Over View of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Over View:
The story of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is about a man who created something that messes with nature, and nature came back to mess with him because nature is more powerful than man.
Victor Frankenstein was very interested in natural philosophy and chemistry and basically tried to play G-d by creating life. When he found the secret of activating dead flesh, he created a superhuman being composed of rotted corpses. What he did was considered unthinkable, and he was haunted by his own creation.
When the monster escaped, Frankenstein knew that he had to deal with the consequences of what the monster might do. Frankenstein received a letter one day which informed him of his younger brother William's murder, and immediately suspected that he was responsible, for he was the creator of the hideous monster. A friend of the family named Justine Moritz was the "presumed" murderer, and Frankenstein was determined to prove her innocent. Circumstantial evidence, however, led the courts to believe Justine guilty, because found in her pocket was a photograph which had belonged to William.
Justine had been put to death, and Frankenstein had yet to find his creation. Finally, upon their meeting, the monster confessed to his creator of what he had been through, how he was rejected by society, and finally, how he had come to kill William. When William had revealed his name to the monster, the monster immediately figured that by killing the young boy, he would have revenge on Frankenstein for giving him life.
The monster did not understand the concept of right and wrong and he especially didn't mean to kill anybody. His expression of anger ended up being violent, even fatal to the victim, and it just worked out that he killed people.
As the monster's story continued, he demanded of Frankenstein a female mate who he can be with until his end, and promised to live away from society. Frankenstein, meanwhile, tried to restore the monster's demented mind so he could live a normal life.
Although at first Frankenstein agreed to create a friend for the monster, he changed his mind for fear that between the two of them, his life, as well as many others, would be in danger. The creature wanted revenge, and so everything important in Frankenstein's life ended up being destroyed, including his wife and best friends.
Theme Ananlysis:
Themes are often included in literature in order to provide more meaning and a better understanding for readers everywhere. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the author conveys the theme of loneliness through her characters and their ...
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Although at first Frankenstein agreed to create a friend for the monster, he changed his mind for fear that between the two of them, his life, as well as many others, would be in danger. The creature wanted revenge, and so everything important in Frankenstein's life ended up being destroyed, including his wife and best friends.
Theme Ananlysis:
Themes are often included in literature in order to provide more meaning and a better understanding for readers everywhere. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the author conveys the theme of loneliness through her characters and their actions, in order to show audiences the negative consequences that may result from one's own desires. Shelley projects this theme in a very interesting way throughout the story. Using the point of views of two different characters that suffer from the same thing, Shelley is able to show readers that at certain times, characters in many forms of literature can be linked together through emotions, actions, personalities, and other attributes that captivate audiences.
Shelley uses the character, Doctor Frankenstein, to develop the theme of loneliness by allowing Frankenstein's own solitude to be the cause of the story's main conflict. In his quest to create a companion for himself, Frankenstein accidentally creates a "monster", who in his own ignorance, becomes a threat to Frankenstein himself, as well as for the rest of society. Due to Frankenstein's feeling of loneliness, after giving life to such a creature, he feels as if the only way to right his wrong would be to unleash this "monster" into the world where he feels that his creation will be alone. Because he is not guided or watched over, this creature violently kills whoever it comes in contact with, which causes Frankenstein to return to his home town, where several of these murders occur. While at his home once again, with his family, Frankenstein begins to recognize that he was not at all, as lonely as he thought he was. If he had taken the time to analyze his own feelings, he could have avoided such a huge conflict that arose from him feeling the way he did. Shelley incorporates the theme of loneliness in this way to teach audiences that one can be satisfied as long as they allow them self to be. If Frankenstein had allowed his self to be happy with whom and what he had in life before creating his creature, many problems that developed in the story may have easily been avoided.
In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley also uses the character, Frankenstein's creature to convey another form of loneliness that allows readers to further understand this character. The creature's loneliness causes him to perform horrible actions such as murder, because he too desires a companion. In order to obtain this companion, the creature continues to kill whom ever it comes in contact with until he comes in contact with Frankenstein himself, so that he can demand that the doctor create a mate for this creature. Although this creature seems to be a victim of his own ignorance, he does express human emotions and feels as if his troubles will also be over when he gets a companion.
In conclusion, themes such as the one included in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are incorporated into stories to provide readers with a better understanding and appreciation for all literature. Themes such as loneliness, and what loneliness can cause may teach people lessons of life that can sometimes change one's life in a significant way. By showing what happens to characters in this novel, Shelley shows readers that what one feels can be changed by that very person if a change is actually wanted. This, along with other lessons that can be useful to many, is a clear example of something positive that can result from the incorporation of a theme into any form of literature
Monster?
What is a monster? The word "monster" causes one to imagine a hideous, deformed or nonhuman creature that appears in horror movies and novels and terrifies everyone in its path. More importantly, however, the creature described generally behaves monstrously, doing things which harm society and acting with little consideration for the feelings and safety of others. Thus, it is the behavior which primarily defines a monster, rather than its physical appearance.
Alhough Victor Frankenstein calls his creature a monster, and considers it disgusting and abhorrent, it is in fact Frankenstein who behaves monstrously. He claims to have created the creature for a noble purpose: to defeat death. However, it is clear that his motives are largely selfish, as he states: "I was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret" (36). He creates a living being without considering the consequences, without acknowledging that the grisly nature of its creation and physical form might repel others as much as it does him.
When Frankenstein abandons the creature, it is out of disgust for his physical repulsiveness; he never stops to consider the creature's emotions or how he will survive on his own. In doing so, Frankenstein condemns the creature to loneliness and persecution. The creature's hatred and violent acts are not an inherent part of his character, as he explains, "I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous" (81). If Frankenstein had raised and cared for him, the creature would have experienced compassion, and had someone to support him and be his advocate. Instead, the creature is left to learn about the world on his own, and develop a set of morals based on the way society treats him. Because he grows up outside of, and shunned by, society, he feels very little moral obligation towards other human beings. "...and tell me why should I pity man more than he pities me?" the creature asks Frankenstein. "Shall I respect man when he contemns [sic] me?" (122) The creature is not a monster in his own eyes; he is behaving rationally given the treatment he has received. If he were taught a better way to act, he would almost certainly behave in that way. The monster is not born a monster, his ugliness notwithstanding; he becomes one because society behaves monstrously towards him.
Frankenstein, on the other hand, has lived within society and is expected to have certain morals. Among these should include parental responsibility, an obligation to care for the being to whom he has given life. No matter how repulsive his "child" is to look at, he should love and care for it. Not to do so is to behave like a monster.
Although the creature does things which are horrifying, he is much less monstrous than Frankenstein, who acts with indifference to society and hatred towards his creation. While the creature cannot be without blame for the deaths of Frankenstein's family, it was Frankenstein who brought it about through his monstrous treatment of the creature. It is actions that reveal if one is truly a monster, and Victor Frankenstein's selfishness and lack of compassion definitely place him in that category.
