Mary Shelley-"Frankenstein"

Great Expectations.  

Most feel a major letdown when reality cannot even be compared to the expectation.  Therefore, Frankenstein's disappointment had to have been immense when his creation was turned out nothing like he had expected.  Everything he had worked for over a period of six years has resulted in failure.  "His limbs were in proportions, and I had selected his features as beautiful.  Beautiful!--Great God!"(Shelley, 35).  The obvious sarcasm in this exclamation shows how shocked Frankenstein was to learn that his plans did not work out perfectly as he had planned.  Until this moment, Frankenstein had known only perfection or at least close to it.  His childhood was exemplary, and his family was of the most kind and loving.  Therefore, this occurrence had a severe impact on his psyche.  However, he is not the only one who suffers disappointment in this novel.  His father and Elizabeth expected Victor to write often.  Over a six year period, they received not even a word from their beloved which caused them much distress.  Additionally, the Creation was disappointed to learn that his creator did not accept him.  When the Creation is standing by Victor's bed, it is obvious he is wanting some sort of interaction but is rejected completely.  He suffers ultimate rejection when his own creator wants to kill his creation.  This causes the audience to wonder whether the theme of disappointment will be carried on throughout the remainder of the novel .  

Mary Shelley-Frankenstein

Who's the real monster? 

Victor Frankenstein presents a persuasive case that his creation is awful for the first seven chapters.  Yet, all the information given to the reader in chapter eight which recounts the experiences of Frankenstein goes against this conjecture.  The "wretch" does his neighbor's chores because he sees they do not enjoy the task.  This begs the question: how can his character (not appearance) be so horrifying?  The only factual information the reader has ever received about the Creation is that which has come from the creation's mouth.  Everything from the creator, Frankenstein, has been based totally upon assumption.  The reader knows not whether the blood of both William and Justine is upon the creation's hands.  All of Victor's assumptions indicate yes, all of the creations facts indicate no.  In truth, Victor makes himself mentally insane constantly concerning himself with this creation.  He becomes ill and emaciated during the development process.  He seems psychologically damaged in that he constantly lives in fear.  At one point, he even claims he himself has become somewhat of a monster.  "Cursed be the hand that formed you!  You have made me wretched beyond expression" (Shelley, 70).  This evidence supports the idea that the creation may not be the bad guy after all.    

Mary Shelley-"Frankenstein"

The Sun and the Moon.

Shelley often utilized nature as sort of foreshadowing device.  The condition of nature tends to reflect the current happenings/feelings of a character, namely Victor.  Whenever Victor is calm, the weather is at its height.  Yet, when Victor is scared, in trouble, or something bad is about to take place, the weather becomes terrifying.  Storms and lightning fill the sky.  However, on the night the creation came to life, it was merely drizzling outside.  This leaves a question among the audience on whether the creation is a good or bad occurrence.  Additionally, the reader knows not whether Victor was happy or troubled during the creation process as there was never any reference to what the weather was like.  In fact, Victor was so busy, he barely noticed it himself. 

Nature also serves as a comforting device for Victor, the Creation, and Robert.  When Robert Walton becomes advanced on his journey he claims the weather has been somewhat helpful and advantageous to him.  "...although not so warm as in England, the southern gales, which blow us speedily towards those shores which I so ardently desire to attain, breathe a degree of renovation warmth which I had not expected" (Shelley, 7).  When Frankenstein goes off on his own after the death of both his brother and Justine, the only thing that can comfort his grief is nature.  "These sublime and magnificent scenes afforded me the greatest consolation that I was capable of receiving" (Shelley, 66).  When the Creation explains his life experiences, he also expresses a love for the warmth the Earth provides.  "Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens, and gave me a sensation of pleasure.  I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the trees" (Shelley, 71).

Mary Shelley-"Frankenstein"

Poor Justine.

With every aspect of her situation, the character Justine evokes pity from the reader.  She was unloved by her own mother who, once all her other children had passed, considered herself "childless".  Thus far in the novel, she has also been supposedly wrongly accused of William's murder.  In this however, Victor's character gets called into the question.  According to him, he was assured Justine did not commit this crime.  He knew without doubt that she was innocent.  Yet, he just stands by and comments on how awful the situation has become.  At one point, he even claims how this is all his fault as the creator of the wretch that he believed killed his young brother.  "Justine also was a girl of merit, and possessed qualities which promised to render her life happy; now all was to be obliterated in an ignominious grave, and I the cause!  A thousand time rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine" (Shelley, 54).  Though he was not there and would hold no merit as being the murderer, he still has more power than anyone else to prove Justine innocent.  And, as he has consistently self-characterized himself, his character should not allow him to watch an innocent woman be condemned.  Yet, this is exactly what he does.  Therefore, Victor may not be the perfectly good man he has described himself to be.  

Irony

Mary Shelley-"Frankenstein"

 One of the main tools Shelley uses to bring  this story to life is irony.  She utilizes irony in a way to relate her characters who do not openly indicate their similarities.  In a general manner, Shelley begins the instituting of irony in the letters from Robert Walton to his sister.  She points the irony between the situations of Walton and the then unnamed Frankenstein and how their desire for knowledge has lead/is leading them down similar paths.  Though most of Shelley's irony is on a larger scale that continues to develop throughout the novel, she also uses it in small, but significant moments as well.  One such instance is when Victor Frankenstein is in the beginning stages of his creation process gathering materials.  The irony stems from the fact that he intends to create "life" from these dead materials.  "The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials" (Shelley, 33).  One example of the larger scale irony Shelley establishes is presented when the creation is sharing his story.  He describes his first experience with seeing fire (and subsequently burning himself) saying, "How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects" (Shelley, 72).  From this, the reader sees a sort of similarity between Frankenstein and his creation.  Frankenstein had good intentions when he created the "wretch," and he thought it strange when his creation turned out so terrifying.  Shelley's utilization of irony helps bind the characters' stories together in a way that points out the similarities of man/creation.