Who do you think is the most monstrous? Frankenstein or his creature?
Who do you think is the most monstrous? Frankenstein or his creature?
Mary Shelly wrote the novel "Frankenstein", in 1818. Shelly was born in 1797, her parents, William Goodwin and Mary Woolstencraft, were writers and were well known for their radical views, both wrote extensively about political and social matters. Shelly grew up in a highly intellectual and stimulating environment, she was brought up listening and reading her parents friends poems (one, of whom was Coleridge, whose' poem " The Ancient Mariner" is quoted several times in the novel), so it is not surprising that she felt inspired to write this superb novel when she was just eighteen yeas old.
"Frankenstein" was the first of many novels written my Shelly, but is the most well known. The novel follows the Gothic genre, but certain aspects of it make it in between the gothic and what today we would call the "horror" genre, this new innovative style of writing, captured people's imaginations and is one of the reasons it sold so many copies around the world. The book follows the life of its' main character, Victor Frankenstein and his thirst for glory. It takes us on a journey through his life, Shelly links this with her own life, and we can see aspects of this through Victors' family life. Is it a coincidence that Victor and his siblings are left motherless at such a young age, when Shelly's mother died only days after Shelly's birth? On the other hand, that Elizabeth is an orphan?
The novel begins with letters from a "Robert Walton" to his sister Elizabeth telling her of his appetite for glory and being remembered. It carries on to where Walton comes across Frankenstein when he is nearing the North Pole when his boat and crew are stuck in ice. Frankenstein goes on to tell Walton whom he is and what he has done.
In my opinion, Frankenstein is the most monstrous. We can see that even from being a very young child that Frankenstein has always wanted to be remembered. His hunt for glory, in the end cost him his wife, brother and a close family friend, as well as many other innocent lives.
The novel starts with letters from Robert Walton, a glory-seeking adventurer who wants to discover the unknown land, to his sister Margaret. Walton as a character is very much like the young Frankenstein. Like Frankenstein, he wants to be remembered as someone who changes the world, whatever the cost. We find out Walton's past from his letters to Margaret, these letters are very detailed into his past so we can infer that Shelley wants us to get an idea into Walton's past and his personality. In his second letter, he talks about "I shall kill no albatross," this is a quote from "The Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge, in which the mariner kills the albatross that has helped him survive, this haunts him for the rest of his life an he always regrets killing it, suggesting that he will not regret making the journey into the unexplored territories of the north. He talks also about starting his journey in which he says; "I cannot describe to you my sensations on the near prospect of my undertaking...I am going to the unexplored regions, to "the land of mist and snow"." This shows us that Walton cannot wait to set off and is rather impatient, much like Frankenstein, who wants everything to be done at once.
Frankenstein is introduced to us as a stranger in letter four, he is described as, "His body was nearly frozen and his body dreadfully emaciated by fatigue and suffering." Walton goes onto say, "I never saw a man in such a wretched condition." This shows that Frankenstein is in a death like state when he comes on board the ship, this poses the question, "How did this man get this way? And also, who is he?" At this point in the book, we still do not know who this stranger is and why he was out on the ice in the first place. After a few days on the ship, Frankenstein tells Walton who he is and explains briefly his background, then he says to Walton, "You seek the knowledge and wisdom as I once did," and "Do you seek my madness?" This tells us that Frankenstein sees some of his former self in Walton, this I think, is the point where Frankenstein decides to tell his story to warn Walton of the repercussions of his actions.
Frankenstein starts his story with his birthplace and his family, and how his father met his mother, he talks of his position as their eldest and only child. He also talks about how his mother and father adore him and pay him a lot of attention; at this time, we do not know about Frankenstein's possessive nature, we start to see glimpses of this when we are introduced to his adopted sister Elizabeth. On the night that Elizabeth had been adopted into the Frankenstein family, Frankenstein's mother had said to him, "I have a pretty present for my ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Frankenstein starts his story with his birthplace and his family, and how his father met his mother, he talks of his position as their eldest and only child. He also talks about how his mother and father adore him and pay him a lot of attention; at this time, we do not know about Frankenstein's possessive nature, we start to see glimpses of this when we are introduced to his adopted sister Elizabeth. On the night that Elizabeth had been adopted into the Frankenstein family, Frankenstein's mother had said to him, "I have a pretty present for my Victor- tomorrow he shall have it." When Elizabeth was presented to him, Frankenstein says, "I, with childish seriousness, interpreted her literally and looked upon Elizabeth as mine-mine to protect, love and cherish. All praises bestowed on her, I received as made to a possession of my own." This Shelley is starting to show Victors true colours; he talks about her as if she was a toy, an object, and a possession that he and he only could own. It shows his possessiveness more at the end of the chapter when the finishing words are "she was to be mine and mine only." This shows how actually possessive he is and how he really feels towards Elizabeth.
He continues in chapter two about his relationships with his family and friends, he is also introduced, in this chapter, to electricity and galvanisms and starts to read scriptures and works by people such as Cornelius Agrippa, Albertus Magnus and Paracelsus, who he describes as the lords of his imagination. This tells us of his first interests in how the human brain works and that is worked using electricity. He gave up his former occupations and started reading more natural history.
In chapter three, Victor's mother dies of scarlet fever. Here is where we see that Victor is starting to think more deeply into creating a creature that will never suffer. He describes his feelings of despair and anger of his mother's death. He goes on to say, "when the lapse of time proves the reality of evil, then the actual bitterness of grief commences. Yet, from whom has not that rude hand rent away some dear connections? And why should I describe a sorrow which all have felt, and must feel? The time at length arrives, when grief is rather an indulgence than a necessity;" this shows that his is finding grief more of an indulgence as time goes on, not a necessity as some people feel it is, this is showing us that he is trying to partially cut himself off from the world.
He then departs for Ingolstadt, the university that he will be studying at, thus so leaving a grieving father, Elizabeth and his younger siblings, Earnest and William. He also leaves behind his best friend Henry Clerval. He the describes his first glimpse into his treacherous future as where he first meets his natural philosophy teacher M. Krempe, he describes this meeting as a, "Chance- or rather the evil influence, the Angel of Destruction, which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment I turned my reluctant steps from my fathers door- led me first to M, Krempe." Here he is describing the first steps he took to his destruction into meddling forces which were not his to meddle with. He also talks about his "reluctant steps" from his fathers' door, suggesting that, this is not the path that his father wants Victor to take, so in a way, for the fist time in his life. Victor has started to disobey.
M. Waldman, Victor's chemistry professor, said the following phrase, that Victor says enounced to destroy him: "The ancient teaches of this science, promised impossibilities and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little, know that metals cannot be transmuted, and the elixir of life is a chimera......They penetrate into the recesses of nature, and show how she works in her hiding places. They ascend into the heavens: they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe. They have acquired new and almost unlimited powers; they can command the thunders of heaven, mimic the earthquake, and even mock the invisible world in its shadows."
These words, as we can see were the start of Frankenstein's downfall into glory, he takes from this, his thirst to create a life, to pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers and unfold the deepest mysteries of creation. This is where I think that Frankenstein starts to take everything a bit too far and where he starts to become like a monster himself, absorbed in his work, not caring for anybody around him.
In chapter four it starts to talk about how Frankenstein finds a friend in M. Waldman, but how M. Krempe starts to in a way, put him down for believing in the natural philosophy branch of science, it also tells us of how Frankenstein is starting to forget about things around him when he says "Two years past in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva." In not going to visit his family in Geneva this shows that Frankenstein is becoming so absorbed in his work he is forgetting his own family, and ultimately his Elizabeth.
He says that he thought of going home once, but something came up that stopped him. This was his fascination with the human frame, he wanted to observe the natural decay of the human body, and for this, he would go to the churchyard and observe the dead bodies, this darkness he said had no effect upon my fancy, and he was forced to spend days and nights in charnel houses and vaults. Here he is showing that he has no remorse for what he is doing and that he is heading further and further down the dark tunnel of monstrosity.
The beginning of chapter five, it sets the scene as a dark and dismal November early morning, he describes the rain pattering against the windows when he saw the errors of his ways, when the creature first opened its eyes and took its first breath.
Here I think is where Frankenstein could have tried to make his error, more amenable by not leaving the creature to either die or fend for it's self. He describes his creation as a "wretch", but then starts to describe its features and limbs as "In proportion, I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! - Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seamed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and his straight black lips." This is Frankenstein's first descriptions of the creature after it has been "born", we can see that at first the describes the monster with words such as having beautiful features, then he goes on to repeat the word making it seam like he is being sarcastic, then he says "Great God!" This is short and effective sentence, which makes the reader, think that he does not think that his creature is beautiful, but in fact ugly and disfigured. The way that Shelley put this phrasing together, making it a long sentence, makes us think that Frankenstein is thinking carefully about his words, choosing them carefully.
Here it is that he realises that the full extend of his arrogance and naivety. He describes his emotions after the event as " The beauty of the dream had vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." He then rushed out of the room and into his bedroom, the events and how he describes how he is feeling, makes the reader's of today think that he is experiencing what we today would call a nervous breakdown. Luckily, his friend Clerval comes to his rescue and nurses him better. Even as he is on the better side of his recovery, he does not bear to think about what he has done, if he even thinks about it he starts to shake and tremble. Shelley here is describing how we all would feel if we had done something wrong, a sort of guilt of knowing that one has done something that one should not have done in the first place.
In the next chapter, we have a letter from Elizabeth, telling Frankenstein of a Justine Moritz, this letter goes into great detail of this characters past, as Shelley is wanting the reader to find out, as she did with Walton in the beginning, this particular characters past. We hear of how her father had died and he mother had almost disowned her. Is this another coincidence that Justine is left almost parentless, as her relationship was never very good with her mother? In this letter we also hear of Frankenstein's youngest brother William, who we find out in the beginning of chapter seven is dead, another coincidence?
We do not here of the creature again until chapter ten, when Frankenstein meets the creature, the language changes considerably in the way that we now feel that it is more formal and almost biblical. It feels like the creator, or God is talking to its' creation, Adam. The creature then goes on and it tells it's tale in chapter's eleven through to chapter seventeen. It tells us how it learnt to read and write from the people living in the cottage, how it was rejected by society. This is an interesting point that Shelley makes, one of her father's philosophies was that you could not separate a human being from society, which is exactly what Shelley does with the monster, and also in a way what she does to Frankenstein when he is in the process of creating the monster itself. The creature also speaks of how he becomes angry and cannot understand his emotions. He tells Frankenstein of how he read his diary that he left behind in his home, how he felt about some of the things that Frankenstein said about him, and how he feels about being made from dismembered bodies.
After the creature finishes telling his story, we recognise how the creature and Frankenstein speak similarly, they both use complex sentence structures and they know how to talk about how they feel emotionally. We can sympathise with the creature on an emotional level, because of the way the book is written. Shelley, very cleverly, gave the book three viewpoints. From the view of Walton, Frankenstein and of the creature. This gives us an insight into how the creature's mind works, so we can empathise with how he is feeling, so we do not get a one sided view of him from Frankenstein. We get to understand why the creature feels angry and also that the creature does not see what he is doing as wrong. He does not care about killing William or framing Justine, he describes her as "Another one I could not have." This in his eyes, made her just as guilty as every other person for not accepting him. He says "I am malicious because I am miserable," this is the creatures' justification for killing people. He also resents Frankenstein for abandoning him after his "birth" like a child would if its' father left it after or before its birth.
The creature sees Frankenstein very much as its, father. This is not what Frankenstein wants, and he is now thinking about the coincidences for his actions, even though now, he cannot do anything about it.
The creature says, "I am chained in an eternal hell." Here the creature describes his life away from society, he describes it as his version of "hell" because that is how most people would hate to live. Nobody likes to feel alone in the world. At the end of the book, the creature weeps to the death of his "father", when Frankenstein dies, he is most grievous though, about the fact that Frankenstein never gave him a name, and he feels that his name is very important. In some cultures of the world if you commit a crime your name can be taken off you, this is felt more of a punishment as being outlawed or being sent to prison. T
In conclusion, I still think that Frankenstein is the most monstrous. Even though the creature killed innocent people, it can by saying it didn't know better, justifies its' actions, also I think that Frankenstein has a part to play in this because the creature never asked to be born. It was out of arrogance and out of naivety that Frankenstein thought that he could get away with creating life and not having to live with the consequences, much I think how some people act towards life today. I think that this story still plays a part in today's world. I think that this story has a moral, and that the moral of the story is, "You should always think before you act." You should always think about the repercussions of your actions. If everybody thought a little bit more about what they were doing and how it would affect other people, the world would be a much better place for us all to live in.
Rebecca Wood 10/4
