To be forewarned, yes, there are spoilers here.
Although I've thoroughly omitted specifics, I can't review Mary Shelley's Frankenstein any other way.
I truly enjoyed Frankenstein 44 years after my last reading. This time I was drawn in to Victor Frankenstein's story, his growing up, his family, and then his young adult leave-taking to a Swiss city to study with a number of professors or "great minds."
In the vacuum left from his close attachments in Geneva, his home city, he loses his moorings and becomes obsessed and overwhelmed by ideas, by his learning, to the point where he loses sight of his reason. He embarks on what seems at first a glorious design, to create a human being. He becomes so involved in this mission that he scarcely sleeps, scarcely eats, throws off all his associations with professors and other students. He goes truly mad for a time and does not recognize himself.
And when he achieves his goal, he is stunned when his creation comes to life and abandons the place where he was created--where to, Frankenstein has no clue.
At this point Frankenstein's fate has been sealed. He dared to create life and now he will suffer the consequences. I was most affected by the first meeting of the Creature and Frankenstein, when the Creature tells the entire narrative of what has happened to him in the world and how he wants Frankenstein to fix it. One feels enormous compassion for the Creature who terrifies and horrifies people. The story of how he tries over a period of more than a year to come close to one family is the most powerful and really, the most tragic, yet fascinating tale in the novel, a time when the reader sympathizes totally with the Creature.
But Frankenstein is a tragic character, and because he dared to create this abomination, all of his close family and human ties are destroyed, one by one. Frankenstein suffers, the Creature suffers mightily, and all of Frankenstein's family and associates suffer.
If you were on the fence about reading this classic, I would recommend that people read Frankenstein because as tragic as it is, it is infused with the passion of young people to create life. Frankenstein's passion to protect his loved ones never dies. As I've discussed in previous blog posts, to read Mary Shelley, on the cusp of adult life when she wrote this, from ages 17-19, is to reconnect with the passion of our own youthful years. I would say, "Don't miss it."
Oddly enough it's one of the few horror classics I haven't read. Odd when you think that once upon a time I was addicted to Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories and wierd tales. I'll have to put this omission right.
ReplyDeleteHi Cath,
DeleteI just realized another reason why you, in particular, would like Frankenstein--Mary Shelley's detailed, luxurious landscape descriptions in the Alps, in Geneva, in France, and in England and Scotland and the Arctic.
I do think overall that you would like this book for other reasons as well.
Ooooh! Mountains? I didn't realise. Ok, you've convinced me. :-)
DeleteMountains are a big incentive for me to read a book, that's for sure.
DeleteYou've convinced me, Judith. I must give Frankenstein a try!
ReplyDeleteI think you'd appreciate the novel this wunderkind produced. What a brilliant, interesting woman Mary Shelley was!
DeleteI was so surprised by how much I liked this book. You can read what I said about it here.https://piningforthewest.co.uk/2010/02/24/frankenstein-by-mary-shelley/
ReplyDeleteHi Katrina,
DeleteI'm so glad you included this link to your review--best of all, I think you highlighted aspects that my review did not.
And you're right in your review that each time one reads the novel one would notice different aspects and ideas.
For others, do look up Katrina's review--it adds a lot.
Great review, Judith, of a book that became one of my favourites! I must say though that I had trouble having sympathy for the creature. Here's part of what I wrote in my review, " If Frankenstein had attempted to communicate with the creature and valiantly hid his disgust of it, would the outcome have been different? Could he have humanized his creation with sympathy and nurturing? I have my doubts. Upon the creature’s flight and escape to the woods, he discovers a family living there and, by observing them, he learns to read and write and is exposed to profound literature, which reveals both goodness and evil to him. The creature learns what it means to be human and, in fact, admires the goodness of the family. However he ultimately chooses evil, using his rejection by humans as an excuse for his deviant actions. " This book generates so many great questions. If you'd like to read my full review, it's here: https://classicalcarousel.com/frankenstein-by-mary-shelley/
ReplyDeleteHi Cleo,
DeleteThanks so much for sending part of your review. Such interesting questions for discussion!
You know, given what we know of Victor Frankenstein, I don't think he was incapable of showing sympathy and nurturing to the Creature, because Frankenstein ended up, moments after its creation, being totally disgusted that he had created it. He had to run and run from It and the fact he had created it. Had Frankenstein had the presence of mind and the inner strength to stand by the Creature, if that were possible, then perhaps he could have nurtured and instructed and "civilized?" him. But, because Frankenstein so impulsively created him without thinking through the consequences, this is not possible, of course.
I agree with what you've said, that the Creature chooses evil. But...I think we could discuss this for a good long time.
I'm going to your review now. Thanks for including the link!!
To readers of Frankenstein:
DeleteI do encourage you to view Cleo's review of Frankenstein. It is fascinating, and explains why this novel is so relevant to the times we live in.