Category: Blog

Extra Credit (Frankenreads)

I attended the Frankenreads event that was in class on Tuesday October 30th but also was able to experience the event at 5:30 in upstairs Rockland.

The in-class event was about the book history of Frankenstein. I was able to learn more about how Mary Shelly inserted parts of herself into her work. I also learned more about how creation narratives work and the summer of 1816. The summer of 1816 was when there was a major volcanic eruption that caused the summer to be very cold and bleak. This was when Frankenstein was written.

 

At the event in upstairs Rockland students did their own interpretation of Frankenstein, made their own stories inspired by Frankenstein, and their own alternate universe writings inspired by Frankenstein. Two of the stories that I truly enjoyed was a letter written from Henry to Victor and a writing that focused on how Victor was a monster all along and how we as humans are the real monsters.

The first writing was a letter of how Victors friend that visited while he was in college had found victors notebook. His visit happened to be when Victor got conveniently sick after releasing the creature to its own devices. I feel like the beginning of it had slight queer undertones, in the way that Henry talked about Victor and the care he was providing him. And then later made the comparison of how a mother leaves her child. I liked the idea of the friend looking after the creature in a foster parent kind of way because Victor did not. I feel like the student did a really good job making the reading sound similar to how Frankenstein reads.

The second writing was good as well. It focused on how everyone thinks they are a good person when in reality they often are not. I liked her analogy of how hate cooks you from the inside out, much like a kiln cooks pottery until its dry. I thought this provided a lot of good symbolism and sounded really good. Another thing I noticed in this reading was how she talked about loosing a child in some aspect. This made me think that maybe she was alluding to Victors “loss” of the creature. it also made me think the student was maybe alluding deeper still to how Mary Shelly herself continuously lost children in her lifetime.

One Bad Day

In volume 2, chapter 7 of Frankenstein, Felix hits the creature with a stick and shuns him away from the cottage because of his monstrous appearance.  In chapter 7, the creature is talking to himself and screaming at the sky about his existence. Also, he’s mad at the family for treating him like a creature he is. “Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge.”(Shelly 103) After throwing a tantrum all night, the sunshine calms his vengeance. The creature visits the cottage again and visit, the father De Lacey again, to bring him to his side of his predicament. “But I did not believe my errors to be irretrievable; and, after much consideration, I resolved to return to the cottage, seek the old man, and by my representations win him to my party.” (Shelly 104) This shows the last of his humanity because the night before he wanted to kill that family that hurt him. But, in the morning he believes in the humans’ niceness so he gives the family another chance. But, was he too trusting in the humans and their humanity because De Lacey and his family moved out of the cottage. “‘It is utterly useless,’ replied Felix, ‘we can never again inhabit your cottage. The life of my father is in the greatest danger, owing to the dreadful circumstance that I have related. My wife and my sister will never recover their horror. I entreat you not to reason with me any more. Take possession of your tenement, and let me fly from this place.’” (Shelly 105) After seeing the exchange between Felix and the landlord that sends the creature into a fit of rage over the preconception they have of the creature’s desires. A few more bad things happen on his quest to Geneva which put more distrust in humans and fueled his hatred for Victor and humans.

Citation:

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York, Pearson Longman, 2007.

Discussion Question #1: Do you think the discovery of Victor’s diary entry in the jacket really matters to the creature?

Discussion Question #2: Do you believe one bad day can turn someone into a murderer?

Would the monster have followed his promise?

Victor starts thinking in the lab one day about the creation of the monster’s  mate. What if the monster and the mate didn’t get along? What if they could have children? Questions like these lead Victor to abandon his promise with the monster. This makes the monster greatly upset causing the monster to kill victor’s close family and friends.

If Victor had made the monster a mate do you think they would have gotten along? Do you think that the promise would have been kept by the monster if they didn’t get along?

Consumed

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, both Victor Frankenstein and his creature spend the later part of their lives in a constant battle of grief against one another. Victor sets out to destroy his creation after he realizes he could not be responsible for the introduction of another creature like the former. The creature has sworn himself to making Victor’s life a living hell. Both have their lives consumed by hate and despair. At the end of the book the creature states “For whilst I have destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were for ever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me” (Shelley 177)?

Are either character content in their quest of consumption and rage? Is Victor responsible for the creature, and all its wrongdoings? Is the creature justified in his rage and actions against Frankenstein’s family? What is Mary Shelley saying about society through the relationship between Frankenstein and his monster?

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York, Pearson Longman, 2007.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

In Volume 2, Chapter 8 of Frankenstein, the creature is retelling his story to Victor, and filling in accounts of events during gap of time from his creation until the present moment in the story. He makes mention of two specific incidents that he believes made him the way he was. Upon revealing himself to the De Lacey family, the creature was met with horror and abandonment. When the creature saved the girl, he was met with reproach, and subsequently was shot in the shoulder. In both cases the creature merely wanted to interact with humanity and try to save it, but was literally demonized due to his appearance. The creature goes on to cite these incidences as the fuel for his vengeful nature and attributes the murder of William to his specific hatred of the Frankenstein family. In our society there are plenty of cases in which children who have been abused or abandoned rise above their situation at home and become inspirations to those around them, offering help and support to children in similar situations.

Why do you think the creature when to such an extreme length as to murder the family member of a father who was not in his life? How does this reflect Mary Shelley’s own relationship with her own Father?

 

Losing your humanity through isolation, or never having it at all

Throughout Frankenstein, we see what isolation and loneliness can do to someone. This whole novel is filled with characters who either isolate themselves or are shunned by society and we can see what it does to their emotional and physical state. When we are introduced to Robert Walton, he is writing to his sister about how pained he in by his lack of friends. When Robert finally meets Victor Frankenstein, he is incredibly emaciated, his limbs frozen and he is nearly dead. Not only that, but when Frankenstein is telling Walton his tale, he talks about the isolation that came from his dark secret and how that separated him from his family during a time of need, which caused great anguish. The creature also suffers from these woes of isolation. The creature mentions to the old man that he is “an unfortunate and deserted creature; I look around, and I have no relation or friend upon the earth.” (102, Shelley). He tries hard to gain the trust of the blind father, but once the rest of the family comes in, they are disgusted, beat him and cast him away. Instead of retaliating, the creature retreats as his “heart sunk within [him] as with bitter sickness”(103). Instead of trying to meet others, the monster gives up and vows revenge on humanity.

Is loneliness this detrimental to someone? What about introverts, or people that prefer to work alone? Why do Walton, Frankenstein and the creature all seek to isolate themselves when it could cause all this pain? Society does reject them at points, but some of their isolation is self-inflicted. Is community essential to humanity?

Paradise Lost in Frankenstein

So, Frankenstein’s monster frequently compares himself to Satan as he is depicted in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. I found this to be an extremely interesting comparison. Both the creature and Satan are typically considered the antagonist of their respective story, but both seem to make this an extremely gray area. Milton was criticized for making Satan too sympathetic. While Satan clearly commits evil acts, his motivations are not entirely unreasonable. For one, Satan allowed humans access to knowledge that God would not allow them. Satan’s line “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven” echoes the human notions of freedom and individualism, as well as free will. These are not inherently evil ideas. The creature identifies with Satan, recognizing that he is flawed and that he is banished from ever reaching acceptance into society.

Is the creature identifying with Satan meant to convey that the creature is evil, or is it meant to display the complexity of the creature’s morality? Also, is it really better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven?

A Child In Disguise?

In the seventeenth chapter of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the creature, after being sent off in disgust by Victor, faces the world alone. He finds himself in a village of cottages, learning the ways of humans and experiencing their interactions. He learns the names of “the cottages themselves” (Shelley 83) and of a specific family; their names being “Father”, the sister “Agatha”, and the young brother “Felix” (Shelley 83). Although the creature was unable, at first, to understand the communications between humans and apply it, he was able to “distinguish several” (Shelley 83) words. After an encounter Felix has with an Arabian, female stranger, “Safie” as he calls her, she is instructed by him the book, “Volney’s Ruins of Empires” (Shelley 89). The creature learns through the continuous explanations Felix gives to Safie; he obtains “a cursory knowledge of history” (Shelley 89) and an “insight into the manners, governments, and religions of the different nations of the earth” (Shelley 89).

In our world, when a child first learns about history and the matters of the nations of earth, some find interest in it, and others do not. The creature’s reaction to learning these topics was sadness and concern. For when he learned about the “American Hemisphere” (Shelley 89), he cried with Safie over the fate of the Native Americans. The creatures learning styles and reaction to the topics he learns, leads me to ask the questions:

  1. Although the creature is made-up of full-grown human parts, how can he be compared to a child, or a being who is not fully intelligent just yet?
  2. How does his current lack of understand towards communication affect his intelligence of understanding ideas?
  3. Do you feel that his reaction to the discovery of the American Hemisphere is appropriate in this time?

What has he done?!

In the novel, Frankenstein, the scientist Victor has finally achieved his lifelong dream of creating new life. He of spent years of hard work and obsession to bring his ambitions to fruition. But when he laid eyes upon his creation he was overcome by feelings of disgust and regret. Victor had said, “For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart” (Shelley 42).  Victor rushes to the room in fear of his creation, but the creature only affection from its creator. This could lead to the creature becoming bitter and spiteful.

There are new methods of creating new life happening every day. Such as cloning. Some may argue that artificially created life does not have a soul. Do you think it is ethical to artificially create new life? Why or why not?

Are Your Dreams Worth the Price?

I noticed a parallel while reading. Often times, people are faced with a choice that questions their values. The specific values I am referencing are personal relationships versus dreams and goals. It is sometimes very difficult to maintain and actively pursue both. Sometimes we must focus on our education or our careers, meanwhile our relationships take a hit. This is often discussed by the very successful, athletes, business people, performers, etc. There is a seemingly universal struggle between ambition and relationships.

Our main character has made his choice, “I wished, as it were, to procrastinate all that related to my feelings of affection until the great object, which swallowed up every habit of my nature, should be completed” (Shelly 30). He has been consumed by the desire to accomplish his dreams, so much so, as to wish away the distraction of emotion.

Do you find yourself solidly on one side of battle, or are you in a constant struggle? How do you think this internal conflict, or lack thereof, will come into play as the story unfolds?