By Mary Shelley
Published by Barnes and Nobel (Originally 1818)
277 pages
Completed January 11, 2013
“Frankenstein” when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, “Frankenstein” tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering “the cause of generation and life” and “bestowing animation upon lifeless matter,” Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.
When I begin reading a book I will write down thoughts that I have so that when I get to the review I can add them in. In the beginning I have to admit I had serious doubts about the choice in reading this book. It projected a young man who wanted to be “creator” of human life and I don’t mean the way God intended it to be created. This is not a subject that I take lightly as all creation is of God and God alone. But I continued on, skeptically.
The more I read the happier I felt for continuing. This story starts out as one man, Mr. Walton, goes on adventures and writes letters home to his sister. Soon he meets a man who is very ill and completely exhausted from his travels. The mysterious man has a story he wants to relay to him and asks him to complete an unpleasant task that he will leave unfinished.
The story then turns to Mr. Frankensteins point of view. As a young man he leaves his family to go to college. He has picked up on some very old and outdated ideas of science. One professor tells him so and won’t have anything to do with such ramblings. Another encourages him in such things. Young Frankenstein stays absent from his family for several years. In that time he creates a “being”. He is hideous to look at and strikes fear in the heart of Frankenstein. The creature leaves Frankensteins dwelling and isn’t seen by him for some time.
If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind.
To me these words are accredited to a mad man. If you have these thoughts then why press on? Well, the consequence of his “creation” hit home. The “giver of life” would suffer great loss at the hand of his creation.
Young Mr. Frankenstein is sent for by his father. His young brother has been killed, apparently by a very close friend of theirs. Victor Frankenstein goes home and discovers the truth, that his creation has killed his brother, but can not tell anyone or he would be presumed crazy. While he grieves and wonders the mountains of his home he is confronted by his creation who tells him he wants to inform him how he came to kill his young brother.
The story then is told from the creatures point. How he learned, how his emotions developed, how he came to hate and desire revenge on his creator. He then offers Victor a chance to be rid of him forever. He must create a female like himself. A companion who is as hideous as he whom he can love and share life with. At first Victor agrees. But upon much reflection decides not to do such a thing. This is a costly decision for him. He will pay the price with his entire family.
I have decided that I liked the book after all. However not my favorite book. Within the pages I was touched by many different emotions. That is part of what makes me decide if I like the book or not. In my imagination I watched as this poor creature was left to learn about our cruel world on his own. His creator was heartless in his quest to create life and not nurture it. I can’t tell how it ends or it would spoil the entire book but it is worth reading to find out. This tale is not like any of the Frankenstein movies I have ever seen. So my preconceived notions were all wrong.
I listened to this book several years ago on Librivox because of Michael Dirda’s review in his book, Classics for Pleasure. Your review covers the important parts about the actions and feelings, and the book stirred me also. In addition, I liked the settings of different European countries where traveling took place, as if on a kind of tour.
The scenary was described very well. I felt very cold just reading about it! LOL!
My son read this a couple of years ago and mentioned it was different from movies and somewhat disturbing. It sounds like it did a good job of describing the consequences of the doctor’s actions.
I have never read it…but it’s good to know that preconceived ideas from the movies are wrong.