Frankenstein-Opinion/Was it worth it?

"You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardetly hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been." -pg. 13

This quote, all the way back from the letters at the beginning of the book, summarizes my biggest question at the end of the novel: was it worth it? or What did we learn from this? This question is aimed at Victor/Walton in regards to their purusit of never-before-seen knowledge. In aswering this, one must consider all the consequences of their actions and how the conditions are presently. SO, because of Victor's ambition, he created a monster, which nurtured by hate, grew to be malicious and bloodthirsty. This led to the extermination of practically everyone Victor knew. First, Caroline died attending to Elizabeth, William was murdered, Justine unjustly executed, Clerval strangled, Elizabeth murdered, as well as the passing of Victor's father, leaving Ernest with a majority of his family erased. The consequences of Walton's actions are far less severe: a near-mutiny and braving the harsh weather at the North pole. If anything, Walton learned from Victor's dreadful story and stopped his. Ironically, Victor told Walton to finish his efforts- to kill the monster- which conflicts with him telling Walton to leave the North pole.

So, the greatest advancement I see is the reanimation of non-living parts into a living, breathing being. This discovery, however, was lost because Victor, the discoverer, regreted it and died before revealing its secrets, and the creation itself, intended to burn himself with all of the other papers of the experiment. For Walton's sake, I would say the story was worth it, and even if it didn't teach a great lesson, it told a great thriller.

Frankenstein-Opinion/UUU.

"Oh Frankenstein! generous and self-devoted being! what does it avail that I no ask thee to pardon me?" -pg. 163

This opinion blog is in response to the question, "Wy has the creature come to see Victor?" According to the text, the creature came to Victor to apologize for all his misdeeds. It seem he repented at the last minute and rushed to confess and admit fault. Never heard that one before... Anyways, it's probably obvious that I do not agree with the monster's actions-past, present, and future, and I'll tell you why.

PAST: First, the monster tries to be gentle, which doesn't work, so he burns down the DeLacey's cottage. Then, he expects people to judge him on personality even though he is a monster (in which case, judgemental people are also at fault, but he could've handled the situation better). When that doesn't work, he tries to force friendship onto William, which doens't work out, so he kills him. Then more killing, and psychological torture. It seems as though his response for not getting what he wanted (which he might not have deserved) was to either burn a house down, threaten people, or just go on a killing spree.

PRESENT: He comes to Victor, after he's led him to a cold and desolate place to fight him (a fight which, let's be honest, is not even close). He is still sneaking onto the boat creepily rather than reasoning with humans.

FUTURE: The monster, out of guilt, plans to burn himself, so no one can see how to create another monster. Instead of doing better things and redeeming himself-maybe trying to make a female for himself, he decides to just go commit suicide.

My point is, although the monster's words may have been sincere, he was too late in admitting fault. There's not a whole lot of redemption in apologizes to bodies.

Frankenstein-Ch. 2-24/Suspense/Foreshadowing

"I shall be with you on your wdding-night" -pg. 141

This quote, repeated several times throughout these chapters, is one of my favorites because it is open for interpretation. That also means it is psychologically tormenting Victor and also creates suspense through its foreshadowing. First of all, (this is gonna sound dark) I love how the creature is taunting Victor which causes him to agonize over this quote. The fact that the creature is getting inside Victor's head is cruel and amusing at the same time, as well as ironic since the creature is attacking Victor with his own creation, himself. Anyhoo, this quote obviously creates suspense because the reader knows the creature will follow through on his promise and that something, probably something bad-  no wedding gift :( "I BROUGHT A TOASTER"- will happen, and we don't know what. We just know the monster is now out for blood and revenge, and will stop at nothing to make Victor miserable, which always makes for a good story. Lastly, this is foreshadowing because something terrible does happen on his wedding night, Elizabeth's murder.

Side note- I think it's brilliant that Victor was like, "Stay here, Elizabeth, by yourself, all alone, with a bloodthirsty monster coming to get you....while I go check on things outside." For a genius scientist who created life from a bunch of dead peoples' parts, he doesn't seem to have a whole lot of common sense.

Frankenstein- Ch. 18-21/ Mirroring Creation/Death Scenes

"I thought with a sensation of madness on my promise of creating another like to him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on which I was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature...and withdrew....Several hours passed...and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared." -pg.121-122

This quote, on top of being really creepy, something I didn't expect from such a popular story, shows tons of parallelism between the destruction scene and the earlier creation scene. First, once the creature has seen Victor destroy his lady friend, breaking their agreement, he flees. (This I don't understand: you're so angry someone has broken your promise, your only chance at hope and happiness, so you run away. I guess he was just blowing off steam...Also, I'm still confused as to what the creature does during that time period-killing Clerval, perhaps?) Anyways, just like the first scene, Victor retires to his room and comes back several hours later. And after that, the creature reappears, just like he did the first time. Both times Victor retreats out of fear, but at least he has a good reason to run away this time.

Also something that I noticed (probably not right) was that the first time, Victor ran away from the monster. But the second time, the monster was the first one to leave, and then later return. I saw this as a shift in "masters" or that it signifies that the creature is the one "calling the shots" now, and Victor is pretty much forced to do what he says. I am at least happy that Victor didn't go through with making a female monster. If he had done that, there could have been so many things that could go wrong. I guess the monster will just have to live without a lady friend to call his own. Poor sasquatsch. :'(

Frankenstein- Ch.13-17/ Characterization/Irony

"Felix had accidentally been present at the trial; his horror and indignation were uncontrollable when he heard the decision of the court. He made, at that moment, a solemn vow to deliver him and then looked around for the means." -pg. 87

This quote regards Felix's feelings towards Safie's father's unjust imprisonment. This shows his characterization because it reveals Felix to be a compassionate, selfless person, in contrast to Safie's father. Risking his own life to free a stranger led to his love, Safie, who embodied similar qualities. This also gives us insight on why Felix was so unhappy. This creates sympathy in the reader for him, until later...

Another characterization of Felix, however, shows his dark side. When the creature had finally summoned the courage to talk to the father, Felix saw this apparent danger and started beating the monster with a stick. This indirect characterization shows that Felix also prejudges and is quick to act without thinking-obviously, since his father was okay while in the monster's presence, the monster wasn't really a threat. From this point, the audience is probably rooting for the monster, since he was innocent. That is, until, he burns down the cottage. So now the reader is rooting for no one.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Gotta love Cloris Leachman

Abby Normal - the Creature's brain

Frankenstein- First Half/Realism

"Abhorred monster! fiend that thou art! the tortures of hell are too mild a vengeance for thy crimes. Wretched devil! you reproach me with your creation; come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed." -Victor Frankenstein (pg. 68)

So, for my other opinion blog, I'm talking about how realistic/probable this story is. First of all, creating a life from different corpses is absurd, but there are huge questions that arise because of the lack of simple logic. This quote is a perfect example of three things I don't understand in the book:

1. "for thy crimes" = the monster's bloodlust and criminal activity condemns him to a fate worse than hell. Victor hasn't even seen the monster for two years! How does he know the monster is a criminal? The only evidence of the monster murdering William is that he was seen as the scene of the crime, which could be suspicious or a coincidence. Either way, Victor is basing his critical judgement of the creature solely on his first encounter with the "demon."

2. "you reproach me with your creation;" Victor was the one who made the creature; he is responsible. That's like blaming a kid coming to school late because the parent slept in. He blindly accuses the monster of vicious crimes just because of his appearance, and even if he did commit crimes, it was Victor's nurturing-or lack thereof- that conquered over the creature's good nature.

3. "come on, then, that I may extinguish the spark which I so negligently bestowed." = Come here so I can kill you. Lastly, what does Victor thinks he is going up against? He created a gigantic, hideous monster from different dead body parts in a slaughter house, only to see that the creature is as intelligent, if not moreso, and he wants to fight him? ARE YOU CRAZY?! How did he not realize that this thing he was making was going to be huge? I guess he didn't expect to succeed in his experiments, or else he would have thought of what to do with a sasquatch. The present situation is a fight of a huge beast versus a suicidal, emaciated scientist. Who do you think is going to win that fight? Y'know, the monster might be the more intellectually advanced being after all....