Frankenstein: The Misunderstood Monster - Essay Example

Frankenstein: The Misunderstood Monster Introduction Mary Shelley introduced the fictional character 'Frankenstein's monster' in her novel ‘The Modern Prometheus,’ published in 1818. The novel shows Victor Frankenstein - student of chemistry and alchemy who built the character Frankenstein's monster in his laboratory using different scientific methods. The aloof and indifferent behavior of his parents made Victor feel detached from his family. He created the monster thinking that the creature will help him overcoming the scarcities of his life but immediately after bringing creature to life, he absconded from it in horror and disowned his experiment and creature. The created monster was not aware of his identity and eventually he wandered through wilderness seeking someone to understand him. He spent some time in a remote cottage where the inhabitant family was unaware of his presence. When he made the family aware of his presence, the family members were terrified from his ugliness and refused to accept him. The monster then tried to rescue a girl shot in the shoulder but failed, and after getting disappointments from every side he cursed revenge on his creator who was responsible for bringing him into the world. There are many questions that ascend in mind while striving to understand this character. The major question revolves around the negative portrayal of the character. It is observed that the Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is always portrayed as the bad guy in all the movies. Now here arises a question that why is he always considered to be evil and immoral? The answer of these two questions could be explored easily if we have an in-depth sight to his early life as a child and relationship that he shared with his mother and father. This monster is a reflection of his life that somehow turned him into a mad scientist who becomes over possessed with his own findings and researches. His strong attachment with his own work has deeply affected himself and his own life. Discussion The readers and literary critics widely believe that the birth of Frankenstein was the outcome of the life events experienced by Mary Shelley and based on this belief we might come to the supposition that the male dominated roles like Walton, Victor, Clerval and the monster were partly incidents of her own life that she presented in the novel. It is also observed from the reading and analysis of the story that there are little female roles depicted in the story that could be taken as another indication and reflection of Mary Shelley’s early childhood where her mother could not give her enough time and affection. She experienced that in her society the social value of a women was particularly very low as compared to man at that time. In 2004, Marcus Nispel directed a movie ‘Frankenstein’ that became very popular and famous. The movie was the cinematic version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This movie has minimum roles for the female and only one prominent female character was portrayed who played the role of detective in charge of much debated murder case. The character of this female investigator in the movie was basically the director’s effort to lessen gender inequalities that were also highlighted in Mary’s novel but in a little old fashioned way as compared with the movie (Jaworski 2010). The character of Frankenstein also depicts the isolation of male and female actors. Shelley portrays the unnecessary role of a female in the creation of a new human and this thought is displayed via the exploitation Victor does to the natural reproduction method by introducing his monster. Though not a very strong role, but mother's nature may also be considered as a major element that constitute the plot. Many people do not even feel that it’s worth discussing that there could be some differentiation in Frankenstein and his monster. They merely believe that the monster is a reflection of Frankenstein’s and they both hold almost the similar traits with no distinctions. The critics also have emphasized this point saying the hero and his rival were much alike and hence the monster can also be considered as turn of phase of Frankenstein (Bloom, 34). The character of Frankenstein possesses several complexities that were basically reflection of the life of his creator Victor. It is important to notice that the Victor's ‘Edenic childhood is an interlude of prelapsarian innocence in which, like Adam, he is sheltered by his benevolent father" (Shelley 87). Victor was victim of snobbish and aloof behaviors of his parents that gradually led him towards the state of mind where he strived to challenge the natural process of creation and attempted to have a creation at his own. However, there has been a lot of differentiation in opinion considered when it comes to Shelley’s Frankenstein (Bloom 34). Victor felt the need of creating the new creature basically to support his feeling that no parent would declare greatness of his son and to combat that he wanted a creature that gave him the same appreciation that his parent demanded form him. Through the creation, he basically attempted to take over his father’s place. This reason might be the core reason behind his rebellious and turmoil attitude. Victor’s father always made sure that Victor disregarded all natural horrors but even after all his efforts Victor’s creation was based on a pure horrifying creature. He disdains all the teachings of his father and forgoes their power as parents by proposing a child who was powerful and superior to everybody including the parents or creator. The novel takes an interesting turn in the end where he claims and held himself responsible for all the deaths and murders. He claimed he has a dislike for human face and was fascinated by the most hideous and disgusting humans (Bloom 34). The novel shows that the forces of both Victor and monster were great and his creation portrayed a mirror image of the relationship among them. But it is not easy to come towards a conclusion that which of these two was more evil. Many people think of the monster as being more evil but after having a deep look it could be said that the Dr. Frankenstein is greater evil as he was the master and creator of the monster and hence he is father of the destructions caused by the monster. Frankenstein never accepted his responsibility in the creation of this evil and his cowardice resulted in the death of his brother and an innocent girl who was blamed for his brother’s death. The character of the monster displayed rational and intellectual qualities and due to the selfish and immoral actions of his master, Dr. Frankenstein he was compelled to trouble him eternally. As a result Victor gets trapped in his self created hell and haunted by his own creation because eventually he became the major victim of his creation’s destructiveness (Shelley 86). The novel also develops the link between science and the plot of the story showing that the electricity was a powerful and driving force of magnetism and this as per some studies has some relation with astrology and forces of undefined forces that captivate people. But we cannot completely relate this study to that of Shelley’s Frankenstein merely because firstly Victor has strong desire to give life to a lifeless creature and he was aware of the drawbacks of putting his desires into action by creating the monster. Victor’s character appears tragic and full of flaws as his inside evil and the outside forces determined him to create such a horrible creature. The monster and its master had a clear idea about devastations they were involved and in pursuit of following Victor’s trait the monster also neglected the consequences of its actions. When the monster realized his pure evil and nothing in comparison to human he cried out about the nature and said that the knowledge he had was like a trace on the rock and is hard to remove (Shelley 87). The power of knowledge is very strong, once acquired cannot be forgotten. The monster was a perfect showcase of knowledge but as soon as it slipped out of Frankenstein’s control it caused immense harm that was irreversible. Victor was reflection of the aloofness that the experienced in their life with their parents. Both of them had abandoned the beauty of a parent child relationship that eventually affected Victor mind in very negative manner. However, there is another thought that point out towards the perception that both Victor and his creation strive for acquiring knowledge, wanted revenge and adored nature. It was Victor’s appreciation for the nature that led him towards the first steps of his destruction (Shelley 87). The creation of Victor basically depicts his inner complexities and intricate war that was going inside him due to standoffish behavior of his parents. Through the creation of this monster he wanted to show what he thinks about the world and his strong love for the philosophy of nature. It was his want of more and more knowledge that compelled him to get enrolled in the University of Ingolstadt and acquire scientific knowledge. He wanted to excel in science and gained education from all possible sources. He also educated himself about mathematics and chemistry. The horrible creature of Victor had the same thirst for knowledge. Throughout the novel the monster perfected his knowledge about different ideas and concepts that shows the shift of same personality traits from Victor to his monster. To quote an example from the novel we see when Felix and Agatha were educating Saife that monster listened carefully and wanted to make the French instructions useful for him. Though the intentions of both the monster and his creator was to gain abundant knowledge, but the over flow of knowledge let them towards being evil which destroyed them (Shelley 87). It is not the knowledge that could benefit the humans alone but the correct use of the knowledge and its sensible implications are also necessary to make that knowledge work for the overall good of the people. Conclusion There are varied opinions about the novel, the creator of the monster and the monster Frankenstein. Most of the readers adore the way Shelley has crafted the character while others accuse her for the horrifying plot. We see that the character of Victor was reflection of the social attitude and behaviors that the author experienced in her childhood. The novel is one the bestselling and it is widely believed that the monster and his master are on the same path but too much knowledge may turn out to be dangerous and the lust for revenge leads you nowhere. Work Cited Bloom, Harold. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. NY: Infobase Publishing. 2007. Print. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=M8_ZszWMLgsC&dq=Frankenstein.+%28The+Norton+critical+Edition%29&source=gbs_navlinks_s Jaworski, Cheryl. 2010. Frankenstein Lecture. 2010. Web. 23rd May, 2013. http://www.academia.edu/1738202/ENGL_103B_Guest_Lecture_on_G.M._Hopkins_PowerPoint> Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. London: Ignatius Press, 2008. Print. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=mx91sREGIB0C&dq=Frankenstein.+%28The+Norton+critical+Edition%29&source=gbs_navlinks_s Read More