![]() Key Details Title: Frankenstein Writer: Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley Year of Publication: 1818 Goodreads - Link Mary Wolstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein regarded as the pioneering work of science fiction is a product of its time and is influenced by the Gothic horror and Romance movements of the time. As most people know, Frankenstein refers to Victor Frankenstein, the creator rather than the creature of the novel and most of the novel is retold directly or indirectly from his perspective. The character of Frankenstein is clearly meant to be a cautionary tale on the danger of human hubris. While you may think you know the story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he brings to life given the countless Hollywood depictions of it, the book has a number of surprising elements and explores a number of themes dealing with the hubris of humans and the dangers of Science without consequence which seems very relevant and resonates with our current technological age. Victor Frankenstein = The modern Prometheus I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. - Victor about to begin his experiment to reanimate the creature The alternative title of the book is the 'The Modern Prometheus' and like the Greek titan Prometheus who stole fire from the Gods and bestowed it on humans, Victor Frankenstein the main focal point of the novel engages in a similar endeavor by attempting to discover the secret of life by reanimating a creature of his creation. The novel follows his obsessive journey towards achieving this goal and like Prometheus who was later chained to a rock and tormented at the behest of Zeus, had to face the consequences of his action. Victor: The Serial Entrepreneur I would sacrifice my fortune, my existence, my every hope, to the furtherance of my enterprise. One man's life or death were but a small price to pay for the acquirement of the knowledge which I sought, for the dominion I should acquire and transmit over the elemental foes of our race. The central theme of the novel is about the hubris of humans and the and dangers of obsessive knowledge. Victor lusts after knowledge and pursues it with a single minded determination foresaking his friends, family and health. The way he dismisses the learnings of the past and the fact that he is not satisfied with settling for reanimating an animal or a human but rather a giant is a testament to the hubris he demonstrates. In the pursuit of this knowledge, Victor has no scruples about violating the dead in Charnel houses and graveyards in the dead of night in the pursuit of this knowledge. The curious thing though is after having surrounded himself with the 'Instruments of life' and completed his creation, his reaction is described as: I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. - Victor’s reaction to seeing the creature for the first time While at first glance, this seems a very strange reaction, in my opinion I believe this demonstrates Mary Shelley acute understanding of the human Psyche. Victor attitude upon seeing his creation while may have been joyous, is also mixed with sadness as he knows that he has completed what it is he has been working towards. I believe that the 'Horror and disgust' that he experiences is not merely due to the appearance of the creature, but due to the realization that his journey has come to an end. The attitude of Victor who loses interest upon completion of his creation seems to me to be echoed in alot of autobiographies of those who call themselves serial entrepreneurs. Victor seems to display alot of the attributes such as curiosity, restless and obsessive nature with which they pursue the gaining knowledge or solving a problem. Frankenstein: the hero? But the interesting thing is did Frankenstein actually save humanity by not creating another companion for the creature?. This has scary parallels for current developments in A.I, Stem cells research etc of blindly pursuing things while ignoring the warning signs. This is quite similar to the scientists who were behind the Manhattan project becoming the most vociferous opponents of the proliferation of Atom Bombs. But it is quite clear that Frankenstein did this not out of some sudden revelation as to the danger of what he was doing but rather was purely and act as spite as well as being a demonstration of the power he had over the creature and it. Later the same passion that fuels Victor to create the creature enables him to pursue him across the frozen wasteland and eventually to his doom. But even as he laid dying on the ship in the company of Captain Robert Walton, his main concern is about maintaining his righteousness in his actions. So on the whole there is very little redeeming qualities about Victor and far more so that his creation, he is clearly the monster of this tale. The Creature: Who is the monster and who is the man? I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous." - The creature bringing Victor to task for forsaking him While I have never actually seen a single Hollywood depiction of Frankenstein (Except perhaps in a Scooby Doo episode!). The ubiquity of Frankenstein's creature is such that you have a very specific image of Frankenstein of being a tall, shambling creature with a square head with pins coming out of his neck. This was probably influenced by Boris Karloff's 1931 depiction in Frankenstein the movie and that image seems to have struck ever since. Another important aspect of the creatures depiction in a lot of popular depictions is that he seems to be mute and can’t managing anything beyond a few animalistic groans. So imagine my surprise to discover that not only is the creature not mute he also is the most eloquent of all characters. The creature seems to be a typical renaissance/ enlightened man where he quotes Shakespeare, devours texts of Marcus Aurelius and is even a vegetarian to boot! The creature who is abandoned by his creator at the point of his creation needs to fend for himself and learns by emulating others. The family he observes and the books he reads provides the knowledge he requires to survive. It is clear that the creatures deepest longing is for affection and acceptance by his creator and in the absence of that, his plea to Frankenstein was to create a creature who would be accepting of him. I find it quite interesting that the only condition the creature asks of Frankenstein is that he makes his female companion as hideous as him. To me this seems to speak to the fact that society has shaped Frankenstein's self worth and his perception of himself where in the absence of any other validation has taken that to be the known. Remember, thou hast made me more powerful than thyself; my height is superior to thine, my joints more supple. But I will not be tempted to set myself in opposition to thee. I am thy creature, and I will be even mild and docile to my natural lord and king if thou wilt also perform thy part, the which thou owest me. – The creature describing his nature to Frankenstein This brings up another point that the creature in the absence of any guidance purely relies on the reactions of society which shapes his nature. Despite all the attempts he makes to gain the acceptance of society he is rejected at every turn. Interestingly, he even seems to gain the obsessive nature of his creator by doggedly pursuing Victor throughout Europe. I see alot of parallels between this and the current debates over the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). While AI itself is neither good or bad, but because it learns to emulate humans with all its prejudices and shortcomings it essentially becomes what society wants it to be., and hence this aspect should be taken into account. I had cast off all feelings, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my despair. Evil thenceforth became my good. Urged thus far, I had no choice but to adapt my nature to an element which I had willingly chosen. The completion of my demoniacal design became an insatiable passion. By the end of the novel, there is no hope for the creature who has come to accept the role society wants him to play and becomes the monster of the Hollywood films. Science vs Nature In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder. - Victor on Scientific knowledge The alternative title of the book is 'The modern day Prometheus' may have partly been inspired by 'prometheus Unbound'; a drama written Percy Bishey Shelley where he praises Prometheus's selfless act of bringing the knowledge of the Gods to humans. While the author herself seems to have a positive view on learning and the pursuit of knowledge, what she seems to warn against is the pursuit of knowledge without consequence or that which is to the detriment of society This is evident in victor who seems to have no vision as to why he is attempting to create the creature accept to fuel his own ego. This seems to be the attitude with alot of tech people have with regard to AI, stem cell research etc. where their view is that they should be given the freedom to do what they want, damn the consequences. But having said that some of the biggest developments in tech seemed to have happened been because of pursuing unrealistic and seemingly fruitless objectives. Ex: Going to the Moon or Race to the North Pole as Robert Walton who appears in the novel and whose character is very similar to that of Frankenstein seems to be doing. The author seems to pit the pursuit of science against nature through vivid displays of the awesome power of nature in the form of lightning, waterfalls and mountain peaks that make up the Swiss landscape. These displays of beauty which can be experienced in the wide outdoors is contrasted in commune with nature is contrasted with the secretive experiments taking place in the Charnel houses and Frankenstein's labs which only bring death and disease. Frankenstein himself more often than not succumbs to. which humbled even a man of science like Victor Taking this into account, the solution the author seems to be advocating is one filled with varied experiences which are in collaboration with society and nature. This is the approach that by Frankenstein's friend Henry who has a great curiosity for knowledge but never lets it override his duty to his friends and the wider community. The Mantra that Mary Shelly seems to advocate is: If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind. By the end of the novel, it is too late for victor to go back on his attitude Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow. A note on the Narrative Structure 'concerning his history; he asked to see them and then himself corrected and augmented them in many places, but principally in giving the life and spirit to the conversations he held with his enemy' - Robert Walton recording Victor’s story The novel is written in the first person perspective where what each character said is retold through the eyes of another in the form of reading their correspondence or through them narrating stories. Correspondence is used heavily in the novel, similar to Bram Stoker's Dracula which was written over 80 years after the publication of Frankenstein and shares many similar troupes with the novel. This structure also makes for an interesting read as the events and depictions of the characters are filtered and distorted by the views of the narrator. As a result one is not really sure whether one is telling the truth or not. For example: Frankenstein describes the creature as getting sadistic pleasure when he kills William and Henry but when the creature relates his tale he is clearly remorseful of what he did. Another example is the character of Elizabeth Lavenza who doesn't get her own voice in the novel and hence through the eyes of Frankenstein is portrayed in the novel as a very demure and passive character and is most likely due to the fact that we see her character through the eyes of Frankenstein who looks upon her as an object that is his by right. Hence the reader is never really sure to what extent the narration is being filtered through Victor’s ego which makes for an interesting and thought provoking read. Verdict Overall this is one of my favourite classic novels and given the timely nature of some of its themes, I would highly recommend it.
0 Comments
|
AuthorAvid reader of Historical fiction, High fantasy novels, Comics & Graphic Novels. Passionate about teaching & the future of education in general. Categories
All
Archives
December 2023
|