Frankenstein Doubling

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein uses the technique of doubling throughout the novel. The doubling relates three characters to each other. At the beginning of the story, we see the similarities between Walton and Frankenstein. We see how each of them have close sister like relationships, and each has a curiosity into how the natural world works. Frankenstein wants to know the secret of life, while Walton wants to know the secret of magnetism. More doubling takes place in the second half of the book between Frankenstein and his creation. Victor abandons his creature, leaving him alone by himself. Throughout the story, the creature makes Victor try to feel it feels. The creature lives without a friend in the world, and the creature makes that the life of Victor as well. He kills all of Victor's closest friends and family members. Frankenstein says :Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed" (Shelley 97). The monster hates himself so much, just as Frankenstein does after creating the creature. The two characters parallel throughout the story, showing how Victor and the creature he loathes so much are not all that different, and are actually the same.

Frankenstein Overall Impression of the Book

Overall, Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" was a well written book that contains many depths and complexities. The story has many characters that bring up a wealth of emotions. The brilliance of the story to me, is that Shelley was able to make a ugly disgusting monster that is so easily related to. It is pure brilliance to make something that is so easy to hate so easy to love. The monster's "Yellow skin scarcely covered his work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of pearly witness  but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his water eyes..."(Shelley, 35). Even though the monster kills people and has disgusting yellow skin, Shelley is able to make the reader pity the creature. The reader feels sorry for the events that have happened to the creature. All the creature wanted was love, and when that was not given back to him, he was forced to make it for himself. While the monster shouldn't have killed so many people, I cannot blame it because of how he was treated by humanity. This story shows that there is a consequence to actions, and because of the rejection of the creature, he lashed out onto humanity.

Frankenstein Opionion of the Monster

While many people hate the monster in Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," for the many deaths he caused, I do not. Rather, I feel sorry for the monster. His life has not been easy, and the acts he commits directly relate to the difficulty of his life. Humankind has never treated the creature well. The creature is condemned just because of his very existence. While some may feel sorry for Victor because of the loss he has endured, I believe Victor deserved every thing that came to him. Victor had no pity for his creation that he abandoned. He treated his creature with nothing but anger, and his creation gave him several chances to find the creature a companion. Victor brought the mess upon himself and his family by abandoning his beast. Victor becomes a slave to his creature, because how how he treated the new born monster. The monster says"You are my creator, but I am your master:--, obey! (Shelley, 122)." The monster has had to force a role reversal in order to get himself some sort of companionship.

Frankenstein Nature v. Nurture

In Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", the concept of nature versus nurture plays a pivotal role in the development of the creature. It is often debated whether the monster was created as evil, or if he became that way through his experiences. Some believe the monster was evil from its creation. I contend however, that it was made evil. Initially, the monster was like a newborn. It did not know what to do with itself, and was abandoned. Just as children who are abandoned often end up living hard lives and are more likely to enter into a life of crime, so was the monster. The monster is like an abandoned child. The tough times that met him, were what caused him to act the way he did. He was not inherently evil, as some might claim, rather his nurture, or lack there of is what caused him to murder. The creature says to Victor "If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again..."(Shelley, 105). This shows the monster does not want to kill, he simply wants a companion.  He had no one to teach him, and to help him become a well adjusted member of society. He was forced to be an outcast, hiding in the shadows, because no one would accept him.

Frankenstein Alienation

Alienation is a key thematic topic in Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein". From the time Victor first creates his creature he suffers from alienation. His creator, his father, abandons him. The creature spends the duration of its life searching for something to give it a sense of affection. At the beginning of the story, the creature seeks affection from his creator who responds by abandoning him. Next, the creature seeks affection from the DeLaceys. He speaks to the old man and receives his one and only bit of acceptance. The man listens to him for a bit, but then Felix comes in and attacks the creature, giving just another dose of alienation. The monster is rejected time after time, creating a deep anger and hatred to society. The creature says"The agony of my feelings allowed me now respite: no incident occurred from which my rage and misery could not extract its food..." (Shelley, 100).The monster's alienation makes it go the killing spree of Victor's family so he too can feel the isolation the monster feels. The alienation of the monster creates the situation Victor is in. Alienation is the key factor that makes the story so tragic.

Frankenstein Thoughts

Reading "Frankenstein", by Mary Shelly, I am over all enjoying the story. I find it pretty interesting. While I am sometimes confused by the story, I have enjoyed it. The story is not what I was expecting at all. It is much deeper a story than I had expected. The story has a lot of things going on in it, and that gives it more meaning to me. Shelly has used multiple complex literary techniques and blended them together. This makes the story more unique, and helps the story to stick out from other stories. The creation of the creature, and the reaction Frankenstein has to the beast was rather interesting to me. Rather than celebrating his achievement, immediately Frankenstein realizes that he should not have created his creature. He says"His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--God God! (35). This shows how Frankenstein hates his beast. He despises the creature, which I found rather surprising. I am finding the story interesting, and am excited to learn more.

Frankenstein Book versus Folklore

Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" is a much different story than I had originally expected. I thought the story would begin with Doctor Frankenstein, and had no idea of a ship captain. I assumed the peak of the story would be the creation of the monster, though it obviously is not. The book does not place much emphasis on the creation of the monster, saying only "I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet" (P. 34). To me, this seemed rather anticlimactic, There was no massive bolt of lightning sent through the inanimate body, simply a spark. The author spent so little time on the creation of the monster that it left me wanting for more. I wanted some details on how the creature was made, but sadly in this category it is lacking. Frankenstein is no where near what I had expected the story to be. While in some cases it has underwhelmed me, in most places it's a pretty good story. While the details don't exactly match up with what I thought would happen, they are still interesting and tell a very good story.