Love in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein - Essay Example

Love in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Love is present in several scenes in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It is a story about a scientist d Victor Frankenstein and his tragedies stemming from his creation of a human-like creature. This essay explores the premise that in some scenes, love is not sufficient to eclipse sorrow as the suffering has been greater than what love can do to ease the pain. The essay also explores the possibilities of how subversion might have changed the story. Ralph Walton is the ship captain that saves Victor at sea. He describes in a letter to his sister how Victor had suffered so much that it seems he cannot recover even in the company of loving friends. Love cannot eclipse sorrow as Victor ‘is generally melancholy and despairing, and sometimes he gnashes his teeth, as if impatient of the weight of woes that oppresses him.’ (Shelley 9). Ralph begins to love Victor like a brother and is in turn saddened to see him broken by misery. Ralph asks him to relate his story so that he can see if he can be of help to him. Victor thanks him for his sympathy but says that his fate ‘is nearly fulfilled’ (Shelley 12) and nothing can subvert his situation. Victor consents to narrate his autobiography in the hope that it will guide or console Ralph. He hopes that by sharing his experience, he might aid Ralph to subvert a similar fate of utter despair. This is not a sure way of subversion but Victor says that; ‘I do not know that the relation of my disasters will be useful to you; yet, when I reflect that you are pursuing the same course, exposing yourself to the same dangers which have rendered me what I am, I imagine that you may deduce an apt moral from my tale, that may direct you if you succeed in your undertaking and console you in case of failure.’ (Shelley 12). Victor has attempted to create a living form and he neglected to correspond to his family. Love should have been present to encourage him to write home but it was not there to motivate him because he was consumed by work. (Shelley 28). Victor’s father loved him too much to reproach him for not writing but resorted to asking about the nature of his work even more. His father’s show of love could not subvert his desire of creating a living thing from nonliving components. Initially, Victor loved his creation like a father. He said that; ‘No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.’ (Shelley 27). When the creation became alive, Victor was horrified and disgusted with himself for doing such a thing. He felt that the created creature looked ugly because he knew of the dark origins of his parts. Victor should have shown love to his creation but instead, he shunned him. The creature, like a child, came to his bed to plead for attention and care but Victor ran away. (Shelley 30). Victor does not show love to his creation when he ignored his welfare. He happens to meet his old friend, Clerval, near an inn. They return to Victor’s house and Victor was relieved to discover that his creature had left his house. As a responsible father, love should have made him worried for his child but Victor was a coward and was glad instead; ‘I could hardly believe that so great a good fortune cold have befallen me, but when I became assured that my enemy had indeed fled, I clapped my hands for joy and ran down to Clerval.’ (Shelley 32). Victor became too troubled by the consequences of his action that he fell ill and Clerval nursed him back to health. Victor cannot subvert the situation because he cannot do the necessary to show responsible love for his ‘son’. He cannot look for him nor confide in Clerval. Victor loved Clerval as a good friend but he ‘could never persuade myself to confide in him that event which was so often present in my recollection, but which I feared the detail to another would only impress more deeply.’ (Shelley 37). In other words, Victor loves Clerval but the love is insufficient to eclipse his sorrow and other troubles and he cannot confide in him. What Henry Clerval’s love could do was to restore Victor’s health and spirit. (Shelley 38). Love is still present when there is death but love is eclipsed by death’s sorrow. When Alphonse, Victor Frankenstein’s father, writes to ask him to return home to mourn his brother William’s death, Alphonse is filled with more sorrow than love. Alphonse writes that he should be happy to welcome Victor home but his loving joy is eclipsed by sorrow for William’s death. (Shelley 40). Even Clerval’s love for Victor has been eclipsed by his sorrow; he ‘endeavored to say a few words of consolation but he could only express his heartfelt sympathy.’ (Shelley 41). Love is present in Elizabeth’s and Alphonse’s responses to Justine being accused of William’s murder. Alphonse is fair and wants a fair trial for Justine. Elizabeth loves Justine and believes her innocence. Victor believes in Justine for another reason because he has seen his creature in the vicinity and suspects the creature to be the murderer. (Shelley 43-45). The family’s love for William does not eclipse their love for Justine. In the courtroom scene, love should have been present for Justine but it was not. Justine asked for witnesses to be called to examine her character but none came forward. (Shelley 48). The witnesses had known Justine for many years but their fears and hatred of the crime of William’s murder made them timid. Their fears have eclipsed their love for Justine. Elizabeth’s love for Justine urged her to speak on her behalf although she was not called forward as a witness. Her love is insufficient alone to save Justine. A priest should have love for the accused person. However, Justine’s priest has no love for her. Justine reveals to Elizabeth and Victor that her confessor (priest) threatened to excommunicate her and this forced her to confess the lie of murdering William. Justine’s love for Elizabeth and Victor cannot eclipse her sorrow at having to lie and committing herself to death. Her love makes her confess to them the truth because she does not want them to think badly of her after her death. Justine, Elizabeth and Victor have all tried to defend this case but they have failed to convince the judges otherwise. Victor suspects his creature of being the killer but he has no plans on how to deal with the creature to subvert the situations. Perhaps if Victor had contained the creature from the moment he showed animated life form, William would still be alive. Justine’s love for her friends eclipses her sorrow when she talks to them and ‘assumed an air of cheerfulness, while she with difficulty repressed her bitter tears.’ (Shelley 51). The love of the Frankenstein family members cannot eclipse their sorrows. Victor too was very upset as he ‘beheld those I loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.’ (Shelly 52). Alphonse’s love for his son Victor encourages him to console him. He tells Victor to refrain from excessive grief because it eclipses improvement or enjoyment in life. Alphonse’s love for his remaining family members cannot eclipse his sorrow over William’s death and his health deteriorates. Elizabeth was eclipsed by sorrow and was no longer happy. Victor’s conscience troubles him as his love for William and Justine makes him regret creating the creature. He blamed himself for the deaths of William and Justine. His sorrows have eclipsed his love for his own life. Victor thinks that if he had not created the creature, these situations might have been subverted. The end. Works Cited. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Publisher Project Gutenberg ebook Frankenstein, 2005. Read More