Frankenstein Case

Cassandra Watkins

English- 201-532

Prof: Languell

November 1, 2012

"A monster was betrayed by his creator."

In "Frankenstein", by Mary Shelley it illustrates many types of characteristics. Even though it is a fiction it shows how one can easily be betrayed by a person that they trust. Victor Frankenstein, the main character loved science and experiments. Science is a broad field that covers many aspects of everyday life and existence. It includes the study of animals, environment, insects as well as people or human beings. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who studies the dead. He found it so interesting that he wanted to be the first person to bring back death to life. He spends all his time to reach his goal and through this process gave up his family and friends without even considering the outcome. After his goal of creating this creature was accomplished everything in his life falls apart which he blamed on his creation. In contrast, I believed the creature as stated in the book was not really the monster but it was instead Frankenstein himself.

As a result, Victor Frankenstein is to be blamed for all the tragedies and not the creature also known as the "monster". Victor was selfish not only to his creature but to the ones he loves without even knowing. His creation was made up of old body parts. When the creature came to life it appears as a hideous ugly beast. His complexion was shriveled and his eyes were watery. He appears very tall with the mind of a new born baby.

However, in my opinion the story illustrates a father son relationship. Victor like a mother brought a new life into the world. While disgusted and scared by his "sons" appearance at birth, he runs away from him even though he (Frankenstein) had chosen all the best body parts for his creation. This illustrates the same concept as when a mother aborts her child. He had no love or acceptance from his father because he was cast out into a world which judged him especially because of his appearance. No one was around for him to learn or get advice from like most of us do. He was left to fend for himself and learned everything on his own. He does this by observing others and learning from their mistakes. As mentioned in Peter Brooks, " What is a Monster," he states, "and the monster unconscious desire may most of all be for unconditional hearing, recognition, love from his parent" (380). Instead, he had to learn about his new surroundings which made him very scared because he knew that he was not accepted by human kind. This was something that he was not used to which caused him to start acting crazy.

Additionally, the story by Brooks gave me a clearer understanding of what a monster is. It is in fact a creature of its own kind that appears to be friendly, unselfish and often misunderstood by humanity. "A monster is that outcome or product of curiosity or epistemophilia pushed to an extreme that result-as in the story of Oeclipus", (387). Why bring a child into the world when you won't take the time out