Frankenstein

I have to say that I was extremely surprised when I began actually reading the novel by Mary Shelley because it really wasn’t what I was expecting. We have a lot of preconceived notions in our heads about Frankenstein the monster such as green skin, blots jolting out from the neck and incoherent moaning in replacement of words brought on by Boris Karloff’s film in the 1930’s. The very fact that we call the monster “Frankenstein” indicates that we’ve just let others tell us what the original story was. Therefore, my thoughts of the novel initially went along the lines of “this is Frankenstein? But it’s so normal”. And as humorous is that might sound, it still rings true.

The introduction of Victor Frankenstein and his pursuits of science were just so natural that the audience can’t find much wrong with him. We’ve always perceived Dr. Frankenstein to be some kind of mad scientist, which is only partially true. He is as mad as any of us artists are when we get submersed into our work. We often say that it’s hard for us to start but as soon as we do we can’t stop. We obsess over the fine details until our eyes are ready to shrivel up and pop out. Our creations become our children in a way and that’s what happened to Victor. Putting him on this level actually makes him more human and relatable to us readers. Maybe that’s why our teachers try to make us not coddle our work and be able to throw it out.

Though, Frankenstein just abandoning his creation is what leads to the problem isn’t it? Even though the actual creation of the monster only took about a paragraph…and a small one at that! This is what I mean by this book was nothing like what I expected. In many ways, it was a lot more intelligent by playing off average person’s tendencies of obsession and thought processes, which was a major feat for the time period that this was written. It gives more credit to the reader’s intellectual capabilities in comparison to the non-sense garbage we produce now.

All in all I quite like this novel and wish more versions of the film telling stuck closer to the book. Although, that stands true for most films adaptations of novels.