Introduction
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” denotes the experiences of a young scientist who creates a monster or a hideous sapient creature. It depicts the scientific arrogance and dangerous ambition for scientific exploration that propels a young scientist into playing God and bringing into existence a horrific monster (Moers). Nevertheless, after achieving success in his scientific invention, the protagonist Victor Frankenstein is filled with guilt, fear, anxiety, trauma, and depression that drives him to run away and abandoned his newborn creature (Shelley 36). Due to the pain of abandonment, the creature engages in a vengeful killing spree, murdering Victor’s loved ones. The monster confesses that the loneliness and lack of compassion from his creator turned him into a fiend. He ascertains, “Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel... Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.” (Shelley 96). For instance, the monster strangles Victor’s brother, William, and executes Justine. Shelley denotes the scientist’s refusal and failure to take responsibility for his creature, who has continuously devastated society. Victor still rejects him, stating, “Begone!...thee can be no community between you and me, we are enemies. Begone, or let us try our strengths in a fight, in which one must fall” (Shelley 98). The Gothic narrative remains an exciting and influential piece of work that exposes the multimodal elements that dominated the society during the scientific revolution period characterized by extensive and extreme scientific inventions and innovations.
Circumstance, Influence, and Composition
At the progression of the novel’s composition, the author, Mary Shelley faced excruciating suffering, first from losing her step-sister, who committed suicide to other personal tragedies that impacted her work. She regretfully lost her first child, who died an infant, when writing “Frankenstein” in 1816 (Moers). By the time for the book’s publication in 1818, Shelley lost her second child (Moers). The painful circumstances influenced her subsequent authorship propelling her to portrays the pain and suffering of being lonely and without purpose, as the monster resorted in deadly bloodshed when abandoned by his creator.
Moreover, Ellen Moers critically deconstructs the “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, illuminating the historical drive that resulted in the text. She notes that unlike the previous writers during the Victorian era, who were predominantly unmarried, spinsters and virgins, and in a century when writing about sensitive social constructs like physical sexuality, pregnancy and childbirth were forbidden, Shelley, a young mother, brought a unique sophistication to the literary terror in the Gothic genre (Moers). Rather than adhering to the realism principle, she conforms to the romanticism to constructs the Gothic fantasy with active originality and genuineness. Filled with guilt, secrecy, and extreme ambition to create life, a scientist brings forth a monster. Nevertheless, Moers contends that “Frankenstein” interestingly explores the feminine elements and pattern of guilt, fear, and flight surrounding conception and its repercussions (Moers). It actively denotes the trauma and depression of afterbirth. The hideous creature turns into a deadly monster due to the deficiency of infant care, murdering all the people Victor Frankenstein cares for (Moers). Although Europe had much gothic literature, Shelley’s science-fiction and gothic genre adopted an opposite trend from the immortality and prolonged life that dominated most literature. She connotates the mad scientist’s scientific exploration does not seek to prolong life but to create one out of randomly assembled corpse parts (Moers). Shelley presents an original twist of the hideous nature of birth, which redefines mortality.
Additionally, Peter Brooks also acknowledges that the composition of “Frankenstein” is far from an innocent act, but from the language, transaction, transmission to transference, it portrays opposition in social elements (Brooks 85). Unlike the standard creature, “Frankenstein” monster poses a high level of intelligence, understanding, and eloquence (Brooks 85). He understands the human visual disregard of him. For instance, he confesses that only the blind de Lacey showed him compassion. His rhetoric also transcends human understanding and ability as he immersed himself into reading and human education, engaging with master-texts like Lives by Plutarch, Paradise Lost by Milton, and Werther by Goethe through a small hole on the wall (Brooks 87). The deformed and hideous creature expresses himself in high eloquence, logic, and persuasiveness (Brooks 98). Unlike the monstrous elements, the beast is sympathetic. As affirmed by Sir Walter Scott, the first to classify the novel in the gothic genre, though the tale is wild, its direct forcible English propelled a significant connection with the readers, as it stipulates events that would easily affect human social existence (Scott). Brooks reminds that the monster speaks of his death in the future tense, denoting that “the monster is still out there, and has taken a permanent place in our imaginary” (Brooks 103)
Reception and Adaptation
The book, which was first published anonymously in 1818 in London, received mixed reviews and reception as it became the first science fiction novel. Many critics considered the books to be associated with well-known radical writers, William Godwin, Shelley’s father, while other critics believed it bore many gothic features, despite being the reason for its success. The book actively concerns itself with the limits of scientific ambition, inquiry, and inventions that dominated the society during the 19th century. Sir Walter Scott congratulated the anonymous author (Mary Shelley) for “original genius and happy power of expression” despite questioning the strategy that the monster uses to gain the knowledge of the language and human world (Scott). Nevertheless, while many people loved the book, some like John Crocker viewed it as a horrible piece presenting disgusting absurdity, which portrayed the author’s sick head and heart.
Sources
Consequently, the book derives different information from sources like the Promethean myth from Ovid, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, which are predominant in the novel (Brooks 96). The novel also borrowed massively from her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley’s 1816 poem “Mutability,” which greatly influenced her work and writing of “Frankenstein.” Moreover, the French revolution and the scientific revolution that dominated the nineteenth century also influenced the writing of Shelley as she composed “Frankenstein” (Brooks 103). The originality with dominant romanticism and minor gothic pattern portrayed the literature of an over-reacher, defying human limitation, infringing the socio-cultural constriction, and reaching the realm of divine might.
Conclusion
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” denotes the arrogance and dangerous scientific innovation. As Victor Frankenstein creates a hideous monster, it turns lethal due to neglect, abandonment, and lack of love or compassion. Shelley not only exposed the dangers of unregulated scientific ambition but also denoted the ultimate responsibility of bringing forth. The hideous creature asks his creator a fundamental question, why he was created and what’s his purpose. Like abandoned creatures overwhelmed with rage, fear, sadness, excruciating suffering, hunger, and tears, human feel worthless without a purpose, but every master and creator must love and take charge of his creature. Finally, Ellen Moers, Peter Brooks, and Sir Walter Scott’s criticism and assertions effectively promote detailed comprehension and deconstruction of Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and the fundamental elements that influence and impact the novel.
