Free Essay About Analyzing Mary Shelleys Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley written in 1818 during the Romantic period and is a Gothic novel. The story is about a journey of the characters in the novel and about their quests and their relationships. The story begins with a man named Robert Walton exploring the North Pole where amidst the cold and mist Captain Walton comes across a lifeless man almost frozen in the ice. This man was Victor Frankenstein. It can be said that Captain Walton “saved” lifeless Frankenstein as compared to just keeping him alive for a week because what Captain Walton heard in that week was the most meaningful and worthy thing in his adventure at the North Pole. Frankenstein explores the good and bad nature of humans, the relationship between human and nature, and the natural rule of the universe.
The novel is an epistolary novel and it was this narrative style that I found interesting. An epistolary novel is defined as a novel which narrates the story though a series of documented events such as journal/diary entries or letters. In Frankenstein, the story is narrated through a series of letters between Robert Walton and his sister, Margaret Walton Saville. It is established in the first few chapters itself that Walton is not the protagonist; he is just the medium through which the main characters’ stories are narrated. Through the first three letters, Mary Shelley introduces her readers to the theme of knowledge where she showcases Walton’s desire to go on an expedition because of his thirst for knowledge and learning. It was his “ardent curiosity” that led him to meet Victor. After a few months of travel, Walton’s human nature began to surface as he longed for companionship but due to him being in a “land of mist and snow” he had no hope of finding another living soul. Just when all hope was lost he met Victor. The fact that Walton was able to find what he desired across the barren, frozen land was what impressed me. Victor’s entry into Walton’s life was quite ironic as it was Walton saving a lifeless Victor but actually it was the other way around. I say this because if Walton had not met a companion, he would have died of depression and solitude. It is the theme of companionship and the need for human relationships that is primary to the novel.
The narrative structure is interesting as it is a story within a story and it is after Walton and Victor’s meeting that the story begins. The story is actually about Victor and his creature. Victor creates a creature by using unnatural methods where he puts together a bunch of organs which leads to the birth of Frankenstein’s creature. Victor’s experiments defy the natural order of the universe and Mary Shelley tries to communicate to the readers that going against the universe can lead to disaster. This creation is also a comment on the role of science bringing upon the argument of nature versus nurture.
After giving birth to the creature, Frankenstein is shocked by its ugliness and abandons this creature. This burden of abandoning the creature weighs on Victor leads him to become ill which forces him to go back to his family. On getting better he returns to the university along with his friend Henry Clerval. During this period Victor spots his creation and learns that the creature has murdered Henry, which introduces us to the creature’s monstrosity and henceforth even through the novel Shelley refers to Frankenstein’s creature to be a monster. I believe that though the creature looked like a grown man, his mind was still one of a child as he had just taken birth into the world and if instead of being abandoned to fend for itself, if Victor would have nurtured the creature like a child then maybe this disaster would have been averted. It is this incident which brings forth Shelley’s views about the importance of nurturing.
Shelley goes on to showcase that the creature’s monstrosity grows because of his surrounding and his experiences and not because of his appearance. This is seen when the creature narrates his story. He speaks of how his experiences with nature, light, sound and people. We further read about how he seeks refuge in the forests and it is Mother Nature that helps him survive. The purpose of the creature’s quest is knowledge which is similar and dissimilar to Walton and Victor’s quest for knowledge. The creature is simply seeking out him creator whom he believes will protect him, just like a baby develops natural instincts to seek protection from its mother. Through the creature’s narrative, Shelley portrays the harshness of human nature. The fact that the creature hides himself in the forest is because people he comes across through his journey are not willing to accept his appearance and they flee from him, just like Victor. It was this rejection from society that nurtured the creature’s monstrous nature and he began to hate mankind and seek vengeance.
As the months passed, due to the human nature of the “monster”, his solitude increased. The reason for finding his creator changed as he longed for a companion who would accept him. I too believe that humans are social beings and after a point all human yearn for a relationship and a partner who will accept the good and bad. Later towards the end of the novel the monster avenges human kind as he murders Victor’s wife and asks Victor to replicate a creature like him which infuriated Frankenstein. It was this act that led Victor to chase after his creation where he landed himself in the polar regions of the Arctic Circle. At this point the readers are made to believe that justice is served when the creature gets his revenge but in the concluding pages we uncover that this was actually the anti-climax of the novel.
The novel actually concludes with Victor’s death and in the end Victor voices Shelley’s thoughts when he tells Walton to leave his ambition of “pursuit of scientific discovery” as it will lead to his ruin. After Walton’s death, the last scene is with the creature bending over his creator’s body lamenting his death. Here we see the human side of the creature as he states that his lamentation is because he would not ask for pardon from his creator. The creature then commits himself to the funeral pyre as punishment for his actions. The fact that the creature has the power of self realization shows that he was human and it was society’s rejection which turned him into a monster. It is here, that we see how evil is overcome by good as the creature realizes his wrongdoing and it the fact that creature doesn’t get the forgiveness he seeks which acts as the final justice.
I would like to conclude by saying that Frankenstein can be viewed as a cautionary tale where Mary Shelley is trying to portray the negative role that science can play in society. Through the story we see a number of relationships – the relationship shared by Walton and Victor can be viewed as that of a disciple and teacher whereas the relationship between the creature and Victor is a familial one. The importance of nature is also prevalent through the novel. The reason for nature being one of the important elements was because of the period the novel was written. The mid 18th century gave rise to romanticism, a period where writers expressed themselves about their love for nature which is why Mary Shelley’s description of nature in the novel is quite detailed. Another important aspect of the novel is the debate between Nature versus nurture where nature means the natural order of things – in case of Frankenstein, it is the natural process of birth that is being referred to. Shelley says that one shouldn’t defy nature nor should they ignore nurture. This is evident in the creature’s character. Due to an unnatural birth he was seen as ugly, thus he was rejected. It was this rejection and lack of proper nurturing that led him to turn into a monster.