'After so much time spent in painful labour, to arrive at once at the summit of my desires was the most gratifying consummation of my toils' (Frankenstein 47).
The relative newborn, unleashed on to the world alone and with little training responds to nature with joy and appreciation, he slowly learns about what he sees. However, he still finds it painful to adjust to harsh light and sound, quickly learning that although beautiful at times, perception and consciousness hurt. Shying away from the glare of sunlight and often forced to hide in shadows, the monster would be cradled by the moons radiance. In a strange way he even found a companion by personifying the glowing orb: "Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of pleasure" (Frankenstein 99). While wandering aimlessly the creature comes across a village, out of curiosity he attempts to explore. Due to the shock of those who observe his hideous appearance however he is attacked by the people: "one of the women fainted…. some fled, some attacked me….until I escaped….and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel" (Frankenstein 101-102). The creature is forced into hiding due to the reaction to his hugely deformed body. It can be observed at this point in the tale that in comparison to Victor who is hiding because he chooses to, the monster is forced to hide from those he longs to talk to. Metaphorically one could also say that by forcing Frankenstein to chase him around the world, the monster is in effect forcing him to live in his shadow.
Similarly in chapter 14, the monster comes across a family, he watches them interact with one another, and learns from them what love and companionship can be like:
'Such was the history of my beloved cottagers. It impressed me deeply. I learned from the views of social life which it developed, to admire their virtues and to depreciate the virtues of mankind' (Frankenstein 123)
This makes his need to be accepted even greater than before, he even attempts to build a relationship with the blind father De Lacey. He finds the monster to be an honest person in dire need of friendship. Trust is short lived however, owing to the reaction of De Lacey's sighted family. Again the monster is driven out of society. This alienation produces vengeful violence; his aspirations drove him to ruin Victor Frankenstein's life.
Frankenstein's creation wishes only to be accepted by society, however his horrific disfigurement makes this impossible: "His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of his muscles and arteries beneath" (Frankenstein 55). Frankenstein created the monster to have feelings and intelligence and when the monster realises his creator, or his parent in a sense has abandoned him, he feels rejected, unloved and angry. He wishes to be 'made' (affirmed, sexually and non sexually) by a female companion:
'I am alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create' (Frankenstein 139).
Primarily Frankenstein agrees to do this, but the reality of what could happen haunts him greatly, and he denies the monster, instead choosing to hide from his responsibility and destroy him:
'My promise fulfilled, the monster would depart forever. Or…some accident might occur to destroy him and put an end to my slavery forever' (Frankenstein 147)
When one is talking about human ambition and failure in this novel, there are many ways to approach it. Frankenstein succeeded in his original goal: he wished to create life, to master the physical world and to play in the female arena of child bearing. He did all these things, he understood nature, and he took what his university lecturers had taught him and advanced that to undermine the Gods, just as Prometheus did in the Greek myth. Similarly to Prometheus, Frankenstein was punished for his actions. He paid the price of having to be responsible for the monster he created for the rest of his life. By running fleeing this responsibility, he lost everybody that he cared for, becoming a recluse, caring about nothing but destroying his beloved creation, this is demonstrated by his suicidal chase through the North Pole. It is in the discretion of the reader as to whether Frankenstein failed or succeeded in his goal. However it is worth noting that he dies desperate, lonely and unhappy and in a way killed in an act closely related to patricide.
It is also worth probing into whether the monster failed or succeeded in his born mission and indeed whether it is his doing or the responsibility of his master. The monster gained life and was not destroyed despite his physical appearance. He learned about and experienced nature, but he was never accepted into normal civilisation on any level. He reaped revenge upon Victor Frankenstein and eventually led him to death: "I have pursued him even to that irremediable ruin" (Frankenstein 214). However, the creature never achieved happiness or acceptance. Some critics have read the monster to be Frankenstein’s double, a symbol of both the goodness inherent in man, and his fated fall from grace. They destroyed each other and this is a human failure in itself. The monster’s single saving grace was that he felt great remorse for his actions, this could be judged as a final triumph before ending his own life: "You hate me, but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself" (Frankenstein 214).
The only example of human accomplishment within this novel is that of Robert Walton. Although he doesn’t discover unseen territory of the world, he does discover a friend he cares for greatly and gains knowledge of something thought previously to be impossible by all but Frankenstein. He also puts the lives of his crew before his own desires to continue with his voyage and instead turns back towards England. Although this can be seen as failure he comes out of the novel the most well-adjusted and seemingly innocent character.
The final theme of this novel is the inclination of the chief protagonists to 'hide in the shadow’s'. As a young child: "It was [Frankenstein's] temper to avoid a crowd and attach [him] self fervently to few" (Frankenstein 35). It is perhaps this behaviour and the dependency he has on his family that sets the standard for his need to hide from failure and believe that his family will not understand; he states: "No human could have passed a happier childhood than myself. My parents were possessed by the very spirit of kindness and indulgence" (Frankenstein 36). From the moment the monster opens it's eyes, Frankenstein regrets his actions, realising the true horror of his conduct, he states: "Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and the breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." (Frankenstein 55). On returning in the morning, one may expect that Frankenstein would be worried or concerned that the monster has escaped as he is unaware of what the it is capable of. Instead we see that Frankenstein is delighted: "My bedroom was freed from its hideous guest. I could hardly believe that so great a good fortune could have befallen me" (Frankenstein 59). This demonstrates that Frankenstein would prefer to hide from the reality of a situation rather than deal with it.
This is illustrated in far more detrimental fashion when it is revealed that Frankenstein's younger brother has been murdered. While Frankenstein is certain of the monster’s guilt he allows an innocent girl and lifelong friend to be hanged for a murder that he is in part responsible for. He also sees the pain this causes his loved ones, in particular Elizabeth. He watches as every important person in his life is murdered, and still does not alert anybody to the disaster that has beheld him. Even as Victor Frankenstein is dying, and transmitting the last fragments of his life to Walton he does not accept his responsibility, claiming that the monster was an ill fortuned mistake and not a reflection on his own character or misjudgement: "In these last days I have been occupied in examining my past conduct; nor do I find it blameable…" (Frankenstein 209). This highlights the tradition of the gothic author’s to allow their protagonist’s to become irrational, selfish and inhuman in their pursuit for ultimate gain.
The theme of irrational human ambition and fear of failure is also present in the original gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto, by Walpole. The story follows the character of Manfred in his pursuit for a son to continue his rule of Otranto. His only son; a "sickly" (The Castle of Otranto 17) youth is to be married to Isabella, however, early on in the novel Conrad is killed after the mysterious and supernatural collapse of an enormous helmet. Through the untimely death of his son, the reader is invited to witness Manfred’s frantic endeavours to sustain his power through frenzied violence and murder. Bizarrely and disturbingly, Manfred seems to recover his composure over the loss of his son almost instantaneously. Within a few short hours Manfred calls Isabella to his apartment in an attempt to force her into marriage. To everybody else who is aware of the prince’s latest whim; this is a selfish and irrational endeavour:
'By me thou art reprimanded for thy adulterous intention of repudiating [Hippolita]: by me thou art warned not to pursue the incestuous design on thy contracted daughter' (The Castle of Otranto 39).
Jerome, Manfred’s friar, warns him against the possible repercussions of such a decision, but Manfred is clearly obsessed by the threat of failure the end to his blood stream will surely bring. Within the first chapter of the book, Manfred has disowned not only his daughter, Matilda: “Begone, I do not want a daughter” (The Castle of Otranto 21), but unbeknownst to her, also his wife: “Curse on Hippolita” (The Castle of Otranto 22). Manfred, the main protagonist of this novel, is never represented as a likable character but more often as "the caricature of a feudal baron, [and] also as the irrepressible villain who merely mocks at society" (Punter 47). He is the archetypal gothic depiction of the patriarchal ruler and highly representative of the "eighteenth century view of feudalism and aristocracy" (Punter 46). This opinion is supported by the utter disregard for women demonstrated by Manfred throughout the novel.
Eventually Manfred’s actions lead him to the murder of his daughter: “heaven directed my bloody hand to the heart of my child!” (The Castle of Otranto 76) and earlier on in the story he exclaims: “Heaven… does not send heralds to question the title of a lawful prince” (The Castle of Otranto 45). By saying this, he is distancing himself from God’s judgement. Although the prince makes no attempt to hide in shadows, he eventually: “[dashes] himself on the ground and [curses] the day he was born” (The Castle of Otranto 77) – an attempt to hide from his actions.
In a similar fashion to both Frankenstein and The Castle of Otranto, Vathek by William Beckford features a protagonist whose need to achieve his goal leads him to horrific depths of murder and violence. Five palaces within the Caliph’s city illustrate Vathek’s hedonistic lifestyle, each: “destined for the particular gratification of each of the senses” (Vathek 85). However not even this extravagant lifestyle satisfies the Caliph’s tastes: “he wished to know every thing; even sciences that did not exist” (Vathek 86). In a similar way to Victor Frankenstein, Vathek shows a total disregard for the very people he should be protecting. Vathek is promised by ‘the Indian’ to be given the information he craves if he is willing to sacrifice fifty of his vizirs children. The Caliph does not hesitate to obey this command, he returns to Samarah and: “put[s] on the appearance of affability to every one… and direct[s] the conversation to the children of his guests” (Vathek 98). After convincing his vizirs he wishes to praise each of the handsomest children he takes them to the precipice of a “dreadful chasm” (Vathek 99) and one by one leads them to his death, while the unknowing proud parents celebrate out of sight.
Each of the novels discussed embody the title quote in regards to the gothic genre completely. They epitomize the common denominator between all gothic novels; the desperation of the protagonists to obtain what they crave. This could be the affection of another character, as in many gothic novels such as The Monk with Ambrosio chasing Antonia as an example. The difference between gothic protagonists and those in other genres is that the craving seems to be irrational and is of course usually underlined by a supernatural sub-plot. The threat of failure drives the characters to take actions that, to normal people, seem horrific, foolish and often crazy. None of the protagonists leave Mary Shelley's classic novel having fulfilled successfully all of their ambitions, each one falls down at some point, similarly to Beckford’s Vathek and Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. However at the beginning of each novel they are all striving to fulfil their aspirations to achieve 'great things'. The title quote for this essay successfully illustrates the desperate plights of many gothic characters. It defines the troubles of each central character flawlessly in both the physical sense and the metaphorical sense.
Bibliography
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