Learn to be Lonely - Novel Blog 10 (Frankenstein)

"Here then I retreated, and lay down happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemency of the season, and still more from the barbarity of man."

~ Frankenstein, page 74

Time for a fun blog. Now I was thinking about Frankenstein's creature and I realized that Wicked isn't the only musical that relates to him - also, one of my favorites, The Phantom of the Opera is wonderfully applicable in this situation.

Basically, this man was born with an infection that disfigured his face, so he was sold into a traveling circus for show and publicly beaten. Eventually, he got sick of it and strangled his captor. The only witnesses were a couple spectators, one of whom was a ballet student at Paris' Opera Populaire, and she helped him escape the crime scene and hid him in the dungeons of the Opera house. When he got older, he started giving a ballerina in the corps vocal lessons, she steps in for the absent lead soprano, he tries to cultivate her career, she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart, he gets ridiculously jealous because he's in love with her (but he's also like a father figure? It's pretty sick) and all chaos ensues. Anyway, this song won't make much sense in context, but there are some lyrics that you can pick out and they exactly match the creature in Frankenstein.

This is actually from the movie, but it's still good. Here are some lyrics:

"Why, you ask,Was I bound and chainedIn this cold and dismal place?Not for any mortal sinBut the wickedness of my abhorrent face!"

"Hounded out by everyoneMet with hatred everywhereNo kind words from anyoneNo compassion anywhere"
"The tears I might have shedFor your dark fate,Grow cold and turn to tears of hate!"

This one is another that relates really well to the creature's situation
"Child of the wildernessborn into emptinesslearn to be lonelylearn to find your way in darkness
who will be there for youcomfort and care for youlearn to be lonely learn to be your one companion
never dreamt out in the worldthere are arms to hold youyou've always known your heart was on its own
so laugh in your lonelinesschild of the wildernesslearn to be lonelylearn how to love life that is lived alone
learn to be lonelylife can be lived, life can be loved alone"
Well, that's pretty depressing, but there it is. Phantom = Creature. Here's some more POTO fun. 

It's got Gerard Butler. How can you go wrong??

Nature vs. Nurture - Novel Blog 9 (Frankenstein)

"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."

~ Frankenstein, page 69

One of the thematic elements of this novel is "nature vs. nurture" - are people born a certain way, or does society  make them what they are? Obviously, Victor and his creature disagree on that matter, and we see that from the start. Victor always thinks that people are who they are, and that can't be changed, which is why he immediately rejects his creation. The creature thinks that environment determines personality and disposition, which is his excuse for acting horribly towards humans. However, this isn't just an opinion - the idea translates into each person as a whole. I don't necessarily think one is right, but I think that both ideas ended up being true because of how much the characters believed them.

Victor is so adamant on how the creature can't change - while Victor was moved by his story, he still thought the creature was an evil Satan thing. He always thinks the creature is out to get him (and he is toward the middle-end), so he freaks out and gets sick all the time. He doesn't give himself the chance to accept other people, but that also means he doesn't get the chance to change himself. Think about it - how does Victor change during the story? He doesn't. His lack of progress is reflected in his "nature" perspective.

Throughout the novel, the creature says that he was really good, but because of the wretched ways he was treated, he became bitter, lonely, and malicious. The creature goes through extreme emotional oscillations and actually makes some progress at the end of the novel - he understands his faults and experiences that guilt that reflects personal growth. He definitely flip flops for a while, and I think it's because of his "nurture" views.

Dramatic Irony - Novel Blog 8 (Frankenstein)

"I should regard the threatened fate as unavoidable. But death was no evil to me, if the loss of Elizabeth were balanced with it; and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father, that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my fate."

~ Frankenstein, page 141

Oh Victor, you naive man. Talk about dramatic irony. When the creature repeatedly says "I shall be with you on your wedding night," and he has told you many times before that he's going after all your friends and relatives, wouldn't you assume that he is aiming for your wife? Yeah, killing Victor would suck because, well, he would be dead. But it's so much worse to watch all the people you love in your life die around you and know you can't do anything about it. I just don't know how Victor didn't catch this one. I think what makes it really bad is that on their wedding night, he tells her to go to bed and goes downstairs of all places. In that moment, I wanted to scream at him - it was probably the most suspenseful moment in the book, because everyone knew what was going to happen (well, except Victor). I feel horrible for Elizabeth too, because the whole time Victor is all moody and anxious, and a wedding is supposed to be really happy. She probably thinks he doesn't want to marry her or he would rather be with someone else, when in actuality, there's an eight-foot monster that may or may not pop in the window and kill them. And then she bites the dust. What a bitter end. I just think Victor should have been able to see it.

Love-Hate Relationships - Novel Blog 7 (Frankenstein)

"For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires. They were forever ardent and craving; still I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this? Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me?"

~ Frankenstein, page 165

Throughout the novel, all the people give the creature crap about being a hideous, horrid beast. Which is true. However, if you think about it, the creature is the only character (or at least one of the only characters) who shows emotional depth and multiple sides of his personality. He is by far the most round character in the whole novel. When he does his narrative, we see how he feels; his emotions are very, very extreme, and we witness a gamut. We see pain when he is abused by the villagers for his appearance, sadness when he weeps with Safie for the Native Americans, anger when he sets the De Lacey's house on fire, hope and excitement when Victor first agrees to creating the female, remorse after Victor dies and he realizes how horribly he has sinned, and sadistic pleasure when he sees Victor mourning the wife he just murdered. His complex character creates confusion for the readers; we hear about how he was beaten for being ugly, but then he murders several innocent people and gets sick pleasure out of it? It's really hard to tell if you even like him or not. But honestly, he's the most realistic character in the whole novel. Victor shows little emotion but fear and anguish, and he can't even get over the fact that the creature is unattractive; he's incapable of change. Elizabeth represents beauty, compassion, and innocence the whole novel; she doesn't show any other traits. Clerval is the supportive friend. Alphonse Frankenstein is the loving father that everyone wants.

It's really funny that the creature is supposed to be this terrible, demonic monster, but he has the most human character - the one-sided people in the book are more like artificial beings programmed with limited emotion and personality. Real people have both good and bad in them, and that's what makes this book so difficult. We don't want to like Victor because he is so flat, even though he doesn't do anything wrong. We love the creature because he is so genuine, but it's that genuineness that requires him to do bad things and experience painful emotions - which makes us simultaneously hate him. That, friends, is the great paradox of this novel. And of life in general.

Baby Imma Be Your Motivation - Novel Blog 6 (Frankenstein)

"Why had I not followed him, and closed with him in mortal strife? I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed to his insatiate revenge."

~ Frankenstein, page 123

So is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Victor doesn't actually do anything in this novel? He just kind of sits there and thinks about the creature (who is no longer Cornelius because he's a jerk) and wonders who will die next and gets sick. I'm pretty sure he isn't healthy the entire book. Victor has two tasks that he completes during the novel:

1) create the monster.

2) chase the monster.

Other than those, the creature is the one who actually drives the plot. We would be absolutely nowhere if he just disappeared into the wild after Victor ran from him. Let's think about it: the creature tried to befriend the De Lacey's, killed William, framed Justine, threatened Victor (which led him to create the female monster - a task he still didn't even complete), threatened Victor again, killed Henry, killed Elizabeth, and motivated Victor to keep chasing him. Yes, the monster is a totally horrible being, but at least he's doing something. Victor literally just sits there and whines about how anxious he is and how sick he is and worried about everyone else he is. Then why don't you get the heck up and stop it, Victor? What a pansy.

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.

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover - Novel Blog 3 (Frankenstein)

"I had admired the perfect forms of my cottagers - their grace, beauty, and delicate complexions: but how was I terrified, when I viewed myself in a transparent pool! At first I started back, unable to believe that it was indeed I who was reflected in the mirror; and when I became fully convinced that I was in reality the monster that I am, I was filled with the bitterest sensations of despondence and mortification."

~ Frankenstein, page 80

When I was looking at the list of themes in the packet we got for the book, I was really surprised that appearance wasn't one of them. I think that the relationship between physical appearance and personality is something that comes up often. First is when Victor creates Cornelius. He is so appalled by his abhorrent looks that he runs away from him multiple times and assumes that he is some kind of monster. When we get to read chapters 11 and 12, we know that Cornelius isn't actually a bad thing; he has a full gamut of emotion and even tries to work for a family that he admires from afar. He feels sympathy and wants to make other people happy (which is a lot more than can be said for most humans). Victor didn't even try to learn about him. He feared what he didn't understand simply because he looks ugly. It's like all Disney movies - you can easily tell who is good and who is evil based on appearance; the good people are always beautiful, the bad are always fat or ugly. That's what's wrong with our society - we teach children from a very young age how to spot a bad person - does he look nice? Real life is a little more complicated than that.

Seriously. Pick one and tell me he/she is not hideous.

The other example is quite the opposite - Elizabeth. Victor's mother picked her up off the street because she was a beautiful "celestial" - looking child. While Elizabeth possesses both beauty and a compassionate personality (unlike Cornelius whose personality and appearance was incongruous), her character still represents the idea that looks are equivalent to disposition or intentions. This whole Disney notion is what drives the plot of Frankenstein and is ultimately what motivates Cornelius to do the horrible acts he does; the people cannot get past his appearance and judge him accordingly. (Okay, all these are assumptions made from previous foreshadowing in the novel and things we have kind of talked about in class; I'm not actually sure what happens.)

Foreshadowing - Novel Blog 2 (Frankenstein)

"I had determined, at one time, that the memory of theses evils should die with me, but you have won me to alter my determination. You seek knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been."

Frankenstein, page 13

Foreshadowing occurs several times in the novel. The first is in the quote above, before Victor dives into the real story of how he created Cornelius. He warns Robert Walton that knowledge and wisdom can lead to destruction and misery as his did. This lets us readers know that something went wrong with the creation, which will be totally clear in the next couple of chapters. Another instance of foreshadowing is when Victor has just created Cornelius and he goes to sleep, only to dream of Elizabeth. He imagines her dying a horribly just like his mother had recently; this foreshadows her imminent death (well, I'm not completely sure; it hasn't happened yet, but it seems likely). The third instance is when Cornelius is narrating and he says that he isn't going to tolerate the actions of his enemies. This is warning us of what happens when he comes in contact with people later and the destruction he causes. These are only three times foreshadowing occurs in the novel, but I'm sure they won't be the last times before it ends.

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.