The story of Frankenstein is
interesting in the sense that it is transcribed through multiple sources into
one narrative, so you never really
know exactly what happened. Victor is
perceived through Walton as a whimsical man who should be his dearest friend;
Victor himself would obviously limit his own negative aspects as he is telling
Walton his tale of unfortunate consequences.
We do however see that Victor is the very essence of how a brilliant
mind and a self-centered temperament can go awry. His egotistical sense of how he must not only
defeat nature’s limitation but create life that will owe him as their sole
creator, really speaks to his motivations not only in the field of science, but
life itself. Events obviously occur that
put Victor in his place, however.
By not remotely nurturing his
creation that is doomed to be alone, and not take responsibility for its
actions; Victor does lose everything.
It’s a dramatic tale of mad scientist, the arrogant and sheltered young
man, love and loss, and everything in between.
The overview of Victor and Walton can be found here: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/frankenstein/canalysis.html#Victor-Frankenstein.
Personally, I liked the way Mary Shelley organized Frankenstein. Like you said, no one is 100% reliable and therefore can't always be believed. I also think that one of the reasons Frankenstein was so good to study this semester was because it is philosophical and realistic in nature. I really enjoyed it, but I did wish that Victor would have found out how insane he was before he died.
ReplyDeleteMichael Garcia
Frankenstien seem like the game telephone, you pass it one to one person then that person passes it on, but truely you never know. By the time you hear the story it coulda changed or tweaked or elaberated more than desired. but agree with you.
ReplyDeleteYvette Ortiz
That's a really good analogy to use! So many variables for each account or recollection made by Victor; whether it was done intentionally by Victor as he spoke or Walton as he transcribed.
DeleteBrian McNulty
This makes a lot of sense. Although we also have to consider how much of an awesome person Frankenstein thought he was, so he probably attempted to only show that part of it. Which is when the telephoning begins because then Walton thinks Frankenstein is just super amazing and HE tries to make Frankenstein look even better. I'm not sure how much Walton tried to change the creature, if he did. Frankenstein probably tried to make him look more evil than he was though.
DeleteThe telephoning thing is a good analogy though.
i agree with michael garcia
ReplyDeleteFrankenstein is one of my favorite books to read in regards to educational literature. I agree with this post, there is so much going on, and so much to argue with this novel, and so much to talk about. I do think however that at the beginning of the novel ( or end of the story ) that Frankenstein does somewhat realize that he is insane, in that he is finally sharing with someone else the wrongs that he has done to humanity.
ReplyDeleteAlex Stofferan
I wouldn’t necessarily say Victor is a genius or anything because throughout the story he makes very stupid decisions regarding his creation. Yes he is a very intelligent person because he created something out of dead body parts but book smarts can only get you so far. Understand what I’m getting at? The man had no common sense, but the book is still a great reading material if you can get past all the stupid mistakes Victor makes.
ReplyDeletei believe in karma and Victor sure got it.
ReplyDeleteVictor was a coward he deserved what he got. Agree with ICubero Victor got his Karma
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your analysis. It's amazing to think that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published when she was twenty-one years old.
ReplyDeleteGilberto Flores
I don't believe the story was actually about a mad scientist and his loss at all. I feel that Mary Shelley simply used them as characters to tell the story of an average person and their selfish ways. You can apply most of this story to and average person's every day life. Besides was he really "mad"? He wasn't creating an army of mini mes with the intentions of taking over the world. He was just trying to prove that he could create life with his own hands.
ReplyDeleteCassidy S.
I actually enjoyed reading Frankenstein. It can really connect to any generation that reads it and may even mean something different each time you read it. Throughout our lives we will always encounter one "creature" that we run from, whether it be an actual person or a situation. I was glad though that different characters told their parts of the stories because it helped fill in some blanks that the reader may have been wondering about how certain things happened.
ReplyDeleteGilbert Rangel