Common Themes In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley certainly worthy of being most influential novel despite the bad reviews received. We can thank Hollywood for making us familiar that the monster is Frankenstein, but Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, creates the monster which has no name. Being written almost two hundred years ago, many critics reviewed the book and all had a different opinion because they interpreted the book differently. Despite the slow beginning of the book, Shelley moves the plot through three characters narration presenting different themes of the book.

" Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most influential and misunderstood books of the nineteenth century (Pearce). Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was nineteen on a vacation
with her friends, because one challenged the group in writing the scariest book. The reason being that Frankenstein is so misunderstood that no one realizes that it portrays parts of Shelley's life. Shelley experienced many tragedies from the time she was born to the time of her death-bed. This book is on a "Purely emotional level" because of this causes the misunderstanding because readers don't realize the tragedies that Shelley experienced. Shelley lost her mother in her early life, and she lost her first born due to pregnancy complications. " It's crucial to understand something about the author before we can begin to get to grips with the work" (Pearce). The book itself contains: the death of the Victor's first-born son, his mother, brother, and lifelong friend. Shelley shows the aspects in your life can influence you for greater and better things. The death in Shelley's life influenced her and her book.

People always say, " Oh the movie is just like the book" well Frankenstein; on the other hand, has similar sections but is not the same as the book leaving out important aspects.
Even being that Frankenstein is a top ten horror movie of all the time, Hollywood performs a "Hatchet-job", and " led to horrible attempts to " Stitch the book back together" (Interestingliterature.com.) A blogger by the name if Ryan85 commented on this website talking about how he read the book for the first time in 2011, and he watched the movies from about the book and didn't realize how much Hollywood left out. “ Mary Shelley’s original novel is a shock to anyone familiar with today's pop culture version of Frankenstein.” (Sun-gazette.) Viewers see the monster and label him as no good because all the other Hollywood movies portray monsters as that. Yes, the monster did kill a few people, but by Hollywood leaving aspects out viewers don't understand the true meaning behind the monster and his
doings. According to Interesting Literature.com, Frankenstein is " A moral fable about the dangers of playing God." When playing the part of god, Victor Frankenstein didn't think about the consequences that would form from creating the monster. The monster was rejected since all throughout his life and never had the guidance needed to become accepted into society. The monster thought his actions where the right things to do because he was never taught right from wrong. The neglect from Victor Frankenstein causes the monster to become a monster. Shelley's purpose for writing Frankenstein most likely wasn't to show how bad parenting can affect you kids life but by having this hidden meaning in the book influences parents to guide their kids in the right path of life. Another blogger wrote " I've always thought that maybe all Frankenstein's creature needed was a little bit of love and acceptance." If the monster had all the care and love he needed then the book would have been completely different. The events of the story make the monster who he is and Shelley purposely portrayed him the way she did.

A british novelist, likes Frankenstein overall as a book, but he also dislikes the book because “Anyone acting like a creator is blasphemous” (Scott.) Nobody should bite off more then they can chew, and that is exactly what Frankenstein did.
Dr. Frankenstein let his work take control of his life. He blocked out friends and family because he thought he could defy the laws of science by bringing life into a dead object. On a stormy night his creation came to life and woke him from his slumber. Victor didn’t want to take responsibility for the monster and left his room and didn’t return until the monster was gone. Victor didn’t realize the consequences the effects of created something that has never been done before. For example, cigarettes were once used for religious ceremonies and now are an addictive substance that kills people. The creator of cigarettes didn’t intend for his creation to be harmful. Victor Frankenstein didn’t mean for his creation to be hideous and dangerous like cigarettes.

The video that is linked on Shmoop's website influenced me in changing my thought on why Shelley wrote Frankenstein. They believed that Shelley may been influenced by science, the industrial revolution, and the world of love and peace that she lives in. This time period in the world changed the outlook for every country in existence. Many wonderful inventions were being made that help power the world and then there was some not so great inventions like the monster in
Frankenstein.