Mary Shelly's Novel Frankenstein - Essay Example

Frankenstein By Mary Shelley Frankenstein is a story which was written by Mary Shelley during the early nineteenth century. It was a great piece of work which carried with it strong themes and meanings. It was a story which was very close to the human emotions and highlighted important themes. The story revolves around the life of Victor Frankenstein and his lifelong aim of achieving a goal in the field of science which no one else had accomplished. He followed his ambitions and his obsessions made him create a being. He worked for years and put in much effort to accomplish his task but upon completion, he realized the fact that he had actually performed an act which could result in great destruction. He had created a monster which he considered to be a threat even to himself. The story highlights the happenings in the life of the monster and the difficulties he faces which lead to his complete transformation to an evil character. The story throughout its course highlights the fact that humans have a dual personality of good and evil, and after long- term of aversion, discrimination and persecution by the others, one will become evil and opt for the wrong and the negative path. In this novel, the monster "has human emotions" and he wants to get love from others so badly and the reason that he turns evil is due to the fact that people he is mistreated by the human beings around him to an extent that he is even disowned by his own creator. Frankenstein is a young man who is very ambitious and wishes to complete a task which no one else has been successful at. He starts working towards the creation of a being and his obsession to complete this task makes him forget the fact that the result of his experiments may turn out to be disastrous. He does not think about the impact that his creation may lay on the life of the creature. He works day and night to complete his goal and he continues with his job without considering the use of appropriate sources for his creation. His desire to create a being makes him go to depths that he even chooses to use inhuman parts for the creation of the monster which can be analyzed from the fact when he says, "The dissecting-room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials." This explains the fact that Frankenstein had gone to all limits to complete his creation. But after he succeeded in his task, he realized the fact that he had committed a mistake and had created a beast and not a being that he actually desired (Kelly 2000; Shelley 1979). The first rejection that the monster faces in his life is from his own creator. Immediately upon his creation, he is dejected and disliked by the person who did his level best to create him. This raises a clear point that a creature that was disliked by his own creator would never be liked by other people and would have to face torment for the rest of his life. This also indicates the fact that Frankenstein had lost his senses while he was engrossed in his work of creating the monster and he realized what he had done only after he had finished his creation. He then analyzed the fact that he actually created a disfigured monster which did not resemble human beings in physical appearance. He described the creature by saying, “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work 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 seemed almost of the same color as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips.” This shows the fact that he had failed in creating a perfect being. His attempt to play god had failed and his act of crossing all norms to achieve what he wanted had led to a disastrous result. His dislike for the monster can be seen when he says, “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?” This highlights the point that as soon as the monster was created; he was rejected by his creator. It shows that Frankenstein had realized that he had done wrong but he did not realized that he actually led to the creation of a being whose life would be of no value and he would have to live forever in isolation. His guilt did not even give him the power to think about what he has actually done and he does not wish to recount his experience and the detail of the monster even to his very close friend Henry Clerval. The monster had to actually pay for the fault that Frankenstein had committed (Davin 2006; Kelly 2000; Shelley 1979). The monster possesses all the emotions of a human being. He goes into hiding as he is not aware of what is going on in the world like a newborn child. He is not aware about the way of his existence but like a newborn child he teaches himself to grasp about his surroundings and about the world. He does not understand why he is disliked by the people around him. His live is filled with difficulties but he does not opt for the wrong path and tries to adapt to his surroundings. He is very kind hearted and concerned about people in his surroundings. The fact that he is disfigured cannot be denied but he is not as monstrous as his appearance. He hides in a shelter outside the cottage of De Laceys and he gets attached to the people of the cottage. He learns all the emotions from them and teaches how to understand their language. He feels happy to learn the things that he sees like a young child. He has a strong attachment to the people of the cottage and it is for this purpose that he learns their language. He feels happy when the people of the cottage are happy and gets sad when they become sad. He is very kind which is clearly portrayed by the fact that he stops stealing food from them when he learns that they are poor. He tries his best to help the people in the cottage. He does the chores of the young boy Felix without making him feel that his work is being done by someone else. He does not come in front of the people of the cottage because he does not want to e alone in life again. This clearly indicates the fact that he is deeply attached to them and does not like the idea of being separated from them (Davin 2006; Kelly 2000; Shelley 1979). Every human being possesses the emotion of being hurt and after constant disapproval every individual might tend to lose his goodness. This is also true of the monster. When he appears in front of the family, he is greatly disliked by them. They do not see his inner goodness but rather reject him due to his outward appearance and consider him to be a beast. His world gets shattered as he was confined to their family and truly loved them. He leaves them and goes. His goodness does not die and he saves the life of a little girl who is drowning. His act of goodness is again not appreciated and he is attacked by the girl’s father. He runs from there and is very hurt. On his way, he meets Frankenstein’s younger brother and out of frustration he kills the young boy. This is the first act committed by him which indicates his drifting away from goodness. Any human being would lose patience after so many rejections despite of having no fault. The monster follows these norms. He longs for company and he asks Frankenstein to create a companion for him which Frankenstein agrees to. But later he drops the idea and destroys the new monster that he is creating. The monster comes in rage and kills Frankenstein’s bride and his friend. This act is also committed out of hopelessness because he wants Frankenstein to feel the way he does about being alone in the world (Davin 2006; Kelly 2000; Shelley 1979). The life of the monster is very true and represents the life of every individual who is rejected and out casted from the society. The monster is disliked only due to the fact that he is ugly. No one considers the fact that he needs companions and company. His goodness is finally lost when his attempts to be accepted by the society fail. He then resorts to wrong means and kills many innocent people who were in no way responsible for his condition. Works Cited Top of Form Davin, Eric L. Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. Print. Top of Form Kelly, Kevin. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Piscataway, N.J: Research & Education Association, 2000. Print. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and J. Anderson.Frankenstein. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More