cannot inspire love, [he] will cause fear”. This is very inhuman-like as humans embrace love and neglect fear, whereas Frankenstein wants humans to feel fear if he cannot make people love him. What’s more is that Frankenstein acts as if he is god and thinks he is “fearless, and therefore powerful”. He has tampered with nature and created life from dead; something which no human has done before. He believes that he “has become greater than his nature will allow”. This is a very bold comment which shows his arrogance, a trait which is not one a human would be proud of.
Of course, ultimately, the creature is not human; however much he acts like one, he is not one. The definition of a human is “a bipedal primate mammal of the genus Homo”. In other words, a human must belong in the biological classification of a human in the animal kingdom. This includes being evolved from past species and being born from another human, which the creature has not; there is no biological parent. Therefore I believe that this statement is not fully correct as the creature cannot be more human than his creator, because he simply isn’t one. However, in terms of Shelly’s presentation, he is much more human-like than his creator. All of the creatures actions are only in human nature, which is ironic as the true human is the one who has done something out of human nature; tampering with nature itself to reanimate a reconstructed body. The creature shows almost childlike qualities which pull the readers into thinking he is a human child, deserted by his father, Frankenstein. Despite the truth of Frankenstein being a human, I believe that he is the real monster for he stands by while many innocent people die because of his negligent creation, and the whole time all this happens, he can only think of himself.