No One Mourns the Wicked - Novel Blog 5 (Frankenstein)

"How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavored to form?"

~ Frankenstein, page 35

While I was reading this passage, I thought a lot about life and relationships and such. Who wouldn't love something they created? Isn't that like a parent not loving their child? That doesn't really make much sense to me. But then I thought of somewhere else I had seen that - the fantastic spin off of The Wizard of Oz, the musical Wicked. Cornelius and Elphaba are kind of the same person. In Wicked, Glinda tells the story of the recently deceased Witch of the West Elphaba, who like Cornelius, was rejected by her father for being ugly (green-skinned). There are other similarities too - both Elphaba and Cornelius are particularly smart and kind, and both are outcasted by society for their appearances. Both befriend (or at least associate with) an ambitious, hard-working peer - Glinda for Elphaba and Victor for Cornelius. (The relationships don't directly parallel each other, but they are pretty close.) Wicked is pretty awesome, so once I realized how close the two stories are, I gained a lot of hope for Frankenstein.

Elphaba's story starts at about 4.30. There's a lot of overture and intro before that.

This is just the whole song "No One Mourns The Wicked"

This is the most famous song from the musical, "Defying Gravity"

One Is the Loneliest Number, But Two's Not Much Better - Novel Blog 4 (Frankenstein)

"Like one, on a lonesome road who, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once truned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread."

~ Frankenstein, page 36 (Coleridge, Ancient Mariner)

So once again, I found myself looking in the themes section for what to write about, and I had a minor epiphany. Well, maybe not so much an epiphany, but just some observations about the alienation/solitude theme. I realized that not only is Cornelius pretty much in solitude the whole time, but every time Victor is caught up with him, he is dragged into that alienation. When Robert Walton finds them in the Antarctic (or wherever they are), they are completely alone. Except for the dogs. When Victor is first creating Cornelius, he neglects his family and practically everybody else because he is so devoted to that endeavor. Even the idea of Cornelius just running around in the wild makes Victor crazy and distances him from his family and peers. Cornelius is the epitome of lonely and misunderstood, which is kind of a shame, because he seems like a pretty nice person monster thing, so when Victor associates with him, he therefore is dragged into that isolation. It's like in high school when you move into another clique and then certain people avoid you because of it. Only this time, those certain people are, you know, everybody.

Discovery - Novel Blog 1 (Frankenstein)

"I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man."

~ Frankenstein, page 1

Frankenstein was originally published in 1831, so Mary Shelley obviously had some big ideas for the book. (Really, how does an 18 year old girl come up with this??) People didn't have the technology we do today, but the idea of creating life (from nothing, not procreation) has been with us for a while. I think a big part of the novel is discovery and exploration - not only with Robert Walton's letters about his escapades at the start, but throughout the book as well. Victor's incessant desire for education and knowledge reflects this, as does the monster who is product of his ambition (who shall now be called Cornelius). During chapters 11 and 12, Cornelius describes his experiences discovering the world around him after his birth. It's human nature to want to learn more about how everything functions - and one day, we may create life from nothing. The speed at which technology is advancing suggests that that day is probably closer than expected; think about how much we have progressed in the last 100 years. Although our first attempts at playing God may not yeild super humans who have perfect grammar (I imagine them more like the Stewie and Brian clones on Family Guy), it could happen soon. I believe that our inclination to learn, explore, and discover will lead us to do the great things that Mary Shelley wrote about in the 19th century.