The book ‘Frankenstein’ written by Mary Shelley and published in the year 1818 is one of the famous literary works in the genre of gothic horror fiction. In the book, the author discusses about the ethical issues of technological advancements and researches the relationship of man with its creator . Frankenstein is the story of Victor, a man who possesses health, wealth, friends and family. Victor has a deep interest in science and a burning desire for knowledge and research. Victor’s passion in science drives him to make a demon, which he later realizes to be a blunder. The demon kills Victor’s family and friends. Gradually throughout the story, Victor collapses and finally goes insane. On the other hand, the demon created by Victor wishes the mankind to accept him in spite of its horrific appearance .
At one point of time, the demon confronts Victor for creating it. The demon says that it has undergone painful situations in its encounters with the human beings. After realizing the human’s hatred for the wretch despite of its love for them, it seeks to take revenge on Victor who is its creator . Victor created the demon as a creature to know kindness and love, but it experiences rejection everywhere, due to which it reveals its violent behavior by destructing anything and everything. The creature puts the blame of its actions on its creator Victor, without realizing that it has control over his behavior. The story starts with Robert Walton, a ship captain noticing Victor travelling on the sledge drawn by dogs at the North Pole . When Walton rescues Victor from the chilled cold of the North Pole, he hears the tale of Frankenstein from Victor.
Victor describes about his blissful childhood at Geneva in the company of his cousin Elizabeth. He narrates about his studies at the university and his desire to discover life through his research. After the creation of the demon, Victor finds himself in pity as the demon destroys the lives of others. While Victor roams in the woods, the demon accepts that it was the one responsible for the death of two innocent people and Victor’s friend William . However, the demon promises to stop his destruction once Victor creates a soul mate for him, a female creation of the same kind. Initially, though Victor refuses to do so, he thinks that he must find a solution to end the damage happening to the people as well as property . Victor does extensive research and leaves to an island to create another demon.
Being horrified by the consequences that would occur with the second demon, Victor destroys his new creation . The monster warns and threatens Victor that it would be with him on his wedding night. The next day, the court convicts Victor for the murder of his friend Henry, for which Victor was not responsible. He notices the fingers of the monster on the body of his friend. Victor spends a great amount of time in the prison in an ill and feverish state repenting for the blunder he committed by creating the demon. After returning from the jail to Geneva, Victor marries Elizabeth, but remembers the threat of the demon and sends Elizabeth away in the fear of the demon . While victor looks for the arrival of the demon, he hears the screams of Elizabeth and finally finds her dead.
When Victor reaches his home after the death of his wife, he finds his dead father, due to which he decides to avenge the demon and begins his quest to find it. In the climax, Victor traces the demon walking northward. As Victor approaches near the monster, he notices himself in an unbridgeable gap between the monster and him due to the breakdown of the ice. It was at this point of time that Walton rescues Victor and takes him aboard. After the death of Victor due to illness and suffrage, Walton notices his body several days later lying in the room. Walton gets shocked to see the demon weeping at Victor’s body. The demon explains Walton about the solitude, hatred, immense suffering and remorse it had to face amidst human beings . The demon asserts that since its creator is no more alive, there is no point of it being alive and departs into the ice to leave its breath. Captain Walton writes about the incidents happening in the life of Victor in the form of a letter and posts it to his sister in England.
The most interesting part of the book ‘Frankenstein’ is Shelley’s description of artificial intelligence 200 years ago. Although the demon is a brutal creature in the book, Shelley allows the readers to see the incidents happening in the book from the demon’s perspective . The readers feel sympathy for the isolation of the demon. Victor is in every way responsible for the actions of the monster as it was his arrogance and self-righteousness that led to the demon’s acts. Though the book falls in the horror genre, the actual story seems more like a tragedy. The author wrote the book in a complex way and makes the readers realize about the consequences happening if the demon was not alone. Shelley succeeds in telling the story in exceptional way and though the book is old, in no way the readers feel that the book belongs to the nineteenth century . The book ultimately ponders an important question in the minds of the readers as to what it really means to be a human and act like a human.
References
Bloom, Harold. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Infobase Publishing, 2007.
"Mary Shelley-Biography." The European Graduate School. 01 12 2014 <http://www.egs.edu/library/mary-shelley/biography/>.
"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." 12 01 2013. My Hideous Progeny. 01 12 2014 <http://www.maryshelley.nl/>.
Nmarzano. "Should Victor Make Another?" 12 09 2012. CraigCarey. 01 12 2014 <http://www.craigcarey.net/fall2012/2012/09/19/should-victor-make-another/>.
