Mary Shelly is a pioneer and legendary
writer. Some argue that she wrote the first science fiction novel,
Frankenstein. Her father was a famous writer, as was her
husband. However, I think it likely that she is today the most famous
of them, and her work is seminal to the great genre that is science
fiction. She wrote at a time when women often used pen names to hide
their femininity. I think this made her something of a feminist.
A common theme among many science
fiction stories is the idea that too much science is a bad thing.
While in fiction she may be the first to describe the consequences of
too much science, certainly there are many real life examples in
history where a scientist has suffered for his science. “... if no
man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquility
of his domestic affections, Greece had not been enslaved, Caesar
would have spared his country, America would have been discovered
more gradually, and the emperor of Mexico and Peru had not been
destroyed.” However, I would lay the blame of this at the feet of
religious intolerance rather than the pursuit of science. I think,
rather, that science is a vehicle for significant change, and change
frightens most people.
Consequence of too much study: “Every
night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most
painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my
fellow creatures as if I had been guilty of a crime.”
A part of the narrative includes a
description of superficial prejudice, which will come up several
times throughout the book. For instance, “No mortal could support
the horror of that countenance.”
The mad laughter of the mad scientist,
“...he saw a wildness in my eyes for which he could not account,
and my loud unrestrained, heartless laughter frightened and
astonished him.” I can't help but wonder if Victor Frankenstein was
the first mad scientist. What a brilliant invention of character
Shelley created! I don't know how those critics could not recognize
her genius.
The monster with no name observes a
family and becomes a member without their knowledge. Through
observation and study in less than a year he has aquired the ability
to read, speak, and even write. One of the books which he reads is
Milton's Paradise Lost, which
is quite an advanced piece of literature.
He
eventually seeks them to know him. But they fear him because of his
appearance. He runs away and finds Frankenstein's village. He meets
and kills the younger brother and frames a close servant (like
family... but a kind of slave, too) who is later tried, found guilty,
and then executed for his crime.
The
monster demands of Victor that he build a female like him that he
might love her. On the brinkin of doing so, Victor realizes that
creating a female may as likely result in a new terror. Further, and
more importantly, they may be able to procreate, creating a race of
monsters. This is something he refuses to allow regardless of the
consequences that the monster can bring about in his life.
In the
beginning of the novel, the monster is only good in his thoughts. It
is only through the treatment from others who judge him by his
appearance that anger, rage, and the desire to do evil overtake him.
Of course, his supernatural strength, intelligence, and iron will,
which make him dangerous. Imagine the maturity of a toddler in the
body of a creature with super human strength and intelligence. The
monster's revenge is completed against his wife on their day of
marriage (Victor expected the monster to kill him, not his new wife).
His father dies soon after from grief.
“Let
the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the
despair that now torments me.” Victor says this at the burial
grounds of his beloved. However, it was the monster's wish to share
his agony with his creator, to which end he succeeded. Perhaps,
though, the monster can never know the pain of losing loved ones
since he never knew love.
Victor
pursues the monster. The monster could have turned around and killed
Victor, I am sure. However, this hunt is more than that: it is a
torment for Victor rather than the monster. The monster writes in a
note left for Victor, “Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle
for our lives, but many hard and miserable hours must you endure
until that period shall arrive.”
Had
Victor spent time with his creation in kindness, perhaps he would
still have had everything. To Victor's credit, as he lays on his
death bed aboard the ship, he owns to what he should have done to
avoid the tragedies, “In a fit of enthusiastic madness I created a
rational creature and was bound towards him, to assure, as far as was
in my power, his happiness and well-being... but... my duties towards
the beings of my own species had greater claims to my attention...”
In the
finale of the book, Frankenstein's monster mourns his creator's death
and seeks forgiveness before leaving.
Ultimately,
this is a story about prejudice. Evil came not from his heart, but
rather the misfortune of Frankenstein's monster's hideous artifice.
What he created outwardly ugly was inwardly beautiful until perverted
by the outwardly beautiful, but inwardly superficial prejudice.
The
monster could have been a great man due to his super human abilities.
However, he was unfortunate in being unable to find anyone.
This
book is necessary reading, I think, for anyone interested in science
fiction. It is hard to believe I have waited so long to finally get
around to it. But, to be fair, the sentimentality of much of it is a
little wearying. I read around a bit online to see what others
thought of this book.
Wikipedia
quotes Brian Aldiss who wrote, “(Frankenstein) should be considered
the first true science fiction story because, in contrast to previous
stories with fantastical elements resembling those of later science
fiction, the central character 'makes a deliberate decision' and
'turns to modern experiments in the laboratory' to achieve fantastic
results.'”
Regardless
of her amazing achievements in this seminal work of literature, the
British critic wrote, “The writer of it is , we understand, a
female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault
of the novel; but if our authoress can forget the gentleness of her
sex, it is no reason why we should; and we shall therefore dismiss
the novel without further comment.” Few authoresses, to use the
word of the critic, at that time, would dare to use their own names.
Often, they chose male pen names in order to find an audience which
did not judge based on the gender of the writer. For this reason, I
think that Shelley is also worthy of outstanding merit for being a
feminist well ahead of her time. She was the daughter and wife of two
very famous writers of her time. However, while those of us deep into
literary study or reading may recognize their names, Mary Shelley's
character, Frankenstein, and the basic outline of that narrative, is
globally well known nearly two centuries after she wrote it.
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