Look Back \\ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was about eighteen years old when she wrote the timeless classic Frankenstein. The horrific tale has lasted nearly 200 years, and when I recently re-read it for a college class I'm taking, I couldn't help but wonder why. Why was the story of Frankenstein so intriguing to people when it was first published, and why is the tale so intriguing to people now, me included?

Frankenstein is the story of decisions and consequences. When Victor Frankenstein discovers the recipe for life, he spends months in seclusion to sculpt a creature of human form. When the creature lives, Victor is remorseful. The creature is ugly, and Victor doesn't want anything to do with him. As Victor flees from the creature, the creature finds respite in the country where, hidden, he learns to talk and read and write. The thing he wants most is a companion, but Victor will not create one for him. The creature falls into a murderous rage, and both men live out their days in remorse and madness.

Frankenstein could simply be a mysterious, horrific, amazing piece of literature meant to wow audiences. And it does do all that. But it also has several themes, however, that encourage further consideration. (Below are just a small few.)

One of the most interesting aspects of Frankenstein is the difficulty in finding the line between good and evil. You could say Victor Frankenstein is the good guy in this story, but on second thought, is he? He played God, he created life, and then he abandoned that life. And though the creature seems like an awfully bad guy, is he simply a victim? Well, he did kill a few people, so I wouldn't say he is entirely victimized. While I was reading I had a hard time deciding who to feel sorry for, and I spent most of the time feeling sorry for both.

Can man (and woman) go too far? There's a big theme for you, one that is still up for debate today. Was Victor in the wrong for, after finding the secret to life, creating life? Can one person have too much knowledge? Or is it less about the amount of knowledge and more about what a person does with that knowledge? And isn't it interesting to compare this scenario to various ones today, like assisted suicides, abortions, and IVF? Where should we stop?

Here's another big one for you: nature versus nurture. I learned a lot about this in a psychology class I took last semester, and the question of whether you were born that way or learned it from your environment is forever present. Is Shelley promoting the nurture side of things as she weaves together the creature's story? Was it because of his abuse that he turned mad, or was he "born" that way? Some people obviously take issue with this depending on what side of the debate they are on regarding original sin/total depravity and homosexuality (to name just two).

Maybe the thing that gets me about Frankenstein's ability to stay popular through so many years is that, when you think about it, we never really change. We have the same questions, the same desires, the same likes. Maybe our hairstyles change, our clothes get upgrades, and our music gets revamped, but, on the whole, we humans aren't much different than we were a hundred years ago. Is that a good thing or a bad thing, I wonder?

Frankenstein is definitely one of my favorite books. I love it because of its writing and intriguing story, and I love it because it makes me think. This is my second time to read it, but I can already anticipate a third time around.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Frankenstein.

Some other interesting reviews I dug up about Frankenstein:
Into the Book
Challenging Destiny (also includes very honest reviews of movies
and books based off of the original tale)