Week 1: Frankenstein

Quite frankly, I thought I knew pretty much everything about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein since it's such a famous story that has been re-told, adapted, and reappropriated several times. although I had never read the book. I was surprised to find a much deeper and more tragic story revolving around the gothic theme of the protagonist’s downfall. I see Frankenstein as a story about the downfall of a young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, obsessed with knowledge and the consequences behind his creation. Throughout the book, we see Victor shunning and dreading his atrocious creation, and how he suffers the consequences for his deed. The theme of responsibility for immoral actions (and the questioning of what is immoral or not) is present in the relationship between Victor and his creation, the creature that seems to exact revenge on his creator due to being rejected. Victor’s creature works as a physical embodiment of the consequences that his past actions brought upon him, and a reminder that one can’t simply run away from their past. Although most references to Frankenstein focus more on the complexities of the creature, I saw myself focusing more on how the development (or downfall) of Victor occurred through the story. At first, it appeared to me that the creature is the one responsible for Victor’s demise, killing his family and loved ones, and vowing to come for him on his wedding day. But looking a bit deeper into the story I realized that the creature was just a manifestation of Victor’s lack of morality and responsibility in creating life from remnants of other bodies, a critique on a man trying to “play God”. The book is about the creator and not the creature, and I think that’s cleverly expressed in the very title of the book. After all, Victor is Frankenstein and not his creature. After reading it, the lines that define who is the real monster in the story are a bit more blurred to me.