Frankenstein

I entered the book already feeling pretty sheepish and ignorant simply because Frankenstein is so immersed in modern day fiction and yet I haven't ever actually read the book nor had the interest to. What is more surprising is that I'm most likely not the only one. Kids and adults alike probably know the name Frankenstein as sharply as Mickey Mouse, but I can bet that they too have never read the book and don't actually know the real story. So, you can guess how shocked I was when it was nothing like I expected.

I'll begin by saying that the fact that Victor was around my own age was a huge eye opener. No old men or middle aged mad scientists here. Victor was a KID. At first it was a hindrance for me, it made the story seem less believable. But after I continued reading it become more clear. If Victor had been older, then the way he acted, plus the things he did, may have been less true to character. His age really spelled it out better. He was a selfish bratty kid, who like any teen, rushed into a relationship with science, decided to mess around with her without thinking, and then found himself a young father. In fact he even considers his creation an "abortion" from the start. He's a dead beat dad. Was Shelly trying to convey something here about her own life experiences? Hmm? Her husband was pretty young, selfish, and not a good father (he did run off with her leaving his pregnant wife and kids). Perhaps she even implanted herself into this story through the characters as most of them relate to her life. She is somewhat of a feminist, but her female characters don't really do all that much and generally just sit in the background most of the book. The male characters play much larger roles and often enough cause disaster to the females, whom simply take it without saying much. For example, Justine dies because of William's murder (even though it was the monster and Victor could have stood in). Then Elizabeth dies because Victor is too full of himself to realize that the monster isn't looking to kill him, but his bride. (I also thought this was funny because it is so typical of modern day horror flicks and books, the "couple" always splits apart at one point and then one of them dies, though now-a-days the "virgin" or "good girl" stays alive most of the time, the "sluts" or "bad boyfriends" are the ones that die). Also, we can even compare Elizabeth to the author, since she almost dies of scarlet fever and her mother decides to try and help, then ends up "dying in her place". Sort of like Shelly's own mother, who died a little while after she was born.

I ended this book feeling sorry for the monster and hating Victor. The monster kills people close to Victor, ok, that's a bummer, but what does Victor do about it? Nothing! In fact, it's only after the one person he vows to protect dies that he decides to grow some and act responsible. Well,.... sort of. He ends up searching for the monster in order to kill it. Way to go Victor. Where's the love? Even in the end, when the Monster is seen standing over Victors corpse, it still loves and wishes for acceptance from it's creator. Who's the real monster here? Victor could have stopped all of his woes had he just accepted what he had done. Instead he put everyone who loved him at risk KNOWINGLY in order to keep his selfish pride in check.

And that brings me back to the beginning of this all. Frankenstein is a monster everyone knows, but
it's not the creature that should be put to that name,

but the human,Victor Frankenstein, that should be the face of the
"monster" from this story.