One of the themes present in Frankenstein is that creation of life is something divine and forbidden to be created by human beings. The novel’s subtitle is “The Modern Prometheus”. Prometheus, in the Greek Mythology, stole fire from Zeus (a Greek god) to give it to humans and was punished because of that. Victor is the modern Prometheus because he stole the knowledge of creation from ‘God’, and used it as he wished; he was later punished by his own creature. The novel also describes some of the worst aspects of human nature: appearance being more important than one’s personality and how a blind obsession may take control over someone’s behaviour. Moreover, at 1818, it was a time of industrial revolution and changes, mainly in agriculture and technology. The novel Frankenstein is criticising the rate of these changes, which have a connection with the fast progress of technology discoveries in today’s society. In addition, the novel promotes a discussion on the morality of doing something just because it is possible and we can do it, rather than reflecting about all implications and consequences of doing. These themes were relevant in 1818 and are still relevant today.
Victor’s mother died from scarlet fever when he was still young. “It is long before the mind can persuade itself that she, whom we saw every day, and whose existence appeared a part of our own, can have departed forever ” This event had a strong influence on him and drove his reflections about how life was created, and whether humanity would ever succeed in animating something dead. The loss of a beloved person and all feelings related to this were relevant to the audience in 1818 and still are today. Most people would consider bringing someone that they loved back to life if they could have this option.
However, Victor’s earlier thoughts of returning life because of love are soon corrupted. This is evident when he says “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent nature would owe their being to me. I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption”. He is now filled with arrogance and seeks power, admiration and devotion. He becomes obsessed by these feelings: ‘soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose’. The reader starts to see a great contrast between his attitude and motivation; he turned into a complete different character. His family that was once very much beloved is ignored and he stops sending them letters. His friends are completely forgotten. His obsession is the only reason for his existence. This transformation is frightening because it exposes the fragility of human nature and shows how significant events may alter someone’s behaviour and mental health. The reader in 1818 could associate himself with these feelings and emotions as well as it is possible for us in 2011.
In chapter 5, ‘Frankenstein’ introduces some of its Gothic features. The chapter begins with “It was on a dreary night of November”, “the rain pattered dismally against the panes” and “half-extinguished light”. Shelly uses pathetic fallacy, in this case, the weather to create a dark mood. “November” remembers the winter, where the leaves fall and the trees look dead. The “rain” has connotations of depression and melancholy, while the darkness of the room makes it uncomfortable. This sets a dark scenario to the novel, making the reader imagines itself in such environment and feel fearful and tense. Shelley creates a threatening atmosphere without developing it further and the rest is left to the reader’s choice and imagination. In this scenario the creature is introduced, which makes the reader built a negative association with it. The feelings and reactions these Gothic techniques and imagery provoked in 1818 are still terrifying to today’s audience.
He was determined and willing to finish his creation. However, when he finished it, he realised what he has done. Instead of a miracle to be glorified, he describes it as something hideous - “dun white sockets”, “shrivelled complexion” and “straight black lips”. These are interesting word choices, because the reader creates an unnatural image of the creature and see it as deformed, aberrant and monstrous. The words “dun” and “shrivelled” give an impression of something rotting. Its “black lips” gives us an impression of something dead, evil and inhuman. Furthermore, Shelly never gives the creature a name. Victor always refers it merely as “monster” or “creature”; which influences the reader to never imagine his creation with human features. All Shelly’s techniques above-mentioned, manipulates the reader not to identify himself with the ‘monster’ and imagine it as a terrifying and horrendous creature, both now and in 1818. At this point in the novel, the reader is directed by Shelley to sympathise with Victor, who was also scared. This causes him to abandon his creation, leaving the creature to its own destiny.
Ironically, he was haunted by his own creation, the creation that he once admired and devoted his time. The novel creates tension for the reader, as Victor was forced to leave his own house and hide himself to take “refuge” feeling the “greatest agitation”, while waiting and “fearing each sound”, because at any time the creature could find and attack him. This goes against nature because Victor is seen as the mother figure and the ‘monster’ is seen as his child. It is scary today as it was in 1818, because both audiences would not expect that his child who he has abandoned will come back for revenge.
After Victor abandons the creature, his life changes as he recovers his initial personality and reestablishes close contact with his family. It seems that his life has been back to normal. However, this changes again when his little brother is murdered and the creature reappears. The setting that the creature is reintroduced to the novel seems one that came from a Horror movie: “Another storm enlightened Jura with faint flashes; and another darkened and sometimes disclosed the Mole” and “I perceived in the gloom figure which stole from behind a clump of trees near me”. Mary Shelley again uses pathetic fallacy to create a dramatic mood. Storms, thunders and darkness are used to define this and create a terrifying scene. In this tense atmosphere, we imagine the creature as a dangerous daemon lurking in the darkness and stalking Victor. As well as Victor, the reader suspects that the creature was the one that killed his little brother. This assumption is a consequence, firstly, of the way the creature was reintroduced and associated with terrifying environment; secondly, because of the reader is seeing the story from Victor’s perspective. As the story continues, the creature starts to be seen as uncontrollable – he is stronger than a normal human being and causes harm to his own creator. This lets the reader think that its nature is evil - that it is a true monster. This was scary in 1818, as it is in 2011.
Surprisingly, after the monster had an opportunity to explain itself to Victor, the reader is able to see that it has a compassionate and even gentle character. The creature gradually captivates the audience. It helps a family of poor farmers, helping them with their supply for the winter and learning from observing them. Yet, the farmers rejected him because of his ugliness and strange look. They prejudged him based on his appearance, which makes the reader both now and in 1818 sympathizes with the creature, and feel remorse for misjudging him by thinking it was evil and terrifying. Appearance is still relevant in today’s society, maybe even more than it was in 1818. We are bombarded by magazines, television and films with the ‘perfect’ image of men and women. They try to persuade us that this is how we should look, and anything different from that is ugly. Plastic surgery is one of the most growing businesses in the world – people try to change how they look so they can ‘fit in’. We are obsessed by beauty.
Morality was also one of Frankenstein’s themes that was relevant in 1818 and is still relevant today. A question raised in the novel is whether human beings should play God. Victor says “It was the secrets of heaven and earth I desired to learn”. It is not arguable if we might be able to create life but if we should do it. The knowledge he acquired is described by Shelley as something divine and from God, inferring that he went too far, and there are things that should not be undertaken by humans. Victor warns: ‘You seek for knowledge as I once did… you are pursuing the same course…exposing yourself to the same dangers [perhaps] you can deduce an apt moral from my tale’. 1818 society might not have worried so much about his warning because this was only fiction at the time; however, today creating artificial life in laboratory is possible. For instance, On May 2010, the biologist Craig Venter created the first man-made cell. Also, parents can choose characteristics of their offspring, like eye or hair colour, by genetic engineering. This can be considered by some as artificial creation since the baby’s characteristics are chosen, and not what they would naturally be. Additionally, is also possible to implant someone’s organ in a different person, not as different as how Victor has created the monster. These show that science developments are getting closer to create complex synthetic organisms, which increase the chances of Frankenstein going from fiction to reality. Have scientists carefully analysed all the implications and consequences of creating artificial life and manipulating human bodies?
The novel also provokes dubious feelings, and refers to an obsession about the evil side of human nature. Victor and his creature both could be seen as the darker side of human nature, which constantly change the boundaries between evil and good. This makes the reader confused and unable to decide who the villain of the story actually is. In my opinion, Victor is the true monster and he cannot blame his creation because no one is born evil. However, I do not believe that was his intention. His first motivations were pure as he only wanted to see his mother again. Although his intentions were good, he was taken by obsession which led him to not think clearly, which caused him not to analyse what exactly he was doing. This shows that even the most innocent and positive attempts can lead to a disaster, which can be frightening both now and in 1818.
In my opinion, Frankenstein is still relevant and terrifying in 2011 as it was in 1818. Gothic techniques and imagery, like abominable and dead appearance combined with a tense atmosphere, manipulate the reader to fell terrified and scared. Obsession showed in the novel can also be frightening, because it shows the dark side of human nature and drive unexpected behaviour, which most of us consider quite scary. Love, affection and sadness of losing someone we love and the possibility of bringing this person back to life is still relevant. Furthermore, it raises questions about morality (the right of humanity to play God) and appearance (someone that is physically different is still misjudged and discriminated), two aspects that are still relevant to our society as they were in 1818.