Day 25: Frankenstein

First off, this review is going to contain spoilers. I'm going to give my conclusions about the book in the first paragraph so you can make up your mind about whether to read it without any spoilers. After that though, I will be talking about the ending, so be warned.

Frankenstein is the perfect book to get started on classic literature. Shelley is a powerful writer with a massive vocabulary, and while the style is antiquated, after about two or three chapters I was able to read at the speed I normally do for the rest of the book. Her ability to capture the heartfelt emotions in her characters is equaled only by the plot she constructed to facilitate those emotions, from ecstatic joy to the deepest sorrow. The characters are constantly in the grips of these emotions and there's really never a dull moment, though what is physically happening may not be all that exciting at times. It's still slower than most modern books I've read (including literary fiction) but Shelley's prose is so good that even when Frankenstein is just sitting on a boat, or the monster is crouched in a hovel, it still feels like stuff is going on. I highly recommend this book if you you're looking to get into classic literature but find other, larger novels too intimidating.

*Spoilers!*

I was not expecting this book to be a complete tragedy. In hindsight, I mean of course it would be, but I guess I've been indoctrinated by all the other Frankenstein media into believing it might have a happy ending, or at least an ending where someone is still left alive. Victor, after creating the monster, essentially just suffers for the rest of his life. By creating the monster and refusing to treat it as anything but a fiend, Victor turns his own life into a very similar torture that the monster experiences in being rejected by anybody who might ever come to love him. Victor has some joyous moments with his best friend Clerval, and when he marries his childhood love Elizabeth, but these moments serve to highlight his misery and guilt more than anything. Shelley does a great job of using these bright moments, shadowed by the guilt and anxiety over the unknown machinations of the monster, to turn the happiness into tragedy that wouldn't be as potent otherwise. Victor has a chance to alleviate this pain for both himself and the monster after it begs him to create a mate that it can be happy with outside of society, but he destroys the work in progress before the monster's eyes, driving it into a rage. After the monster kills Clerval and Elizabeth, Victor comes to reject friendships himself, feeling he doesn't deserve the love of other people because of his crimes. From then on, he is driven wholly by revenge, just like the monster he has created. In the end, he chases his creation until it kills him. The monster, satisfied (but also rueful) with his revenge, exiles himself to the north pole where he plans to die as well.

The lesson I'm taking from this is (I think) a pretty common conclusion. If you reject a thinking, feeling being based on nothing but the fact that they look like a monster, then eventually that is exactly what they become. Moreover, that act is liable to turn you into a monster as well. The way you treat others is the way you ought to be treated. Had Victor cared for his monster from the start like the child it was, then none of the misery would have come to him. He would have had his dream of being a scientist who added positive things to the world, and the monster might have been able to come to terms with his appearance and live a happy life.

All in all, Frankenstein is a tragic tale about the dangers of being superficial, and the general state of a superficial society. I don't think I'll be reading this one again any time soon because it's just too sad, but it will be a big influence on me in the future.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley