Frankenstein's End (Spoiler Alert, sort of)

I finished "Frankenstein" yesterday. The ending was not at all surprising, because Shelley foreshadowed it into the ground, over and over again, for the last 60 pages or so. Frankenstein almost goes through with making the monster a bride, but then freaks out, thinking about the two monsters then reproducing, and then killing humans right and left. So he rips up the half finished female (which, although Shelley doesn't use must description, sounds pretty gross) and then the monster gets all gangsta on Frankenstein's ass and kills his friends and family. Oops. Then, Frankenstein proceeds to chase the monster up to near the North Pole, in hopes of seeking revenge, but the monster just keeps taunting him by staying just out of reach. Ha, ha!! That's when Robert Walton finds the near dead Frankenstein. Frankenstein tells his narrative, and then dies. And finally, Robert Walton finds Frankenstein's corpse is visited by the monster, who regrets what he's done, pays his last respects to Frankenstein, and then says he's going out on to the ice to kill himself. The End.

While I thought this book could have benefited from a good editor, it's still a ripping tale. But what's the moral? Is it that man should not attempt to create life...that there's a line between man and God that should not be crossed? Why is Frankenstein so repulsed at his creature? Is it that he's realized that he's crossed this line, and pulls back in horror at what he's done? Well, that's one idea, but it's not my favorite. My favorite, outlined in my last post, is that Frankenstein brought this on to himself. His fatal flaw was creating a life and then freaking out at the ugliness and running away from it, instead of taking responsibility. He could have covered the monster in a bag, ala the Elephant Man, if physical ugliness was the problem. But he should have "owned up" and taken care of his laboratory progeny. To me, this then is the moral of the story..."with knowledge comes responsibility". And that's a lesson that rings even more true in today's science and technology-centric society.

One final note: I wonder if the premise of this story is as shocking today as it was when it was written. After all, genetic engineering is now a reality, and genetically modifed organisms pervade the world around us, whether we like it or not. Plus, perhaps Shelley was not aware of this, but humans have been mucking with life for thousands of years. After all chihuahuas do not exist in the wild. And have you ever seen what corn looked like before humans started breeding it? So to go from humans to Frankenstein's monster does not seem such a big stretch today. Perhaps the modern Prometheus has already visited us. Although, as far as I know, no GMO has ever gone on a murderous rampage and killed it's inventor's entire family and circle of friends.

Deadbeat Dad

Man, is Victor Frankenstein a dick, or what? I mean, the more I read (and I've got about 75 pages left) the more I want the monster to do him some serious damage. Victor goes for a hike in the mountains, to escape his woes and thoughts of the monster, when who should he encounter...the monster! The monster tells him he needs to sit down and listen to his story or he'll rip Frankenstein's head off after killing all his family (or something like that). Frankenstein doesn't have to think about this for too long before agreeing. So the monster tells Frankenstein his story, which takes a few chapters. We learn the monster is quite intelligent, and has read Goethe and Milton (although he seems to believe that "Paradise Lost" is actual history). He's sensitive, and articulate, and doesn't like the fact that he's an outcast. He had tried to befriend a family in the country he had been spying on, and almost succeeds after approaching the blind father, but when the kids come back and see their dad with a monster, they naturally freak out and chase him away. Poor monster. In fact, the monster seems more human than Frankenstein. He's lonely, he's isolated, he's angry. Victor Frankenstein is all those things too, but in his case it's his own damn fault. In America today we'd call Victor Frankenstein a "deadbeat dad". He created a life, but then couldn't deal with it, and ran off. If only he'd stayed with the monster, and helped him find his way into society, all this wouldn't have happened. He should have "owned up" and showed some responsibility. Jerk. Anyway, the monster tells him he wants Frankenstein to make him a wife, or else he'll kill all his family and then rip Frankenstein's head off (or something like that). But if he does make him a wife, they'll go off to South America together and never bother anyone. Now THAT'S a great plot twist. I was not expecting that one. Frankenstein is not so excited about this idea, but he relents, having no other real option. He's being forced to "double down". We'll see where this goes, but it's clear it won't be good.

Incidentally, the narrative structure of this novel is quite interesting. "Bleak House" had the two narrators, and they were two entirely separate ones, with each having their own chapters. "Frankenstein" also has multiple narrators, but it's more like an onion skin, with layers upon layers. Robert Walton is telling the whole story, which is mostly of Frankenstein telling his story, but then Frankenstein is telling about the monster telling his own story, within which the monster is telling the story of the family in the woods he tried to befriend. Cool.

Book #13 - Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

I've started my next book on my canon odyssey...Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". I'm about 70 pages in so far, and it's been quite interesting. Frankenstein is such a cultural icon in this day and age. Everyone has a mental image of the monster (Boris Karloff with bolts coming out of his neck) and an image of Dr. Frankenstein (a mad genius in a lonely castle with his faithful assistant Igor, digging up graves to get body parts, and using the brain of a criminal psychopath). Well, surprisingly to me, the book has none of this. In fact, the book starts out describing a voyage of exploration to the North Pole, lead by Robert Walton. WTF?? Was that Tanquery martini I just had tainted in some way?? What does THIS have to do with Frankenstein? Well, the Robert Walton expedition runs into an ice flow, where they see some strange creature sledding across the ice in the distance. What was that? Then they run into another sled, carrying a half dead man across the ice. So they bring him on board, give him food and water, and put him under some blankets to get him warm. Finally, he confesses his tale to Robert Walton...and he's Doctor Frankenstein! OK, so now the book should start getting into familiar territory, yes? NO! First of all, Dr. Frankenstein is no doctor. He's just some college kid, who is fascinated with science and alchemy, a genius at science in fact, and decides he wants to create some life. So instead of the usual method of going to a local dance club and hitting on some loose women, he instead goes the harder route, building a lab in his apartment, stealing some body parts, and sewing together his monster. The monster awakes, Frankenstein screams and runs off, and then he doesn't see the monster again for months and months. Now that's unexpected. In fact, pages go by with no mention of the monster, except for Frankenstein's guilt over having created life. But then Frankenstein travels to his home in the Swiss mountains, only to find his little brother has been murdered by the monster, and the monster has also somehow framed the cleaning lady for the crime. The cleaning lady is found guilty and executed. This makes Dr. Frankenstein, who has not told anyone about the monster, feel really, really bad.

This book is whacking me upside the head by being so different in storyline to what I expected. That's great, and I love it, but as I said the movie version of the story is now so iconic that it's hard to get over. Also, Shelley uses a LOT of foreshadowing. As Frankenstein tells his story to Robert Walton, every other paragraph is like "And that's what sealed my doom" or "It was then that my downfall began". I mean, OK, we GET it! Back off a bit. And also, what's with the monster traveling to Frankenstein's home from his college town where the monster was created, and then killing Frankenstein's brother. That seems like a really big coincidence to me. But them maybe there's some backstory we haven't gotten yet that will explain this. Maybe I need to just shut up and continue reading. In fact, I think I will.