‘Frankenstein’ is written as a Chinese-box-narrative. Three narrators are used, these are, Walton, Frankenstein and the creature, which creates more effect, as we know the feelings and thoughts of each character, therefore can feel what emotions each character has. Most of the novel is written in ‘epistolary’ form (letters), which makes the story more interesting rather than a normal prose.
Frankenstein describes his childhood, he tells the reader how he went to University to study natural philosophy and chemistry. He spends his obscene amounts of time creating life out of dead people’s body parts, until finally he brings the creation to life, however this is not how he imagined it to look, far too ugly for the human eye to perceive. Frankenstein runs to his best friend, Henry and when they return, the monster has vanished. Frankenstein becomes very mentally ill. The creature murdered his younger brother, however Justine Moritz got the blame and was hung. Frankenstein takes a holiday to the mountains where the creature approaches him, who admits the murder of his brother but begs for forgiveness, and for Frankenstein to understand why he committed this crime. He is lonely and wants Frankenstein to create a lady friend for him. At first, Frankenstein agrees (after being convinced), but then is afraid of what could happen if two creatures like the first one were alive, therefore destroys the creation he has not yet finished. Henry is killed by the creature, in which Frankenstein is blamed, who again falls terribly ill again; there he gets acquitted of his crime. He marries Elizabeth who gets murdered by the creature on her wedding night. Frankenstein dies and therefore the monster commits suicide as his creator has died.
The creature is grotesquely described, mainly in chapter five, a main scene in the novel. Words such as “his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of arteries and muscles beneath” are used, which give the reader horrific images of how this creature must look, Shelly then contrasts the image created with nice images, such as “teeth of pearly whiteness”, juxtaposition is used here because after the reader is made to believe the creature looked lovely, the view rapidly changes, “but these luxuriance’s only formed a more horrid contrast with the watery eyes, that seemed almost the same colour as the den white sockets in which they were set”, showing how horrific this creature truly looked. This description is that of an adult, however the creatures mind has been reborn so he must now be pure and innocent, therefore shouldn’t be described in such horrible ways, making us feel sorry for him.
The creature is seen as a child, this is because he has never been born or seen the world before, so couldn’t possibly have an adult mind, he did not know how to speak, read or write when born, and had to teach himself this knowledge, as Frankenstein did not help. Frankenstein should of treated the creature as if he was a new baby, and help him, because he had not done anything wrong at this point, until he had abandoned him, so he was lonely and confused. He tried to befriend Frankenstein during the beginning of his life by muttering words to him in a friendly manner, although Frankenstein took this as though he was going to attack him, “He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks”…”but I escaped and rushed downstairs”. The grin was taken by Frankenstein as an evil grin, signifying that the monster did not like Frankenstein, but in reality, the creature was just trying to be friendly. However, Frankenstein was disgusted with his creation, and decided to leave the apartment, not to return, therefore the creature was abandoned and lonely, also he wouldn’t have known what to do seeing as he could not understand the world, and they could equally not understand his hideous looks, therefore making the reader feel sorry for the monster as he hasn’t done anything, “I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited”, this also shows he is scared to return. The perception created by Shelley of the monster, is one that he cannot possibly be friendly because of how ugly he is, therefore people shout abuse and refuse to talk to him in a civilized way without mocking him or commenting on how ugly he looks. Other people may be scared of him, so try to run away when he gets close, this will make him feel angry with all the people who judge him by first impressions, without taking the courtesy to get to know him. He could of easily been a good man but society cast him out so he rapidly became the opposite, which makes us feel sorry for him as he cannot help being ugly and never gets a chance to show his nice personality, such as saving children from drowning. He is a victim of Frankenstein’s ambitions and then abandonment, as Frankenstein was very eager, almost too eager, to create him, but after he saw what he had made, quickly despised him, left him alone, with no easy way of living, thus upsetting the creature because he never did anything wrong, just wanted to be loved. Frankenstein should of looked after his creation because it is his responsibility, or should of never even created him if he had thought of the possibilities/consequences that could of happened, creating sympathy for the creature because no one wants him, not even his own father. The creature uses religious imagery when speaking to Frankenstein, such as; “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel” and he is telling Frankenstein that he has just been born and is inquisitive like Adam and Eve were when venturing into the garden, but now he has fallen because of his abandonment, so perceives himself as a fallen angel. Also, relating to Adam, shows he believes he must have an ‘Eve’, such as a bride.
Frankenstein uses questions at their meeting on the glacier, such as “Do you dare approach me? And do not you fear the fierce vengeance of my arm wretched on your miserable head?” trying to intimidate and draw the creature in, also he uses the word, “Devil”, to explain how much he hates the creation and thinks he is pure evil, this is also relating to religiousness. Then the creature explains to Frankenstein about how he feels about being alive and looking the way he does, which makes Frankenstein feel quite sorry for him, although the monster had admitted he murdered his family, but only because he wanted to get back at Frankenstein. The creature reasons with Frankenstein and asks him to create a lady creation, “Still thou canst listen to and grant me thy compassion”, Frankenstein agrees to do this as long as he leaves him alone and does not harm any more people. Frankenstein beings working on his creation on the second creation, but one night he sees the creature and realises what destruction has already took place, which frightens him about the destruction that two creations could do, creating devastating consequences. We then feel sorry for the creature because he has no friends and will carry on being lonely, but our feelings drastically change when the creature threatens to be with him on his wedding night, making the reader feel angry with the creature for creating such havoc in Frankenstein’s life, although in the back of the readers mind, they still feel sorry for the creature because he is forever lonely. We can see the creature as romantic, as he would like a bride, this relates to Frankenstein when he is calm and peaceful in the mountains, acting almost romantic towards the scenery; “The pleasant sunshine, and the pure air of day, restored me to some degree of tranquillity; and when I considered what had passed at the cottage”.
Frankenstein should of acted like a father to the creature because he created him so should take care of him, show him what’s right and wrong, how to read/write/speak and general life skills. Instead, Frankenstein does none of these and does the opposite, abandoning him, leaving him to fend for himself. He also created the creature out of different body parts from other people’s bodies making him look disproportional and abnormal, as well as looking ridiculous. He had been designing and creating this creation for so long and wanted to create him over such a long period, that when the creature was finally created he truly repulsed it, “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into inanimate body. For this I deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that for exceeded moderation”, showing that he desperately longed for a great creation, we then feel sorry for him as he had spent so much time and effort, just for it to turn out in a catastrophic way. He was very careless when creating him, which would obviously cause problems for the creature when setting foot in the public eye; this was not fair on the creature. He also talks about the creature in a grotesque way, making the reader feel afraid of him, and at the same time, sorry for Frankenstein for having to live with the consequences of this disgusting thing, therefore having to either look after him or find a way of getting rid of him. He then becomes afraid about what he has created and the consequences that would arise from doing so, so therefore being seriously mentally ill, as he cannot cope with the fact that he has created something so ridiculous and destructible. The reader feels sorry for him because he has become ill and this isn’t fair.
Frankenstein challenges the creature to a fight, “Be gone or let us try our strength in a fight, in which one must fail”, this is because he is so angry and repulsed with the creature for ruining his life that he wants to settle this finally and this makes the reader believe how upset he is, wanting to clear the creature out of his mind and life. His anger spirals out of control as he vulgarly insults the creature; “Relieve me from the sight of your detested form”, showing how much he truly dislikes the creature, therefore he must be causing pain to him in some way, mentally or physically. However finally Frankenstein decides to give the creature a chance and reasons with him about creating a lady monster, which is a good deed, making us honour him because he is trying to treat the creature well. Frankenstein then becomes afraid of what two creatures would cause and destroys his creation, at this point, the creature promises Frankenstein he will be with him on his wedding night.
On the wedding night, the creature carries out his ultimatum and murders Frankenstein’s wife, which shocks and devastates Frankenstein because he was not expecting him to murder his bride, and rather killed himself instead. This upsets the reader because this would really harm Frankenstein, and was truly an act of pure evil. Also, earlier in the novel, the creature had killed his younger brother and his best friend to get back at him, which truly devastated Frankenstein, also a very horrific type of payback.
Frankenstein could be perceived as a hero of modern day science because he went to extraordinary lengths and research to create human life, using science, which no one else before him had ever successfully done. He was also portrayed as a villain for playing with nature and God because people should take life how it is and not try to create more complex designs that God did not want to happen. However I do not believe that Frankenstein was a victim of the time he lived in because he simply shout not have created life without considering the drastic consequences that would happen.
I think the perspective of this novel is that Shelley had lost the three of her four children and also her mother, during labour, possibly reflecting as a feeling of abandonment and loss due to death, she can therefore relate to the creature and Frankenstein because his close family and friends were murdered.
I have sympathy for the creature more than Frankenstein because he was abandoned when he was first ‘born’, this was unfair because he hadn’t done anything wrong and could not help the way he looked. Frankenstein should not have created him if he had thought properly about what he was doing; he had acted selfish for leaving the monster behind and abandoning him. Also, Frankenstein gets the creature’s hopes up by saying he will create a companion for him, but then destroys his dream, which upsets the monster greatly. He has no friends, family etc. and this is not fair on him.
