When Halloween gives you a fright, I invite all the wonderful creatures of the night. Here is my take on the famous gothic tale of horror, one that can never be a bore.
Frankenstein
This time of year, there are few characters that are synonymous to Halloween than Frankenstein’s creature. Yes, that is right, Frankenstein is the name of the man who created the creature, not the monster itself, however, we will talk more on that later. And it is the great Mary Shelley, who is the brilliant writer of this harrowing tale. First let us learn about the authoress of this dark and beautiful tale.
There is something about Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly wrote the brilliant and haunting tale of Frankenstein, but like many of the writers I will introduce you to, her life is just as fascinating as the tale she wrote. She was born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft on August 30, 1797. Her father was a journalist and political and social philosopher, who was known for his teachings of individualism, utilitarianism, and anarchism (Encyclopedia-Britannica). Her mother was the famous Mary Wollstonecraft. Writer, philosopher and today most famous for her work Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), a piece where she argues that women had the same natural rights as men, and their rank was a result of women’s absence of education (Stanford). Mary Wollstonecraft died just eleven days after her second daughter Mary was born. Thus, Mary Shelley was raised by her father. Her father, in an unsuccessful attempt to memorialize his late wife, published Memoirs of the Author of a “Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1798). In it he smeared Wollstonecraft’s reputation with personal details of her life including her illegitimate first daughter. Consequently, Wollstonecraft’s reputation would be overshadowed until the twentieth century when her works would take hold by feminism, and she would be heralded as the first English Feminist (Stanford).
Mary Shelley, is often referred to as the “Queen of Goth.” Indeed, aside from her famous parents and her famous novel, her antics in life were quite questionable. Eventually, Mary’s father remarried and brought two stepsiblings into her life. Ironically, Mary never received a formal education, but was self-educated by her father’s vast library and “would often be found reading-sometimes by her mother grave” (biography.com). In 1814, Percy Bysshe Shelley, a student of her father’s took a liking to Mary and soon they started an affair. They fled to England accompanied by Mary’s stepsister Jan and traveled Europe together. For some time, because of her actions, Mary’s father did not talk to her, and she was alienated from him.
In 1815, the couple lost their first child together. Later that year, Mary’s half sister Fanny died by suicide and Percy’s wife (he was still married at that time) was also taken by suicide. In December 1816 the two married. Mary published a travelogue History of a Six Week’s Tour (1817.) In 1818, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus was published anonymously, and unsurprisingly, was a huge success. Mary and Percy’s life continued with the heart break of two more children’s death. Only one son, lived until adulthood. In 1822, Mary’s life took another heartbreaking and tragic turn when Percy drowned in a sailing accident. Following his death, Mary continued to write several more novels and devoted herself to promoting her husband’s poetry.
It is said that the idea of Frankenstein came to Mary when she was still engaged to Percy whilst visiting Switzerland in the summer of 1815. They found themselves in the company of Jane Clairmont, Lord Byron, and John Polidori. One rainy summer day they entertained themselves by reading ghost stories and Bryon suggested that they all try and write their own horror story, a sort of writing competition. Consequently, the beginning of Frankenstein was born. Since Frankenstein’s “author” was initially anonymous, many thought it was written by Percy since he penned the introduction. At some point, and in subsequent editions, Mary was given credit for the novel. In her own words, she writes about the writing competition, and it was the idea of the “principle of life” that gave Mary the idea of a student who brought life to a creature.
Mary Shelley’s life was full of heartbreak and tragedy. Her husband, Percy, was often unfaithful to her. His idealism that marriage should be open and free. But Mary suffered from heartbreak at an early age. Never knowing her mother and resenting her stepmother. She was shunned by her father for eloping with Percy and was only accepted once they were officially married after his first wife’s passing. She endured the loss of four children. Two of which she lost before the writing of Frankenstein. It can be argued that even at the ripe young age of eighteen, Mary had a hard grasp of “the principle of life” and loss, themes that are painted throughout the novel. After her husband’s death, Mary lived a humble life taking care of her only son. She died on February 1, 1851, at age fifty-three from a brain tumor.
Although her life may have been rattled with heartache and disappointments. Stories of Mary Shelley gothic lifestyle goes beyond the original horror novel. It is said that she read books next to her mother’s grave and she and Percy would often meet in secret at the same grave in the churchyard, even rumored that she lost her virginity to him on that grave. It is also said that after she died, her son found Percy’s heart (or was it a kidney) in a box that she kept (historydaily).
Victor and his Monster
For those who are not familiar with the story of Frankenstein, you may only know it by its monster. In our modern times, the monster has taken a life of its own. He is often portrayed as a large, green giant creature. His head is square, and his eyes and mouth are droopy. Across his forehead are bolts and stiches, indicating that he was pieced together by body parts. Children dress up as him in costumes and he often shows up in haunted houses and Halloween decorations alike. Alas, as monstrous as we envision, pop culture has yet to re-create the hideousness of the monster as it is told in the original tale. Although Hollywood has attempted to take on this creature, it does not do the book justice. Mary does brilliant writing in describing the creature in detail by also not overly describing him, leaving his hideousness to the reader’s imagination. “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful..His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly whiteness; but these luxuriance’s only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes..and straight black lips”(Shelley, pg 44). In her description she leaves the wretchedness of the monster much to the readers imagination, it is so wholly frightening that one cannot even imagine what he truly looks like. “A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch..it became a thing such as even Dante could not conceived”(Shelley, pg 45).Yes, this creature was so hideous, that his own creator, did not dare to look at him directly for too long.
Yet, Mary does not leave to the imagination the creatures humanity. Through the creature’s own words, the reader learns the heart wrenching feelings and emotions that he endured when discovering life. The reader cannot help but sympathize and root for the creature when he tells his version of events. Although hideous in face and form, this creature’s heart is one of true, natural beauty. And it is this fact that makes the tale so very dark. When the audience sides with the antagonist because they believe in his beauty and goodness.
Frankenstein is a book often assigned in English and literature classes. It is not surprising with the many themes that evolve from this horror story. From the outside and in pop culture, the story is one of horror, a monster who was created from a scientific experiment from a mad state of mind. This creature is not human and does inhuman acts. It can be said, and in Mary’s own words that she wanted to write a story about “The Principle of Life” and that this is a tale of science vs. nature. The result of what happens when humans dabble in the “spark” of life. Victor Frankenstein, often referred to as Dr. Frankenstein, who was in fact, a university student who after witnessing his loving mother’s own death, became obsessed with finding and creating the infusion of life. For two years, he sacrificed his time, health, and family to play God and create life into a monster that he patched together. Understandably, when creating a creature made from body parts in a laboratory by a madman obsessed with his invention, the results were exactly as expected. Furthermore, the hideousness of the creature and Victor’s burden is often contrasted with the beautiful natural setting of the Swedish countryside. The obvious lesson of this novel: Do not mess with nature!
There are other themes woven throughout the tale. The theme of appearances and prejudices is strong. A tale of a monster and his father. A father so disgusted by his own creation that he not only abandons him but also deceives him. The reader should be afraid of the creature, the reader should want the creature dead as Victor does, the reader should want Victor to be avenged. But alas, Mary may have created a monster that should not have ever existed, but she created a monster that was more humane than his own father. As a reader we fall in love with something so hideous no person can stand. We see him, for who he is on the inside. We hear his story; we sympathize with him. Ultimately, we root for him.
There is a meme that I have seen where it states that Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, rather the scientist, and that the scientist is, the true monster. This is true in its simplest form. But it also could be argued that Frankenstein could be the creature’s name as well. After all, he refers to Victor Frankenstein as his father, and thus being his son, he would rightfully take the name, Frankenstein.
As far as Victor being the true monster of this tale. It is true, as a reader it is hard to like him. He creates and abandons his own creation. Then, when given a second chance to make atonement, he blows it. He after all, almost deserves what he gets! However, if we, as humans were to find ourselves walking in Victor’s shoes, it is hard to believe that we would not act in the same way that he did. Interestingly, Mary creates Victor in a perfect world. He is raised by loving and doting parents; his parents are neither abusive nor strict. He is raised with money, education, and true friendship. He is not in want of anything. And yet, he cannot run from his own prejudices, he cannot help his own reactions are despite his perfect world. Today, we live in a superficial world where anything and everything beautiful is praised and ugly is destroyed. We spend millions of dollars on beauty products, clothes, diets, and even plastic surgery just to fit in. As a society we are still grappling with history wrought with prejudice and judgments against anyone who looks or even thinks differently than we do.
It is not fair to judge Victor for his initial reaction to an experiment gone wrong when our society will throw any and everything away the moment it does not turn out perfect. We, as a society, are the first to judge and the last to forgive. Wrought with prejudice and assumption, we have evolved into communities that casts friends and family aside from a simple misunderstanding or disagreement. Do you really think we have evolved into a better person than Victor Frankenstein, who had to carry the burden of a monster that easily killed those whom he loved the dearest? Yes, Victor is a monster, yet the creature is not perfect either and commits monstrous acts. The truth is that no one is perfect in this tale, and it does not work out for either of them.
Mary created two monsters in her tale, the physical one and the personal one. The physical one is the creature, who is damned by his looks and will never fit in. The other is the creator, Victor, who finds himself entangled in the burden and the prejudice of the creature he invented. In the end, they both let vengeance get the best of them. It is, however, the creature, the physical monster, who was abandoned and wronged from birth, who feels remorse in the end. Whilst his creator, Victor, could never see passed the justification of his revenge.
In the end, no one wins the battle of revenge, and maybe that is what the strongest lesson is in this tale, that revenge is never the best path to take.
Sources:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wollstonecraft/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley
https://www.biography.com/writer/mary-shelley
https://historydaily.org/mary-shelley-facts-trivia-stories
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, Shelley, Mary.