Frankenstein
By: Parker W.
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley wrote her most famous novel, in 1816, as a story of a man who finds the secret of life and creates a monster. But it is a story that also explores many deeper themes, including nature versus nurture, family relationships, and knowledge. Strongly
Frankenstein influenced by Mary Shelley’s own life, is a character study clearly defined by
Shelley’s thoughts on the role of nature versus nurture and the impact of those on the characters' emotions and behavior. Shelley herself had a very difficult and sad life, and those experiences
had a strong impact on her characters and the development of the story. As the story unfolds it becomes clearer and clearer that Mary Shelley’s thoughts had a great impact on the characters
traits and behaviors.
Summary:
Frankenstein Mary Shelley’s is about a man named Victor Frankenstein who is
fascinated with philosophy and science. Victor, while at his university, discovers “the secret of
life.” Late one night he finishes his creation- a human being. Victor got the human parts from a
nearby cemetery and put all the different bones together to make a human. Once Victor creates
this human, Victor is scared and has a mental breakdown. All of humanity rejected the monster,
as did his own creator. The monster is depressed by the fact that he is rejected by everyone, so he decides that he would take his anger out on his very own creator. The monster kills Victor's family, even his fiancee on their wedding night. Victor seeks vengeance on the monster, so he chases the monster down. When Victor finally finds the monster, the monster feels guilt and shame over what he did, so he kills himself.
Biography:
Mary Shelley was born on August 30, 1797, in London, England. Her mother died ten days after Mary Shelley was born. Mary Shelley’s father married Mary Jane Clairmont after her mother died. Her stepmother was not very nice to Mary; she favored her own children over young Mary1 . Mary was never formally educated but she read many of her mother’s books and learned much from her father. When Mary was seventeen she ran away with her lover, Percy
Shelley. Mary’s father strongly rejected their marriage, and Percy’s father disowned Percy2 .
Mary and Percy had four children of their own, but only one lived to adulthood. The death of three children led the Shelley’s to fall into a deep depression.3 Their large group of friends helped them recover from this.
When on vacation with their friends, Mary Shelley wrote a story
Frankenstein. that later became the book Percy helped her write the book, and also edited it. Shortly after this, Mary suffered another heavy loss. This time her husband had drowned while sailing with a friend in Spain. I believe that the books that Mary Shelley wrote were strongly
1 “Mary Shelley Biography”, https://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Shelley-Mary.html accessed (March 5, 2020) 2 Ibid 3 Ibid influenced by her tragic life, such as her children, mother, and husband all dying. Mary Shelley died on February 1, 1851 from brain cancer. In the end, Mary Shelley’s life ended with another tragedy, just as it started.4
Analysis:
Frankenstein Throughout the book , the monster becomes angry and violent because he is rejected by all of humanity. Mary Shelley was also angry and sad that her own family does not care for her or pay very much attention to her. Once Victor runs away from the monster that he created, the monster feels like he has been mistreated by his very own creator. This creates a sense of anger and violence in the monster, which leads to him being evil. The first instance of this is when Victor’s father and children go for a walk in the evening. The monster was waiting nearby in the forest, when William, Victor's brother, ran too far ahead. When William looked at the monster, he started calling the monster all sorts of bad names and he even started hitting the monster. The monster was taken aback by this little boy who was hitting and insulting him, so he picked William up and put a hand to his throat. Before he knew it William was lying dead before him. The monster was happy and exuberant that he had killed the little boy, and from now on knew that he too could create despair and hurt.5
The monster also shows compassion but is easily angered because he is judged. Shortly after the monster had murdered William, the monster came across two children playing when suddenly the girl fell into the stream. Immediately the monster rushed toward the girl and pulled
4 “Mary Shelley Biography”,https://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Shelley-Mary.html accessed (March 5, 2020). 5 frankenstein Mary shelley, pg. 61-62 her out of the water, when suddenly a man came out of the woods and snatching her away, carried her back the way they came. The monster followed them, but the man whirled around and fired his gun at the monster and hit him. Afterwards, the monster sat wondering what he had done to deserve being shot. All he had done was save the girl from death and he got shot for doing so? This act made the monster even more mad at humanity and his creator.6 Now the monster was pondering why he was even on the Earth. He was even thinking about taking his own life, after all it would be easier than facing the struggles that lay ahead of him.
This relates closely to Mary Shelley’s life because, in her early life, Mary Shelley was rejected by her own family. Her mother died when she was ten days old, and her father was much too involved in his work as a writer to closely keep an eye on her.7 The worst of them all was her stepmother. Her stepmother did not care about poor Mary at all. She favored her own children over Mary.8 While Mary’s stepsisters got to go get a formal education, Mary had to stay home and just read book after book after book.9 This was the only education Mary ever got.
Mary was rejected her whole life by her family while others got better opportunities and better attention. Just as the monster does not get the attention he deserves and is rejected, Mary had to deal with the same sort of thing as a child in her very own home. It is clear that Mary wrote this to resemble part of her own life and how she was treated. The monster’s life and Mary's life are closely related in their early years of life. But Mary was not violent like the monster, instead she was sad but carried on. This also shows that the monster’s reaction was somewhat irrational.
6 Mary Shelley, Frankenstein(unknown, November 3, 2019) pg.61 7 Biography.com editors, “Mary Shelley Biography”, https://www.biography.com/writer/mary-shelley accessed (March 5, 2020). 8 Ibid 9 Ibid Victor judges the monster purely on his appearance or his nature instead of giving the monster a chance. “ I beheld the wretch - the miserable monster whom I had created,”were the words that Victor spoke about the monster.10 In this instance, Victor calls the monster “a miserable wretch” and does not even know anything about the monster except for his looks.
After this, Frankenstein is scared out of his mind and enters into a severe mental breakdown. His
friend, Henry Clerval helps him get out of this breakdown, but is still angry and scared of the
monster, when all the monster has done was just to look at him. The monster explained to Victor
that “he is malicious because he is miserable.”11 The monster is explaining that since he is
rejected by all including his creator, he is violent and angry. If the monster was not just judged
on his appearance, he would not be so violent. So maybe if that man had not shot the monster
when he was trying to save the girl or when the monster simply looked at someone they did not
run away in fear, the monster would be nice. In other words, the monster’s nature could be
different if he was not nurtured the way he was.
The monster was always judged on his appearance, and his appearance made him look
like a terrible monster. He had yellow skin, a big mop of black hair, and a big hulking frame.
Mary Shelley never really knew the life of a normal, well off person, and neither did the monster.
Mary led a sad and depressed life, and so did the monster. It is again clear that Mary wrote this
with her own life in mind. Mary also thought deeply enough of her own life, to write a whole
book with ties to her life as well.
When the monster meets the blind man, Mr. Delacy, the two enjoy each other's
company, partly because the man who he is talking to is blind. Just like Mary Shelley would be
10 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, (unknown, November 3, 2019) pg.20 11 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, (unknown,November 3, 2019) pg.63 judged if the person knew that she married a married man, never got an education, and was never really cared for. When the monster finds a shelter, he realizes that it is right next to a cottage where humans live. He loved watching what the humans did, and wondered what it was like to live in a warm house and to not have people judge you every second of your life. He especially loved it when they played their guitar at night. He loved listening to beautiful music. As he watched the cottagers he noticed that sometimes there were sorrows like his12 . Whenever they felt sad, he felt sad too. Whenever they wept, he wept. The monster was a very empathetic person because he could directly relate to these peoples sorrows. Over the course of four months, all the monster did was watch the humans, eat, and sleep. These humans made the monster feel great joy and happiness. But sometimes they made him sad. The monster never had a sweet mother to look after and help him. He never had a father to guide him. Shortly after, the monster
Paradise Lost found a box full of old books including , which reminded the monster that his very own creator, Victor, had forgotten and rejected him. The monster had not even done anything, all he had done was look at his creator and he gets judged by his appearance. This comes back to the idea that the monster would act different if everyone was not so mean to him. As the monster watched the humans more and more until he was obsessed with what they did. He wanted to meet these humans so badly, but he knew that they would think that he is some sort of evil creature. The monster had an idea! He would wait until everyone left the house except for blind
Mr. Delacy. So the monster again waited for a day when the man would be alone so he could speak with him. Finally that day came. All the children had left and Mr. Delacy was alone in the cottage. The monster entered the cottage and asked if he could rest for a moment.
12 Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, (unknown, November 3, 2019) pg. 46 The monster talks with the man for a very long while. They talk about their sorrows, and how life has treated them unfairly. The monster and the blind man have a lot in common. They both are sad and cannot do very much. They are rejected by humanity because of their faults. This is the first conversation that the monster has had with a human other than his evil creator.
The monster is not judged by his appearance because Mr. Delacy is blind. This proves that if no one sees the monster, they think he is an average human being. But when Mr. Delacy’s children came back, they saw the monster and were terrified. “Who can describe their horror and consternation on beholding me.”13 This again goes to show that all people judge the monster purely on his appearance. Mary Shelley is trying to show that people judge a lot and that she thought about how she was judged in the past. She shows , through the monster, how she was judged. The family decided to move out of the cottage, for fear of the monster. So the monster decided that he would burn the house. In the middle of the night, while the house was uninhabited, the monster lit the whole cottage on fire and joyfully watched it burn. Maybe if the monster was accepted he would not act so violently. Just like the monster’s “friends” gave him joy and happiness, when Mary Shelley was going through her depression her friends helped her become happy again. “ Despite these difficult circumstances, Mary and Percy enjoyed a large group of friends.”14 Friends are a wonderful thing, they will always help you when you need it.
Unless you are a monster who looks very scary.
Frankenstein Throughout the whole book of there are many themes that closely relate to Mary Shelley's life. Mary Shelley clearly wrote her book with her very own life in mind. Mary
13 Frankenstein Mary Shelley, , (unknown, November 3, 2019) pg.58 14 “Mary Shelley Biography”, https://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Shelley-Mary.html (March 5, 2020) was always poor and never got to experience a wonderful life. The monster also never experienced what a wonderful life was either because he looked like a terrifying monster. Maybe
I am wrong in calling him a “monster,” even though I judge the monster on his appearance. It is part of our sinful nature not to look for the best in people or to judge them. This story teaches us to always be kind and merciful beings, among many other things. This story is clearly defined by
Mary Shelley’s life and what she had to deal with as a child through adulthood. It is very clear that the monster and Mary Shelley have connections to each other, this was no coincidence. WORKS CITED
Notable biographies, “ Mary Shelley”www.notablebiographies.com (accessed March 5, 2019) Biography.com “Mary Shelley” www.biography.com ( accessed March 5, 2019) Frankenstein. Shelley, Mary.