Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.”  - From the novel, Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is Gothic genre book written in the 1818. Victor Frankenstein is an university student whose ambitions and passion for the science leads him to create something no one has ever deemed possible, he created life using dead humans' body parts. However, as soon as he finishes his project he realises the mistake.To him, the monster is vile and gruesome. The story is told through the letters of Captain Robert Walton, who found Frankenstein nearly at a state of emaciation. His letter not only incorporates Victor's story telling but Victor's own letter and even the monster's side of the story as he tells it to Victor who then tells it to Walton. 

How do I begin..

The novel was completely different to what I imagined and it gets me so frustrated that the movies are so different to the book. I don't think Mary Shelley would have been too happy with the movies made of Frankenstein  not only because they are so different but because they lose the themes and morals. There are various movies that came out on Frankenstein but most of them have the Creature as some sort of complete monster who can't talk at all other than grunts. In the book Frankenstein was so eloquent and always gave an explanation as to why he became the way he was. In one of the movies the Monster was bad tempered was because the brain used was a criminal's brain, however in the book the Monster killed people because of the injustice that he suffered because of his appearance. Also, they even changed the name of Victor Frankenstein to Henry and made the character lose the feeling of isolation. In one of the movies there are sequels (eg. Frankenstein's Bride) but in the book Frankenstein died... I mean, I know movies are usually a bit different to books so that it flows more and scenes are changed so that emotions and reasoning are depicted visually rather than worded out but this is just ridiculous.  
Moving on from the rant..



I'm not so sure if I liked this book or if I didn't it. Personally, I found it a bit mediocre. The story itself is quite different to anything I had read but it lacked in some parts. When I thought it was going into details of the events, Victor would say he wouldn't bore us with the whole story. I understand that the book had to skip details in order for it to stay in a reasonable length but it seems that Shelley didn't want to dwell too deep into the plot. The book was an impress was an impressive feat for someone who did it as a ghost story however at points it does seem like something written for other purposes than actually publishing a novel. The start was quite interesting, as the author explored Frankenstein's feelings and Victor's reasoning however it later became just a chase between Frankenstein and the monster, until death.


Reading this book the renowned quote comes to mind, "Don't judge a book by its cover". I would even go as far as saying that the book is a parody on the human nature of judging appearances. The monster learns how to speak very eloquently and has a benevolent character at the start.  The blind man, Mr. De Lacey, treats the Monster very well, for he can not see the creature's grotesque features. This injustice is what drives the monster to become the dangerous monster that people thought he was. If the outside appearances were reverted, Victor could be seen as the monster. Victor Frankenstein was very well educated however he didn't have the moral sense not to mess with life, and play God. He created a creature and then left it, he never stood up for the innocent Justine who was sentenced to death because of his pride, Victor was alienated and had gone crazy, he was determined to get his hands on the creature's blood. Luckily for Victor his external appearance was of a normal human and therefore his ill doing was overlooked as illness or just the rantings of a man who suffered a lot. 

Frankenstein is a story on education, aspirations, passion and adventure. It analysis the fine line between the glory and passion of doing what you love and following your dreaming no matter what and just digging your own grave. Captain Walton is a mirror of Victor Frankenstein. Victor recognises this and at first supports Walton in his quest to reach the North Pole however in his last moments, Victor alerts Walton to the dangers of his quest and that he should never forget his family. Victor even warned Walton to learns from Victor's curiosity and mistakes and not repeat them. 

Frankenstein went from a 'ghost' story to a famous classic. The story of Frankenstein cannot be captured through the movies and if one wants to capture the real essence of Shelley's story it is important to read the book. The book explore the quest of knowledge, the 'fire' that is education and society's 'norm', not accepting those who are bit different. I'm still not sure if I recommend it or not but it is certainly a very different kind of ghost story.