Essay on Frankenstein

I read one of the best all around books that I have ever read. I am of course talking about Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The story takes place in Geneva around what seems to be the Middle Ages. The story first begins from the point of view of a Captain Robert Walton on a voyage with his younger sister seeking fame. They discover Dr.Frankenstein looking for his creature. And thus the story truly begins with the doctor’s recall of his childhood, which will ultimately lead back to the present. I loved how Mary Shelly the author did this, not only was it unconventional, it was also I fell ahead of its time in style. We are introduced to a young doctor as a young boy simply just fascinated with what life has to offer within itself. He plans to learn more about that through the use of unconventional methods at the time, Science. As a young boy, Victor is obsessed with studying outdated theories of science that focus on achieving natural wonders. He plans to attend the University of Ingolstadt in Germany. Weeks before his planned departure, his mother dies of scarlet fever. At university, he excels at chemistry and other sciences, and develops a secret technique to imbue inanimate bodies with life. He has the idea to bring to life a human-like creature using parts of the dead and some animal pieces such as bone and possibly the eyes. This I feel does directly correlate with what happens within his own life, like his mother’s death. Mary Shelly’s style of writing of darkness and bitterness really delivers the feeling of astonishment that a reader feels when we see the determination/obsession that victor seems to sow in his work that both amazed and sadden me. He spares no effort in finding anything he can use for his creature, even going as far as grave robbing the dead and using the body parts to make up his “perfect man”. The imagery the author uses to describe the doctor’s creation is amazing as to be expected from a book written during the romanticism era of booking writing. The creature is given human characteristics such as a body and face but because of the lack of perfect body parts stands over 8ft tall. The doctor immediately regretting what he has done shuns his creation like a father disowning their own son. I feel for the “creature” here as it never asked to be created and within moments of its creation is already being told it was a mistake. Abandoned, frightened, and completely unaware of his own identity, the monster wanders through the wilderness searching for someone who would understand and shelter him. One day, the creature musters the courage to finally make his presence known. He introduces himself to the family's patriarch, their blind father, and experiences kindness and acceptance for the first (and last) time. The blind man cannot see his "accursed ugliness" and so treats him as a friend. This is a great scene within the story beacuase it clearly shows how human are in life, clearly judging a book based on its cover and not it’s context. This isn’t more evident than in the next scene when the rest of the family returns, they are terrified of the creature and drive him away. Bewildered but still hopeful, he rescues a peasant girl from a river, but is shot in the shoulder by a man who claims her. Heartbroken and enraged, the creature renounces all of humankind and swears revenge on his creator, Frankenstein, for bringing him into the world. He hunts down his creator and eventually finds his town that he is located in. he meets and tries to befriend a small boy, William, hoping that the innocent youth will not be prejudiced against him. The boy is instantly frightened, however, and threatens to call for his father, Dr. Frankenstein, revealing to the creature that the boy is related to his hated creator. The creature kills him, and, in a further gesture of hatred against humanity, frames for the murder on a girl named Justine Moritz, the Frankenstein’s maid servant. Justine Moritz is sent to the gallows because Frankenstein decides it would be futile to confess his experiment, as no one would believe him. Not that the doctor really cared as I feel he is still ashamed of his creation. The doctor escapes his town and retreats to the mountains in hope that the creature won’t be far behind him. The creature finds Frankenstein on top of the mountain and insists that Frankenstein hear his plight. Here, the monster tells Frankenstein his story and pleads with him to create a female equivalent to himself so that he can hide from humanity with one of his own kind. Frankenstein agrees, but relents just before finishing the mate, aghast at the possibility of creating a race of monsters. Enraged, the creature threatens to destroy everything Frankenstein holds dear. Before fleeing into the night, the creature swears to Frankenstein that "I will be with you on your wedding night!"
He later makes good on his threat by killing Frankenstein's best friend, Henry Clerval, and his bride, Elizabeth Lavenza. Victor Frankenstein's father, Alphonse, then dies of grief. With nothing left to live for and being just as misable as the creature that he created, Frankenstein dedicates his life to hunting his creation down and destroying him. The search ends in the Arctic Circle when Frankenstein loses control of his dogsled and falls into ice-cold water, contracting severe pneumonia. He is rescued by a ship exploring the region and relates the entire story to its captain, Robert Walton. This is where the story truly comes full circle and really shows the talent that Mary Shelly shows in her book. So the doctor recalls past events to the captain before succumbing to his illness and dying. The creature later finds and boards the ship, intent on taking his final revenge, but is overcome with grief upon finding Frankenstein dead, having lost the only family he has ever known. He pledges to travel to "the northernmost extremity of the globe" and there burn his body to ashes, so that no man can ever create another like him. He leaps from the boat and is never seen again. This is truly a sad way to have to end the story but it is a fitting one. What is the final lessoned to be learned here? I feel it is man failed attempt to be god and the consequences that come with trying to pull off such a thing.