Analysis of Frankenstein by Shelly the Edition and Introduction by McGrath - Book Report/Review Example

Analysis of Frankenstein by Mary Shelly the Edition with an Introduction by Patrick McGrath I Paper: “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.” This passage (sentence) is from Walton’s final letter to his sister wherein he recalls the words of the monster that he speaks over Victor’s dead body. How long an individual can wait seeking justice from this cruel world? The monster is angry, is engulfed in self-pity, its inner life stands devastated. When one faces such grim experiences, one becomes cynical; any ghastly crime can happen through that individual. Crime is committed in the abnormal state of the mind, where one acts at the spur of the moment, without rhyme or reason. The monster precisely acts thus. The pages of human history daubed in bloodshed to which every individual is part overtly and covertly, willingly and unwillingly, asks the crying question. How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and straight forward. Eyes full of understanding, hearts full of love and the life that refuses conflicts-enough, these alone are enough! But what happens when an individual, man or woman (in the present story, the monster) is denied love and understanding and suffers mental cruelties that one doesn’t deserve? When an individual is constantly nagged and abused, condemned and ostracized by his near and dear ones, the people whom one trusted, and society as a whole, one turns into a viler and bitter individual. Even showering pity will not help him one bit. Heartfelt care and concern, an understanding approach and tender regard for his feelings are necessary prerequisites to heal his inner wounds. The monster’s expectations from his creator were legitimate. Victor should have thought before creating the monster, the consequences of his action. Why did he create him at all, if he could not provide the necessary support? Victor’s mental state can be compared to that of the present-day nuclear scientists who have created the weapons of destruction and have handed over them to the unscrupulous politicians. The act of misadventure by any one of them can destroy the entire world. The missiles carrying the atom bombs will cover the distance of thousands of kilometers and kill the innocent people, men, women and children, whom they have not seen or with whom they have no previous enmity. Monster kills many, with whom it has no direct enmity or malice! The monster’s comparison, “am an abortion”, is highly pathetic. One is reminded about the present-day grim debates about the issue of female feticide. The fetus is totally helpless when someone decides to abort it and will not allow it to come into this world. The monster feels totally frustrated when Victor will not fulfill its normal aspirations to have the company of a female monster. II Essay: Co-operation with the Nature is better than conflict. Excessive pursuit of knowledge without knowing the purpose of such pursuits will end in disastrous consequences—this is the dominant theme of Frankenstein. Victor creates the monster, and when he realizes the dangerous consequences of his creation, he begins to hate the monster intensively. But the issue is beyond redemption. Everything, all relationships so dear to him stand annihilated by the power that he creates. His friend, Walton draws lessons from the series of tragedies related to his friend’s life, and comes to the conclusion that thirst for excessive knowledge can be terribly destructive. Man’s cravings to acquire knowledge and gain victory over the Nature are understandable, provided one is aware, why one is acquiring such powers. One of the important characters in Mary Shelly’s novel, Victor, spent a happy childhood and finally entered the University of Ingolstadt and his subjects of study were philosophy and chemistry. (The former represents spirituality and the later science). Victor intensely desires to unravel the secret of life, does relentless research towards his intended goal, and he thinks that he has achieved the ultimate knowledge. “So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein—more, far more, will I achieve; treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.”(SparkNotes ….) “Victor utters these words in Chapter 3 as he relates to Walton how his chemistry professor, M. Waldman, ignited in him an irrepressible desire to gain knowledge of the secret of life. Victor's reference to himself in the third person illustrates his sense of fatalism—he is driven by his passion, unable to control it.”(SparkNotes…) The dispute between the scientist in the philosopher and the philosopher in the scientist, surfaces at the most unsuspected moment. Victor is unable to fathom at that state of his mind-level thinking, the terrible consequences of his pursuit for secular knowledge. Both friends wish to progress and achieve what they consider spectacular, at any cost. They are not worried about the victory or defeat for the results of their scientific experiments and are least aware of the dangerous consequences of their approach. Victor ponders, “Such were the professor's words--rather let me say such the words of fate, enounced to destroy me. As he went on, I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being: chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, and one purpose.”(Mary Shelly…) Little did Victor realize that he was seeing his researched material with an ill-adjusted microscope! He hoped that he had reached the final frontiers of knowledge, but the reality was entirely different. With the maladjusted mind, his vision was blurred and he was lost in the general confusion of data. How can he create perfect things, with imperfect data and raw material? He was not having the true evaluation of the perceived object. He was not certain about the utility of the final product his research will deliver. His perception was vague and his estimation of life false. When the adjustment of the mind with perceived truth is not maintained, the final objective achieved will be far from truth. Men of knowledge like Victor, in the secular fields can become diligent scientists in life and only those who acquired the inner knowledge, the spiritual masters, are the scientists of life. Victor’s misfortune was that he belonged to the former category. He tried to create a creature out of old body parts. And finally, when he brings his creation to life, he realizes that he has created a monster! The sight of his creation horrifies him. He realizes that he has invited the life-long trouble for him, and does not know what to do next. When Victor has no solutions for the gigantic problem that he has created for him, escape from the presence of the problem is the only solution for him. The specter of the monster looms large over him. He feels extremely sorry for what he has done to himself, with the wrong application of the scientific knowledge. Where to make the fresh start from the point of no return? His old pal, at the University, Henry takes Victor to his apartment, and Victor feels that the monster is gone for ever from his life. This grim experience has shattered Victor totally. He wishes to return to his quiet life with the family, to recoup his mental health. He gets the message from his father that his brother Williams has been murdered. He rushes home. En-route, he catches the sight of the monster. Victor connects the murder of his brother by strangling, to the Monster. A different episode awaits him at home. Justine Moritz, who has been adopted by the Frankenstein household has been accused of the murder of Williams, and despite her pleading innocence, she is condemned and executed. Victor is twice-cursed now. He blames himself that he is indirectly responsible for the murder of two dearest ones to him. He is a totally shattered man. Unable to find solution for his self-created problems, deeply hurt by the tragedies, he reverts to the escape route again, this time for the self-imposed solitary confinement across the mountains. He is all alone there. One day while crossing a massive glacier, he is overawed by the presence of the monster. The monster approaches its master, pours out the question of its life and seeks to understand its plight. It provides the logic of the cruel happenings that resulted in the murder of his brother Williams. The lethal blow to Williams was in fact the blow to injure the psyche of Victor, it pleads. The monster requests Victor to create a mate for him, so that it can seek emancipation from the utter boredom of life. For that Victor has to create a female monster equally grotesque, who will become the companion. Victor is not willing to commit another mistake of creating one more monster. But the monster convinces him, why the female monster is necessary for his life, Victor agrees, works aggressively to repeat his first success. One night while at work, his conscience pricks him. He is seriously worried about the morality of his actions. He glances out of the window of the room where he is conducting the research, and is horrified to see the monster waiting impatiently for the favorable results of his experiment. The awful grin of the monster stupefies him. His wavering mind lets him down again. He destroys the second creation and is immediately challenged by the monster that it will have the revenge on Victor’s wedding night. A series of unfortunate events follow, his friend Henry is also killed by the monster. Elizabeth, his bride, too meets the same fate at the hands by the monster. The monster has turned out to be a serial-killer! In the end, “Victor, already ill when the two men meet, worsens and dies shortly thereafter. When Walton returns, several days later, to the room in which the body lies, he is startled to see the monster weeping over Victor. The monster tells Walton of his immense solitude, suffering, hatred, and remorse. He asserts that now that his creator has died, he too can end his suffering. The monster then departs for the northernmost ice to die.”(Spark…) Conclusion: One of the fateful errors of our age is that the belief that the scientific research is the sure path to the ultimate happiness of mankind. Man’s unwillingness to count himself as part of Nature, but as the challenging force out to subdue and conquer it, is the root cause of all small and big problems. The monster in Frankinstein is one such problem, for which the creator Victor could not find any solution. Such Victors in the modern materialistic society are in thousands and many monsters are waiting in the wings out to destroy their creators and all that is beautiful and noble about God’s Creation! ============ Works Cited: Mary Shelley – Frankenstein: The Online Literature Library www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/ - Retrieved on March 15, 2009 SparkNotes: Frankenstein-Mary Shelley www.sparknotes.com/lit/frankenstein/ - Retrieved on March 15, 2009 . Read More