Frankenstein: A Review

Made from the skin and sinew of corpses, Frankenstein’s monster is born out of inanimate matter; the first and only of his kind, where life was successfully lent to animate what was previously dead. Yet, despite this ground-breaking development in the realm of science, Victor Frankenstein, who had half pursued this experiment to discover the secret of life, and the other half to please his own god-complex, finds himself filled with fear and repulsion, not pride nor satisfaction, at his creation. And so, Frankenstein abandons his own creation, and casts the monster into the uncaring world of Victorian Europe; where his unnatural visage exempts him from the love of all living beings. 

This event is what marks the beginning of the end for Victor Frankenstein, the protagonist of "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley. Hailed as a Gothic classic and a cornerstone of the literary world, Frankenstein is, undeniably, a one of a kind reading.

I confess, I started reading this book not out of a desire to learn about this famed classic, but out of a necessity, because we were covering it in our English class. Why were we reading about Frankenstein, the green-monster with a bolt in its head? It just seemed…pointless, to say the least. Even War and Peace would be more interesting than reading about stitched-corpses being electrocuted! This is what I believed when I started reading the book, yawning at Robert Walton’s letters, ready to sit through a wrongfully denoted “classic” at the whim of my teacher. 

However, I was soon drawn in, not by the immediate plot but by the prose of Shelley. First describing a desolate landscape and the toils of a hopeful hero, then of the joyful and serene youth of Victor Frankenstein, there was a certain depth, a certain pull to her writing that demanded my attention. My two favorite parts of the speech are both where Shelley’s writing is fully showcased: first in Frankenstein’s lengthy monologue describing his steps to a macabre experiment yielding the monster, then in the monster’s speech illustrating the solitude and wrongs he faced in his short life. 

Because although Victor Frankenstein is technically the protagonist of the book, readers aren’t necessarily compelled to be on his side. The monster, since his birth, faces nothing but rejection and fear from every being he encounters, gradually learning to read and speak in solitude, and discovering his own origins as the product of an unloving, wanton scientist. Believing Frankenstein to be fully responsible for his own torment, the monster’s reasons for revenge, definitely does tug at one’s heartstrings. For is the monster wrong for seeking vengeance against Frankenstein, who had callously created the monster to exist alone in a world that would never love him?

Ultimately, the monster’s quest for vengeance  incites Victor to go on his own revenge against the monster, leading to a tragic chain of events, albeit mainly for Victor. And thus do we return to the present moment: to the ship of Robert Walton, where Victor, old and weak, is still bent on destroying his monster. 

Through this extensive plot, Shelley covers themes of unchecked ambition and morality, as well as the definition of sapience, acceptance and responsibility, easily transcending the 18th century where the book is set. Because although the story is centered around the monster’s plight and Victor’s ethical dilemmas, this definitely mirrors more modern concerns of scientific advancement and its ethical boundaries. An interesting question to consider overall is whether Victor was in the wrong for creating the monster, prioritizing his own egoistical research over what may be ethically immoral, or if the pursuit of creativity should never be a sin. 

 Creature, exploring profound themes of ambition, morality, and the human need for connection and acceptance. The story, though set in the 18th century, transcends its time, with the Creature’s plight and Victor’s ethical dilemmas mirroring modern concerns about scientific advancement and its ethical boundaries.

In conclusion, “Frankenstein” the novel needs no justification on why it’s a classic; just take a read, and its clear as day what makes the book an English teacher’s must-pick. To you, my dear readers, my only advice for reading this book is to go in free of prejudice, for the monster in Frankenstein was neither green nor an oaf: he was a sentient, caring being whose outward visage disqualified him from all forms of love