Frankenstein, the novel without deadline

Even if you’ve never actually read Frankenstein, you’re likely familiar with the basic narrative

Mary Shelley’s contribution eventually became Frankenstein, a seminal science fiction novel that remains deeply relevant two centuries later. Today, I’m going to write a text with plenty to say about life and society.

1. Science isn’t everything

As an intellectual in the early 19th century, Mary Shelley couldn’t help but be influenced by the Enlightenment, a cultural movement that was characterized by the weight it placed on scientific enquiry, reason, and intellect. But, like her husband Percy Bysshe, she was also a Romantic, and believed in the importance of nature and emotion. The tussle between scientific progress and the "natural order of things" was something the two discussed at length with their friends, and that conflict takes center stage in Frankenstein. In the 18th and 19th centuries, science was considered the zenith of human endeavor, almost to the exclusion of all else. 

In the fictitious letter that bookends Frankenstein, arctic seafarer Robert Walton echoes this sentiment, writing, "One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought." Ironically, Victor Frankenstein would likely agree with Walton’s assessment. In chapter three, he vows, "I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation." But, as his grisly fate ultimately proves, the pursuit of knowledge comes with risks. Though, at first, Victor considers his Creature a triumph, it quickly becomes his undoing, murdering Frankenstein’s brother William, and ultimately leading the scientist on a chase to the North Pole, where he dies of hypothermia. Today, we live in another exciting time for technology and science, with the fields of artificial intelligence and genetics pushing frontiers and breaking down barriers. Hilariously, genetically modified fruits and vegetables are often mockingly referred to as "Frankenstein foods" by anti-GMO activists who feel that altering the chemical formula of produce can reduce the nutritional value of food or, even worse, cause harmful side effects to consumers. And while we shouldn’t be afraid of making progress, Shelley reminds us to keep in mind the pitfalls that sometimes accompany scientific advancement.

2. Life and death aren’t things to be played with

Victor Frankenstein is moved to reanimate human tissue due, in part, to the loss of his mother. This was a pain Mary Shelley knew well, her own mother, pioneering feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, died of complications from childbirth shortly after she was born. Many have said that Shelley’s novel warns against playing with the natural cycle of life. Shelley was writing at a time when "galvanism" was beginning to be discredited."I collected bones from charnel houses; and disturbed, with profane fingers, the tremendous secrets of the human frame," says Victor Frankenstein.  "Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world... I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in the process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption." 

The ability to be "capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter" is something we are now faced with when it comes to extending the lives of people who are in comas or vegetative states. Sam Parnia’s book, Erasing Death: The Science That Is Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death, explores this fuzzy line, and hypothesizes that death is not a point, but a process. Others argue that just because we can play with this boundary, doesn’t mean that we should. In Frankenstein, Shelley doesn’t really argue that life begins or ends at a particular point, but instead makes a strong case for not messing with whatever nature has decided upon. Though Victor Frankenstein describes the death of his mother as an "irreparable evil," Shelley acknowledges that it’s part of the natural order of life, in other words, there always will be life and death.

3. Parents need to take responsibility for their children

In chapter 1, Victor describes his idyllic relationship with his parents. "I was their plaything and their idol, and something better—their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me." But later, as he grapples with his culpability for the Creature’s crimes, he implicitly blames his own upbringing, suggesting that, if he had only been encouraged to read different scientific texts in his youth, he may have chosen a different path.  In the end, though, Victor Frankenstein succumbs to overwhelming guilt for the actions of the Creature, realizing that the murder of his brother (for which a woman, Justine, is condemned by the courts) was the "result of his curiosity and lawless devices."

Growing up without a mother, and with a rather unconventional father, undoubtedly influenced Mary Shelley’s own views on parenting. Victor Frankenstein’s ultimate acceptance of responsibility recalls the words of the author’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote: "A right always includes a duty, and I think it may likewise fairly be inferred that they forfeit the right who do not fulfill the duty." A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)

4. Intending to do good isn’t the same as doing good

Generally, we want to believe that people act with the best intentions. But, as the French monk Bernard of Clairvaux once wrote, "Hell is full of good wishes or desires." In 1797, Mary Shelley’s parents were staunch supporters of the French Revolution, hoping that the violent upheaval would lead to greater liberty for the French people. But while the end goal was a fair and just society, revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries were both ruthless, with the Jacobin Reign of Terror resulting in the murder of over 40,000 individuals. In the end, the virtuous liberal revolution became as bloody and base as the reign of the monarchy. Just a few years later, France remained in social and political turmoil. With that in mind, Frankenstein can be read as an allegory, not just for the Revolution, but as a warning against violence for political ends. 

More importantly, it’s impossible to separate individual intentions from the end result. "I murdered her. William, Justine, and Henry—they all died by my hands," says Frankenstein. True, Shelley’s protagonist didn't mean to kill anybody, but his actions still had lethal consequences.

5. Appearances, sadly, do matter

The Creature is treated viciously because he looks vicious, and acts out because he is cast out. If only he hadn’t been so hideous, his fate might have been different. Shelley creates characters whose outward beauty reflects their inner goodness, and ugly characters who are deadly, with their "yellow skin," "watery eyes," "shriveled complexion," and "straight black lips" deemed to be a reflection of their inner self. Everyone loves Victor’s fiancé Elizabeth, "the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasure." The Creature, on the other hand, isn’t so lucky, with even Frankenstein referring to him as “a wretch." In his travels, the Creature repulses nearly everyone he meets, like the old man in the hut, who “shrieked loudly, and ran across the fields with a speed of which his debilitated form hardly seemed capable.” 

Poor Creature..

Modern adaptations of Shelley’s novel have rendered Frankenstein’s monster even more grotesque, transforming him from a large human being whose "yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles" to a hideous beast with bolts through the neck and eyes of steel. This link between the Creature’s ugliness and inner evil reflect an uncomfortable truth—people constantly judge one another based on appearance.

Sure, we may tell our children that looks don’t matter. But the harsh reality is, they still do. Visual bias measurably impacts hiring and relationships in the workplace. For example, obesity has been linked to people (especially women) making less money, while a 2004 study at the University of Florida found that taller people earn more. Donning makeup also affects hiring and wages, with women who wear cosmetics earning significantly more than those who don’t. Studies also show that we tend to socialize with people who look similar to us. The good news is that the judgments we make are not innate, but learned. After he finds a small boy, William, sleeping, the monster becomes aware that "this little creature was unprejudiced, and had lived too short a time to have imbibed a horror of deformity."

In other words, looks aren’t the problem. If people hadn’t recoiled at the mere sight of the monster, would he have committed the atrocities that he did? It’s unlikely.

Of course, all of this is open to interpretation. Where one reader sees a story about human superficiality, another might interpret it as a metaphor for slavery, a religious parable, or something else altogether.

In the end, that’s probably why we’re still so fascinated with Mary Shelley’s gothic yarn all these years later. This tragic tale of an ambitious scientist and his regrettable Creature has so many possible meanings that it can’t help but be relevant in any age. 

This year, whether it’s your first of fifteenth read, consider spending some time with Frankenstein. This timeless novel still has quite a lot to teach us about the world we live in today.

Frankenstein Characters summary

Frankenstein can be boring,disgusting, difficult, hideous and most important confusing because of many vocabulary issues, literary elements and weird lenses, but all this stuff is the characters soul. Frankenstein is such a special novel because of the time that was wrote it, and even that, it was not as the top until Mary Shelley die. Frankenstein has 13 unique characters, which the main part of the story is developed by the protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, but here is the interesting part, the protagonist, also is the main narrator of the novel. An interesting part of the novel is that the Frankenstein family adopt 2 little girls, Elizabeth Lavenza and Justine Moritz, the only difference between these 2 girls are their age, Elizabeth is 4-5 years younger than Victor, but afterwards this, The Frankenstein's are a wealthy Swiss family that suffered a really tragic destiny. 

Everything starts at Ingolstadt when Victor's passion for science increases exponentially. He falls into the hands of Waldman, a chemistry professor, who excites in him ambition and the desire to achieve fame and distinction in the field of natural philosophy. Thus begins the mania that will end in destroying Victor's life. Victor spends day and night in his laboratory. He develops a consuming interest in the life principle (that is, the force which imparts life to a human being). This interest develops into an unnatural obsession, and Victor undertakes to create a human being out of pieces of the dead. He haunts cemeteries and charnel houses. He tells no one of this work, and years pass without his visiting home. Finally, his work is completed: one night, the yellow eyes of the creature finally open to stare at Victor. When Victor beholds the monstrous form of his creation (who is of a gargantuan size and a grotesque ugliness), he is horror-stricken. He flees his laboratory and seeks solace in the night. When he returns to his rooms, the creature has disappeared. Until this point of the story, the characters have developed charisma, but after the Victor's leaving of the laboratory, the things start to hook up a little murky. 

Henry Clerval, Victor's boyhood friend, joins him at school, and the two begin to pursue the study of languages and poetry. Victor has no desire to ever return to the natural philosophy that once ruled his life. He feels ill whenever he thinks of the monster he created. Victor and Clerval spend every available moment together in study and play; two years pass. Then, a letter from Elizabeth arrives, bearing tragic news. Victor's younger brother, William, has been murdered in the countryside near the Frankenstein estate. 

To clarify, William is the Victor's youngest brother and the darling of the Frankenstein family. The main reason of William's death is because the monster wanted to hurted Victor for abandoning him.  

On his way back to Geneva, Victor is seized by an unnamable fear. Upon arriving at his village, he staggers through the countryside in the middle of a lightning storm, wracked with grief at the loss of his brother. Suddenly, he sees a figure, far too colossal to be that of a man, illuminated in a flash of lightning: he instantly recognizes it as his grotesque creation. At that moment, he realizes that the monster is his brother's murderer.

Upon speaking to his family the next morning, Victor learns that Justine (his family's trusted maidservant and friend) has been accused of William's murder. William was wearing an antique locket at the time of his death; this bauble was found in Justine's dress the morning after the murder. Victor knows she has been framed, but cannot bring himself to say so: his tale will be dismissed as the ranting of a madman. The family refuses to believe that Justine is guilty. Elizabeth, especially, is heartbroken at the wrongful imprisonment of her cherished friend. Though Elizabeth speaks eloquently of Justine's goodness at her trial, she is found guilty and condemned to death. Justine gracefully accepts her fate. In the aftermath of the double tragedy, the Frankenstein family remains in a state of stupefied grief.

At this moment, the monster has developed his plan safe and sound. He had murdered Victor's brother and had directly smash the Frankenstein's heart with Justine's fate. Unfortunately, that was not the total plan that the monster had in mind.

The monster concludes his tale by denouncing Victor for his abandonment; he demands that Victor construct a female mate for him, so that he may no longer be so utterly alone. If Victor complies with this rather reasonable request, he promises to leave human society forever. Though he has a brief crisis of conscience, Victor agrees to the task in order to save his remaining loved ones.

In this part, the only pure wish that the monster beg to Victor is someone, but Victor will give him another reason to make miserable his life.

Victor is nearly halfway through the work of creation when he is suddenly seized by fear. Apprehensive that the creature and his mistress will spawn yet more monsters, and thus destroy humanity, he tears the new woman to bits before the monster's very eyes. The creature emits a tortured scream. He leaves Victor with a single, most ominous promise: that he shall be with him on his wedding night.Victor takes a small rowboat out into the center of a vast Scottish lake; there, he throws the new woman's tattered remains overboard. He falls into an exhausted sleep, and drifts for an entire day upon the open water. When he finally washes ashore, he is immediately seized and charged with murder. A bewildered Victor is taken into a dingy little room and shown the body of his beloved Henry, murdered at the creature's hands. This brings on a fever of delirium that lasts for months. His father comes to escort him home, and Victor is eventually cleared of all charges.

Yeah...., kind of harsh plan the monster have in mind, but wait, the worst part is coming up. I like to name it "The Blood Moon"

At home in Geneva, the family begins planning the marriage of Elizabeth and Victor. On their wedding night, Elizabeth is strangled to death in the conjugal bed. Upon hearing the news, Victor's father takes to his bed, where he promptly dies of grief.

Wow, now at this point there are just 2 characters of the 13 that we had in the beginning, but if we look deeper in the movie, we will see that the misfortune of the protagonist is not because of the monster. It is because of the miserliness of himself.

Having lost everyone he has ever loved, Victor determines to spend the rest of his life pursuing the creature. This is precisely what the creature himself wants: now, Frankenstein will be as wretched and bereft as he is. For some time, the creator pursued his creation; he had chased him as far as the Arctic Circle when Walton rescued him. Finally, he is no longer able to struggle against his illness, and dies peacefully in his sleep. At the moment of his death, the creature appears: he mourns all that he has done, but maintains that he could not have done otherwise, given the magnitude of his suffering. He then flees, vowing that he will build for himself a funeral pyre and throw his despised form upon the flames.

Summing all characters up, we can definitely conclude that Victor is the murder of his entire family, friend and even his wife. The monster here plays the victim role because it was created as a sample of life principle. On the other hand, Victor plays the mad scientist role, whose biggest creation turns into a killer machine because of his miserliness and desires of being a god. The other characters such as his father, Elizabeth, Henry, William and Justine are doomed because of Victor's desires, and as a matter of fact, they are the price that Victor paid to become a "real scientist".