Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Essay Example

? s Frankenstein by Mary Shelley “Frankenstein” is one of the most popular books over thecenturies written by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The novel is divided into three parts. The first one is told through letters, which are written to Margaret Saville by her brother Robert Walton (a failed poet and now an explorer). Next come a series of narratives by a man called Victor Frankenstein, which is then followed by Walton concluding the story through his own perspective. In my paper I will be focusing on how those who play with fire will always get burned, in this case, it is Victor. If he had curbed down his passion instead of turning it into a mad obsession of creating artificial life, the monster would not be. Without its existence, there would not be all the destruction and loss of life that everyone in the book faces. It was just one action which brought about such a role of domino effect that every body’s life was affected – and that, too, for the bad. Victor had a great interest in the sciences since even at an early age. As he grew older, his passion only increased. All his learning encouraged him and gave him the idea of creating a new life or, at least, trying until he truly succeeded in his aim. One could almost say that he became arrogant enough to believe that he had the skills to create a new being. He wanted to be powerful and play god, be responsible for the greatness of having the capability of creating a new being. He wanted immortality in the form of his creation as well as in name. The books would talk about him and his creations for centuries to come, he would remain famous forever. The scientist had no real thought of what he would do after he managed to succeed in making a new Creature. However, once his hope was realized, what was to be his greatest invention was a disappointment to him. The Creature was an ugly fellow who Victor could not bear to be around. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he flees from his laboratory, desperate to keep as much distance as possible between himself and the monster. He does not think of what the consequences of such an action would be. He was a monster, yes, or, at least, he looked like a monster but he did have a heart, too (a heart which craved his master’s, who was also his maker, acceptance for what he was despite his appearance). Because he had feelings, it led him to loneliness and despair which further made him commit terrible acts. “Usually you’re dealing with an angry, dissatisfied person who has poor social skills or few friends, and then there is a trigger that sets them off”, says Dr. Stone and it is exactly what is happening over here with the Creature (Crocker). In a way, it was Victor who was responsible for the deaths of his brother William and his nanny Janine as the Creature had killed his family member in revenge and Janine had been falsely proven to be guilty of the murder and hanged. This span of events leads to his sickness until he is nursed back by his friend Henry Clerval. The Creature then approaches him, asking him to make a female companion for him. Victor agrees but then realizing what mistake he might be making, he destroys the unfinished creature. For revenge, the monster murders Clerval instead. Later, when Victor gets married to Elizabeth, he also kills her. The example Volz gives about “the bizarre and tragic case of an elderly Florida man whose obsession with a child genius led him to gun down the girl's mother outside her Montana home” helps explain why the Creature acts the way he does (Volz). It is the death of almost all of the family which results in Victor’s father dying in a grief stricken state. “Guilt is an emotion that people experience because they’re convinced they’ve caused harm” and this is just what Victor is feeling when he is left all alone and depressed, wants to right his wrong and, so, goes on a journey to the North Pole in search of the Creature (Krauss). Eventually, Victor dies during the travel and the novel ends with the monster weeping over him and then killing himself. Reading the book whilst focusing on the symbolism scattered around, helps explain the plot line and the reason behind any particular character’s actions clearer. There is the one regarding light and fire. Light is, obviously, referring to knowledge of all things and the goodness that beings can possess. Fire, on the other hand, can be good as well as bad. It provides one with light, with the means to look ahead. However, if one comes too close to it so one could get burned. There are certain lines which should not be crossed and this is a clear red flag for Victor and his experiment. He is quite intelligent and has great scientific knowledge; however, he should have known where to put a stop to it. Building the Creature is like coming too close to the fire that the flames hurt him. There is also the comparison of Prometheus and Victor. The former god thought that providing the humans with fire would help them progress, but he was punished quite brutally for going against the wishes of the rest of the immortals. There was only limited knowledge that was to be made available to the humans. Similarly, Victor crosses the line by taking up the job which god alone has, and for this, he is punished by the deaths of his friends and family members. One of the most blatant, important and even a little confusing theme in the novel is that of the idea behind Adam, Eden and the whole Biblical concept. In the book, the Creature is repeatedly compared to Adam, he is the result of the experiments carried out by Victor. The fact that the scientist manages to create him makes out him to be a god like figure, the creator of a living being. Thus, in this case, Adam being the first human to be made, the monster is also referred to as Adam. However, as the story moves along, Shelley also compares the Creature to Satan, he is the fallen angel. He was innocent at birth only craving his master’s love, however, when Victor ran away from him, it pushed the Creature into going to the wrong path. It could have been his way of rebelling. He wanted to hurt Victor as much as he had hurt him which led to him taking certain steps he would not have taken normally if he had been shown some affection. By showing the Creature to be having characteristics similar to that of Adam and also Satan, Shelley shows to the readers that the monster was not, in fact, that. The Devil is said to be pure evil, the Creature was not. By inferring to him having good as well as bad characteristics, by making him seem fallible, the author ensures that one looks upon the Creature as someone having human characteristics. He is good and bad, and the only beings that perfectly follow this are humans. He may be a creation, may not be born naturally, but he is not a monster. He is a “natural man dazzled by enlightenment, tormented by loneliness and desire, reasoning about a social state in which he can never find a place” (McWhir 75). Similarly, even though Victor has a god like tendency, has managed to create a being, he is not, in fact, the owner of all the godly attributes. He has made his own share of mistakes; his judgment has erred repeatedly which makes his imperfections quite clear. Shelley has basically made it quite transparent that both the main characters of the story are human. They are not perfect, they are capable of making errors but they are not evil either, they do have a heart beating, some emotions that they feel. One of the incidents which prove this is when Victor is in the process of making the Creature and has doubts, but “his human nature instinctively urged him to quite his profession, his ambition still keeps him going” (Wolf 4). Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a perfect example of why one should be passionate but within certain limits, and not forget about everything else. People do advice to follow one’s heart and all the cliche lines regarding it, when, in fact, one needs to make sure of whatever steps it is that one is taking. There are some, of course, that have an impact on no one but oneself. However, most of them do have an effect on the others and that should be kept into account, too. In the book, it was just one man’s fault, his obsession which resulted in the ruin of so many lives. If Victor had kept his ideas in check, he – and his family and friends – might have lived a relatively normal life. His desire, his ambition led to badly affecting the lives of so many through no fault of theirs. He, on the other hand, lived whatever little of his life consumed with guilt and just a little bit afraid of what could happen next. Bibliography Crocker, Lizzie. "Mass Murderers, Unlike Serial Killers, Are Hard to Profile." The Daily Beast. 20 July 2012. Krauss, Susan. "The Definitive Guide to Guilt." 11 August 2012. Psychology Today. 6 May 2013 . McWhir, Anne. "Teaching the Monster to Read: Marry Shelley, Education and Frankenstein." The Educational Legacy of Romanticism. Ed. John Willinsky. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1990. 324. Volz, Matt. "Promethea Pythaitha And Mother Georgia Smith Settle Lawsuit With Thomas Kyros' Estate." The Huffington Post. 3 January 2013. Wolf, Nadine. "Nature and Civilisation in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Term paper. 2004. Read More