“How can I describe my emotions of this catastrophe or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite care and pains I had endeavored to form.”
Just as Adam is seen to become evil the monster does the same in committing evil sins. There is evidence of this parody within the novel when the monster says
“I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.”
This shows the monster has evil thoughts within him and therefore like Adam he is imperfect.
Frankenstein’s initial motive for making the monster is good but he is usurping God and this is seen as an evil occurrence. If the reader wanted to analyze the reason behind the making of the monster they would have to look at Frankenstein’s past. His mother died early on in his life and this causes him to see death as evil.
“I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil”
This shows Frankenstein’s feelings for his mother’s death and this shows the reader the motive for Frankenstein committing the deed of creating the monster. Therefore he wanted to create a way to basically cheat death which leads him up to the point where he starts playing God.
Although the intentions behind his endeavor were of a decent cause, the obsessive nature of Frankenstein drove him to create the wretch. This ambition makes Frankenstein neglect his family values.
“...How very ill you appear...” “I have lately been so engaged in one occupation I had not allowed myself sufficient time for rest”
This is what happened when Frankenstein’s friend sees him after he has created the monster and his own feelings after his toil. This reason alone leads me to believe that the creation of the monster was a negative thing and therefore evil.
It is Frankenstein’s ambition which is the vital flaw in his character and it is what ultimately leads to his demise. The ambition made Frankenstein forget his family and friends and to create the monster. After he creates the monster the situation rapidly deteriorates in Frankenstein’s life. The flaw in Frankenstein’s character is not much different then that of Macbeth’s in both of their affairs they seek to be ambitious and it is this which is fundamentally their downfall.
“I have lately been so engaged in one occupation I had not allowed myself sufficient time for rest”
The structure of the novel reinforces the reader’s empathy with the characters. A clever technique used by Mary Shelley is writing in diary form and switching from character to character. This first person narrative allows the reader to empathize with each of the characters and when altering from one character to another we receive a different view point on the novel.
“I beheld the accomplishment of my toils.”
The first person narrative Mary Shelley uses shows the reader exactly how Frankenstein feels. Frankenstein started out with a good intention and this makes the reader empathize with him that it didn’t turn out as he would have liked it to. We can feel from the tone of the sentence the excruciating effort he put into making the Creature. Also from the word toil the reader can see that the creation of the monster was not an easy undertaking. This can be seen at the beginning of the novel when he neglects his own health. It is this empathy that allows us to see the good in some characters and in the Novel.
The creature also acquires the reader’s empathy in the novel. Although it is seen as primarily evil we are initially able to see the potential good in the monster when he is living next to the Delacey’s. It is at this time when we first get a glimpse of the degenerate’s feelings.
“I discovered also another means through which I was enabled to assist their labors. I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire...brought home sufficient firing wood for consumption over several days”
At the beginning the creature is naive to the world and thinks it a good place. He shows this through committing good deeds. The language at this period is quite positive (one of the few times during the novel) for example “pleasant”,” genial” and “cheerful”. However when society and the Delacey’s reject him this makes him build up hatred towards society and his creator. The creature seeks revenge upon his architect by making him suffer. After the monster kills William- Frankenstein’s brother, the reader no longer can empathize with the creation. At this point Mary Shelley refers to it as “monster” or “wretch”
The creature becomes malignant towards human kind and is unable to show his good side. The first person narrative really helps the reader to recognize the Creature's progression from good to evil.
Another effective device used by Mary Shelley is pathetic fallacy. It is used to let the reader pre-emptively know when something important is going to happen. In most situations within my sections of the novel the weather has held large consequence and reflects the nature of the situation. When the creature is bought to life we are told
“It was a dreary night in November”
From this the description of a bleak winter night we immediately draw that something bad is going to occur. To analyze this more deeply this sentence shows the reader the grim future in store for the monster. This is due to the negative words used witch we see as unhappy and dismal. Pathetic fallacy is used in the novel to the same effect but to reach opposite ends.
“Genial warmth of spring…bird’s singing.”
This brings positive imagery to the scene. These words immediately tell the reader that there are happy and merry times due to the creature living in harmony with nature.
The theme of power and revenge features largely throughout the book and forms a large basis for the novel. What makes the power struggle interesting is the chase of the two main characters. If Frankenstein isn’t chasing the monster then the monster is hot on the trail of Frankenstein. Frankenstein is vengeful throughout the novel due to the grievances that the monster has made to him along with his family and friends. He wants to get rid of this monster because he created it and he doesn’t want society to know this. The monster wishes to get revenge on his creator for simply the reason that he created him and bought him in to a world which shunned him. Frankenstein also abandoned the creature. There is also the reason of the female being destroyed which made him lonely. The reader knows the creature wants revenge because at the end of the novel when Victor is dead there is no reason for the monster to remain alive and so he commits suicide. The power struggle keeps raging until the very end where the monster gains superiority over Frankenstein.
“I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master – Obey!”
At this point Frankenstein realizes that the monster is extremely dominant and that he has never had any hold on it. This is possibly what leads Frankenstein to hunt down the monster and kill it.
It is the flaw in Frankenstein’s character which leads to their bereavement and the whole build up in the characters revenge. The monster starts out as extremely naive and venerable and then this in turn leads him to rejection by society. This obviously causes him to commit the heinous deeds that he did. In Frankenstein his ambition and determination caused him to make the monster and without the creation none of the harrowing events would have occurred.
The vengefulness in my opinion is what caused the tragedy that befell the characters in the book. This leaves the only possible outcome at the end of the novel to be the death of both Frankenstein and the creature. Their death has been expected by the readers because of the way they acted throughout. Up to a point the novel is a battle between good and evil. This can be contradicted though by the only way to kill an evil is to commit an evil. This irony means that it was more of a clash between evil and evil. If the reader brings away anything from the book it will be the message that Mary Shelley has been putting through all along. She emphasizes the fact that it is wrong to play God.
This message stays with the reader after the novel. It can be an important message for us today in that it tells us not to do anything that God did not intend us to do. A relevant example of this today would be cloning of animals or G M crops. This in a way is going against what we should be allowed to do and like Frankenstein we are becoming too ambitious. The novel is an excellent reminder of the consequences of playing God.