Week 1 - Frankenstein (5)

 Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, was a very enjoyable read, but what was even more eye-opening about it I did not learn until after I had finished the book and chose to do my own research about the time period and how this story has withstood the test of time among other tales within its genre. These key differences I will go into shortly. At a mere surface level, gothic literature has several very notable themes. These being “gloomy and ominous” architecture and scenes. Within these sets usually contains some sort of “supernatural” monster or in Frankenstein’s case, a “creation.” Sometimes these threats are visible and described in immense detail to the reader. But other times, we don’t even need to see or know exactly the grueling details of the monster to understand the sheer horror it possesses to the main character/characters. In Frankenstein, this theme of “horror” is displayed through the sheer unpredictable actions that Frankenstein takes throughout the novel. These actions are best described as being “childish.” Such as when he killed two innocent people simply because they “did not want to be his friend.” In a lot of ways, I definitely felt bad for Frankenstein. He was brought into that world by a man unknowing of the consequences that would arise from his creation, only to run for the hills as soon as he was forced to face the consequences of his actions face to face through the deep yellow eyes of his monstrosity of creation. This rage expressed by Frankenstein throughout the course of the book is directed at Victor because he was rejected at birth by his creator and was abandoned out of sheer horror of what he had done by bringing Frankenstein into this world where he would be isolated and outcasted over something completely uncontrollable and irreversible.