One of the greatest similarities between Frankenstein’s and modern society is the instant judgment based only on appearance. The creator of the monster, Victor Frankenstein, also passes his view based only on appearance. This hideous creature was thought by many to be an evil, unintelligent being founded upon looks. In Chapter 5 “I beheld the wretch, the miserable monster that I created” (pg. 46). Here Frankenstein, commenting on his own creation, showed us that he believed that this creature was insignificant. Also, the monster’s appearance leads many to believe that its behaviour is immoral and ruthless. One of the most memorable reactions from the book is the reaction of the old man in the hut in Chapter 11. “……perceiving me (the monster) he shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly seemed capable” (pg. 82). This judgment was out of fear of his life, almost a reflex to save his life. The monster’s frightful appearance created this reaction in many people around him. For example, villagers were throwing rocks and driving the monster away as if it was a worthless piece of society. First impressions are still a great part of society as well as the instant judgment on someone. Under the exterior appearance and stereotype, there is a human being with ideas and views the same as the common person. There are considerably similarities between modern society and the society in the book of Frankenstein. Human beings in society still want to be accepted by others and want to acquire a certain level of fame amongst their peers. Also, there is still the presence of racism, prejudice and instant judgments occurring in today’s society. The book of Frankenstein has brought attention to these crucial topics and presented in such a way to arise discussion about these flaws in human nature.
In Frankenstein, both Frankenstein and the monster are consumed by a desire for revenge. Revenge is a powerful human instinct, so the characters’ experiences are still relevant today. We also know from Shelley’s diaries that she felt revenge is a savage and destructive emotion. This is made clear in the monster’s final speech in the final letters, “If thou wert yet alive and yet cherished a desire of revenge against me, it would be better satiated in my life than in my destruction” (pg. 170). The monster’s revenge firstly was provoked by Frankenstein’s lack of acceptance for the monster. He is continually rejected by society because of his appearance, he becomes more and more like an outcast after the cottagers (De Lacey) reject him. In Chapter 16 we see the first signs of his want for revenge: “Why did I live? Why in that instant did I not extinguish that spark of existence which you so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge” (pg. 104). The monster is consumed only by a passionate desire for revenge on the human race for the wrongs it had done him. The monster goes on to kill William (Frankenstein’s younger brother), Justine (a friend and servant from youth, although the monster killed her indirectly), Clerval (Frankenstein’s best friend), Elizabeth (Frankenstein’ wife), and his father Alphonse died from the shock. It is no surprise that Frankenstein now also wants revenge having lost all family and friends, it is natural. The monster and Frankenstein are now similar in the fact that they want revenge because they have been denied family and friends. In a way this is like the American ‘War against Terrorism’, because the motives for this come from huge loss of life on September 11th 2001. We are still today often provoked to murder and other such destructive acts, as the monster was, by rejection or other forms of personal loss such as breaking up of relationships. Children who are bullied when they are young or who are under achievers at school often turn to a life of crime and drugs when they are older due to self loathing and want of revenge for their hardships when they were young. Revenge is a powerful human instinct for both the monster and modern day society.
In Frankenstein we are shown how ambition can blind people from what is morally right, and the consequences of the ambition. When Frankenstein decides to create the monster, he fails to realize how bad the consequences will be. His ambition blinded him from the fact that creating life was meant to be done by God and that not accepting this could be dangerous. This is still relevant today with the issues of cloning and how this can be dangerous. Ambition also blinds Frankenstein from being a fatherly figure to the monster. He is disappointed by the monster’s appearance, and as he was only interested in discovery and success is no longer interested in the monster. In the middle of his obsession to create a monster, Frankenstein does not visit his family for two years, and his health begins to fail. This is still relevant today with many people becoming workaholics, obsessed only with their work they pay no regard to their own body and health. Also people are still naturally power thirsty, whether when trying to gain a promotion in a business or trying to seize total control of a country, like Hitler and Mussolini. When this happens we are often grow ruthless, blinded from what is morally right. Frankenstein did this in not caring about the monster after he seemed to be a failure.
Frankenstein was written at the start of the industrial revolution in 1816. It was a time of much discovery such as never seen since the Romans, the electric battery had been invented just 16 years earlier by Alessandro Volta and in 1802, Luigi Galvani believed that he had found electricity present in human limbs. This means that electricity was still a novel thing, with unknown attributes. In Frankenstein Mary Shelley portrays it as a dangerous thing to meddle with unknown things. This was particularly relevant at the time of Mary Shelley as discovery had been frowned upon since Roman times, and breakthroughs were only just starting out again. This is still an issue today, I have already mentioned cloning, but as more and more scientific discoveries are made, we are still left asking the question of where it is all leading, there is always a chance of dire consequences. In Mary Shelley’s time, this was debated through books, now we often hear it through films such as Spiderman and The Hulk. There is also the idea of creating life. In Chapter 4 “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should employ it” (pg. 42). Frankenstein does not consider the fact that it could be dangerous acting as God, and that he could be punished for it
Love plays a major part in Frankenstein because it is the lack of love that cause Frankenstein and the monster to get revenge on each other. Frankenstein fails to show the fatherly love that is morally due to the monster, so he is left to fend for himself. Being unnaturally bright the monster manages this well enough. Unfortunately he is rejected by the cottagers and is left again without loving friends or family. We are shown that he cannot function as a human being alone. In our modern day society, people are often made outsiders at school or at work. This can lead to them acting a different way to normal, like committing acts of violence, as the monster does. At the start of the novel Frankenstein himself is loved by everyone, his family, Clerval, Elizabeth and other minor characters such as Justine. Unlike the monster he has no longing for love and affection because his parents “drew inexhaustible stores of affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me” (pg. 27). The monster in revenge for Frankenstein’s lack of showing fatherly love to him, brings Frankenstein down to his level, without love. We feel compassion for both characters, as they are without love, Mary Shelley invites us to, but we don’t always show such compassion for others in similar situations, it is a natural human instinct. I think that this is one of the major themes running through the novel, there are various injustices in the novel such as with Justine, the magistrate with Frankenstein, and Frankenstein breaking his promise to create the monster a female companion. As well as showing us how people react without love, Mary Shelley shows us how people are warmed by close relationships. Walton and Clerval restore Victor back to life and the arrival of Safie restores Felix’s spirits. Nature is also seen as a friend with the power to lift a human out of gloom and anxiety. Victor brings the creature back to life but fails to act as a friend or a fatherly figure. Love is of enduring moral relevance today everywhere, we especially see it in television advertising, as well as in books and films. There are many situations in which people commit acts of violence because their relationship breaks up or someone close to them dies.
To conclude, there are a number of themes of enduring moral relevance running through Frankenstein, there is definitely the debate of whether it is safe to make scientific discoveries, Mary Shelley seems to be saying that we at least have to be careful, a message that is still relevant today. There is also the idea of how ambition can lead to bad things if you become obsessed with something. Revenge is a major theme running through the novel, and indeed the end of the book is very powerful, when the monster tells us a message which is still relevant today, revenge only brings death and destruction. The lack of love which both characters have (at the end of the novel for Victor), and the lack of fatherly love by Victor is of enduring moral relevance today, because we are shown how it is impossible to live without companionship, as it is now. I think that the main and most important theme running through the book is the rejection of the monster because of his appearance, no one in the book apart from De Lacy because he was blind, listened to the monster’s heart, which makes us feel compassionate for him. It is not long since Blacks were looked down on in America which is an embarrassment in our modern day society. Frankenstein is a story of enduring moral relevance in the topics I have mentioned, despite the fact that it was written nearly two hundred years ago.