Frankenstein Analysis

The Nature of the First Monster.

First, the creation of the story must be made. But, who created the Monster, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and so many other characters that make this story everlasting?

Her name was Mary Shelley. She was born on August 30, 1797 in London. Daughter of the philosopher William Godwin and the feminist writer Mary Wollestonecraft. Both parents were writers of the time.

Her mother was an activist of women’s right to vote, and only four months later of giving birth to Mary, she dies of complications. Thus, Mary never had the chance to know her mother or her thoughts, no more that what she left on her books.

Mary was a devoted pupil to her father, a book lover and enthusiastic listener to his father’s conversations. Since a young age, she had hobby of writing stories but only to a limited group of readers or listeners.

Many years later, as her life progressed, she got married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and between his divorce to his first wife, the loss of his first daughter with Mary, and their scape of debts and shadows, they decided to take on the summer of 1816, a tour through the continental Europe.

The couple decided to make a stop in Switzerland, near the house of Lord Byron, the writer. Byron suggested the group to spend some time writing ghost stories, since the summer had no fair weather.

It was here where the initial draft of Frankenstein was born. The first version was only a few pages long, but thanks to Percy, her husband, she managed to extend its length. The book was published in 1818. Many versions of the background of this book claim that when Lord Byron heard the story, he ran out of the room.

Symbols in The Shadows.

Being born on an environment of philosophy and writing, it became obvious that Frankenstein was more than a simple story. Symbolism is a very important part of the book and the story, allowing the reader to not only entertain himself with the story per se, but also to make a deep analysis of what the symbolism in the plot means.

One of the general symbolism one could find on Frankenstein is the fear Mary Shelley had to the industrialization on Europe. The death and destruction that the Monster brought upon the life of Victor Frankenstein resembles the dreaded outcome industrialization would bring to the land in that time.

Also, Shelley was inclined since her childhood to her father’s views on society and education, therefore, also exposing in her book the treatment of the poor and uneducated. This is a direct precept from her father, allowing her through the book to make a complain about society in the eighteen centuries.

Another symbolism we can find on Frankenstein is light and fire. Shelley relates this concepts with the duality of progress and innovation. Light is a symbol in the very beginning, with quotes such as a country where the “sun is forever visible” (Letter 1.2), or even when Frankenstein says his experience was as “a sudden light… so brilliant and wondrous” (4.3).

Nonetheless, the light is not so much as a good symbol, but combines the real factor with the symbolism per se. Light and fire are somehow illuminating, but the closeness with it may provoke damages beyond repair.

Shelley also makes some comparisons to biblical characters or images. One example is the comparison she makes of the monster with Adam. He is also compared to Satan, the root of all evil on the Judeo-Christian spiritual view.

Also, the monster makes a reference of eating berries with his new bride-to-be, a second, female monster, and finds an obsession with Paradise Lost, a narrative poem of John Milton, which had a big influence on Frankenstein and Mary Shelley.

Some theories define the figure of God as compared to Victor Frankenstein, creating the monster as God created life, and allowing him to be free although he committed acts of horror, much as the freedom given to Adam and Eve after they committed sin on the Eden.

Exploration is another big symbol on the tale. The constant exploration for knowledge, symbolized by the Captain Walton as a quest of “perpetual splendor” of the North Pole, is a clear allegory to the danger of limitless and boundless research and use of science.

The physical journey of Frankenstein and the intellectual quest makes clear the warning Mary Shelley made against the scientific revolution and its danger to humankind. Some experts say that it is not the journey but the way the journey is made and the leader in it.

The clear comparisons between all these elements makes clears the idea of opposing to science research without measure, and the objection to industrialization and progress on England and Europe. Though, this idea was not alone, since many philosophers of the time, writers and politics made clear that change and progress was dangerous.

From a continent like Europe, that was bound by religion and ecclesiastic matters, the idea of illumination by science and research scared everyone, since many things said and done by the church on those times were proven wrong with science.

Mary Shelley was one of the many influenced by this point of view, obstructing herself of the limitless use of science, and therefore, interpreting it as the beginning principle on Frankenstein. The birth, the downfall and disappearance of the monster on the tale is somewhat compared to the birth and fall of the Angel on the biblical tale.

The intense search for revenge and the duality of both characters also compared humankind with God, and how it was perceived on that time, allowing the reader to also feel compelled for Victor and the allegory that tied him to a Creator God.

Trapped Between Gothic and Romantic.

"'I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.'" Chapter 16, pg. 129

Many literature critics don’t know whereas to classify Frankenstein as a gothic or romantic novel. By the time the novel was written, by official literature it must be classified inside the Gothic movement, nonetheless, many critics claim that Frankenstein is the big story of the Romantic Movement.

One of the main Romantic characteristics of the Romantic movement was the question “does God creates us or are we our own masters?”. This question although is not directly quoted in the story, the monster and Victor Frankenstein indulge the reader to know they are questioning this exact same point.

The search for the doctor to animate the death was also consider as one of the philosophical thoughts of the Romantic movement. Man was made to think by himself. The authors of the romantic movement thought that the experimentation with emotions was due, and therefore, Frankenstein is intertwined with this.

The monster’s desire to acquire love, the contemplation of beauty and the fascination of the macabre are elements that are visible in the story. Also, the sublime and the exaltation of beauty in its forms, like Elizabeth, Victor’s bride-to-be, and the exaltation of the human nature and its imperfections, are Romantic characteristics.

Another characteristic that fits perfectly to Frankenstein is based on the allusion that it is more important the individual than society. The romantics thought that inner search, consciousness and imagination was special and therefore, necessary. Here, the monster is fitted, by the idea of love, and the melancholy of rejection by his master and the people.

Inner thoughts and opinions are highly pointed on the story, Also, the altered states of consciousness were searched by this movement. The idea of the murders the monster committed and the search for acceptance by him are important.

Also, the eternal search and altered mind of the doctor, following by his guilt and desire to flee are also matches of characteristics. There is a power of reason in the romantic’s movement, allowing it to differ from the Enlightenment era.

Also, the idea of protest in symbolism and social causes rose up as the movement progressed. The idea of a simpler past, away from the industrial revolution, made the story of Mary Shelley the greatest work of the movement, allowing her to expose more clearly her point of the dangers of science and industrialization.

The mystical element is also present on Frankenstein and therefore, makes the story more compelling to belong to the Romantic’s movement. It is a movement that has been combined with modern movements, but their characteristics are included in most texts, if not all, at least a few.

But, Frankenstein can also be fit inside the Gothic movement, since the period in which it was written fits with the movement. It embraces characteristics that makes this story particularly interesting.

Gothic novels are known for focusing on the supernatural and dark elements, and the horror theme is very prominent on the literature. The mysteries of the creation of the monster by Victor Frankenstein allows critics to notice the gothic characteristics.

Only the idea of gathering remaining of body parts to assemble the monster, and the use of technology for unnatural purposes question the horror of his acts, and painting the story in a gothic manner.

The idea of the dead raising and the macabre thought of reality in the theory, makes the story frightening by itself in the era. The idea of Victor’s experiments makes readers question whereas his actions are a beacon of light or the fall of science as an angel for humanity.

Gothic novels are characterized for having common settings like abbeys, mansions, ruins, castles or rooms with secret passageways. The experiments done by Victor took place in Germany and Switzerland; places where English people did not visit commonly.

Also, the mysterious chases on the North Pole, that by itself represents cold, distant and dark places, makes this story even more terrifying, Victor’s laboratory was gloomy and unknown by many readers, since science was only starting to make a notable image on England.

There are supernatural factors to the relationship between Victor and his master. Wherever Victor goes, the monster follows or it already there. This suggests that there is a somehow supernatural communication between the both, allowing the connection to decide the fate of the two main characters.

Also, the monster has supernatural force and speed, clearly noted on the chase between the doctor and his creation. Thus, the gothic literature characteristics are fit upon the reading.

Although critics may differ on the placing of this story into one or other movement, the fact is that Frankenstein was born out of the era, and of the progress of Mary Shelley’s mind.

Therefore, the story may as well be classified as a combination of what was stablished in the era and the roots of incoming movements in literature such as the Romantics movement.

The combination of both movements allows the reader to question everything in the book, from the decisions of the doctor, the sanity and opinion of himself, and the nature of the monster, if it is divine or macabre, and if it is the work of progress or the seed of destruction.

The fact that the monster disappears at the very end also allows the reader to linger in suspense, not knowing if the monster will return to create more chaos on the world, or, like the fallen angel, will just contemplate the destruction of mankind by his own hand.