Frankenstein Essay

What relevance does this statement have for us in the 21st century? Most people have heard the word 'Frankenstein'. Many have not read the book or seen the film and therefore associate the name with the monster and so the fiend of the story could, in theory, be Victor. This essay seeks to explore whether Frankenstein has any relevance or not in the 21st Century or whether the notion of monsters is now outdated.

During the time when Mary Wolfstonecraft Shelley was alive, science would have been looked upon as something evil; something against the will of God.

Victor Frankenstein was a scientist. All he wanted to achieve through bringing his scientific creation to life, was glory. This monster was just a tool for him to fulfil his ambition. While Victor is building up to the creation of the monster, his work consumes him and his health deteriorates, as well as his shaky mental condition. He views the monster as being "Beautiful.

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Beautiful!"

VICTOR

As soon as the monster is alive, however, his views change radically. "Oh! No mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived."

VICTOR

At this point, the creature becomes a monster. First of all, there are a number of reasons why we can say that Frankenstein is a monster within himself.

To begin with, he created the monster from death; something considered, in our world, to be something wrong. To make this fact worse, he stole the limbs and organs he needed, so he can be viewed as a thief as well as an abuser of the knowledge he possesses. "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriance's only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips."

VICTOR

The yellow skin represents illness, the black evil, yet the white is a breath of the innocence of a young child. The eyes are often described as the 'window to the soul'. The fact that the eyes are watery tells us that, either his soul is tainted from his creation, or maybe he has no soul. The way the monster is described sounds horrible - even evil - and what sort of a man could create such a thing? In fact, who could put themselves in the position of God? Most heroes in novels are, in some way, religious; maybe Victor is not a religious man and by this reality, can he be a literary hero? "Who shall conceive the horrors of secret toil as I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or torture the living animal to animate the lifeless clay? ... I seemed to have lost all soul or sensation but for this one pursuit."

VICTOR

The quote above suggests that Victor is not religious, using words and phrases such as being "unhallowed" and to "torture the living animal". He says himself that he seems to "have lost all soul or sensation". One has to imagine the monster as being an innocent being, to phrase it bluntly, an 8-foot tall baby. It sounds strange, but he has not been taught anything. He does not know right from wrong, he does not know the constraints of society and he does not even know himself. This innocent sees his creator; his father, reject him, run from him, and treat him as an enemy. One could ask oneself how this would make one feel. The answer is likely to be that of revenge.

The monster desperately wanted to be accepted and demanded that Victor created a mate for him. In return, he would find the most deserted part of the world and live there. To this end, he begins to create a companion but, tragically for the monster, destroys her. The monster saw what happened and this would have been a terrible trauma. Not only had his 'father' hurt him deeply but this act could also be seen as a mocking insult. "I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and, with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew."

VICTOR

In the film version, Frankenstein actually brings Elizabeth back to life, again, something that could be seen as a spiteful revenge. Indeed, it could be said that the whole novel is Frankenstein's fault. To begin with, he created the monster, who in turn, created all of the damage. At any time, Victor could have stopped what was going on, for example, at Justine's trial. Victor was the only person who knew that it was not her who killed William, his own brother, but it was his creation. He was just too selfish to own up to what he had done and never even once thought of the consequences.

All of the reasons above are for Victor actually being the monster of the book, but maybe the monster is meant to be Frankenstein's doppelnger. The darker side of Victor. The two are very alike in many ways, for example, the creature/monster debate can be applied to both beings and Victor has referred to the monster in many ways: "Daemon." "Devil." "Monster." "Wretch." "A creature of fine sensations."

VICTOR

Naming the monster "a creature of fine sensations" can be compared to Victor's opinion of the monster at the beginning of the novel. He thought him as being "beautiful". Since then, he turned his creation into a monster. When the monster is telling him his story, Victor's mind changes drastically from viewing him as being a "daemon" to "a creature of fine sensations". Even though the monster has only just learned speech and language from a book and the teachings of Safie by the DeLaceys, he and Victor speak in a very similar manner. They both allow their need for revenge dominate their lives and end up by craving the misery or destruction of the other. In the same way, Victor's physical and mental deterioration is reflected in the monster. Both characters state, in some term, "No creature has ever been as miserable as I."