Frankenstein.

So I've finally gotten round to blogging about the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

I knew Frankenstein quite well before I read the book and to be honest, it kind of ruined the novel for me. Don't get me wrong, it is still a good book but when you know what happens then it's not as fun to read. The only time it is good to know what happens in a book is Harry Potter because no matter it is still a good read.
So yeah, unlike The Bloody Chamber and Doctor Faustus I was a bit reluctant to read it because I already knew what was going to happen, however, a few things did still surprise me.

Everyone pretty much knows the story of Frankenstein but I'm going to blog about it anyway. So, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster, as he is obsessed with bringing people back to life and basically being God. He hates his creation so much and quickly regrets what he has done. His monster disappears somewhere and kills Frankenstein's little brother, Victor returns home. Justine is killed and he feels guilty. He meets the monster who tells him about his life for the past year or so and ask Frankenstein to make him a companion. Frankenstein goes to England and starts making the monster a friend but then destroys it. Monster see's and kills Victor's friend Henry. Frank is then imprisoned for this murder, but he is then let out. Goes home, marries Elizabeth. She dies on their wedding night. Frank's dad dies a little while later. Frank chases the monster to somewhere cold, struggles and dies on board a ship where he had told them his story. Monster is distraught at this and basically drowns himself or freezes to death. So yeah, its a very happy story fully of happy moments!

Now time for the real point of the blog! What I thought about it.

Overall I enjoyed the novel, I was just a little reluctant to read it at the start because I already knew the story and so was a little unenthusiastic because I felt there was little left to learn and discover. However, I was wrong!

One of the main factors which I really liked about Frankenstein was how it was told from different characters, there were the letters at the beginning, then of Frankenstein and then of the monster etc. I especially liked when the monster was retelling his year since he had left Frankenstein. I found this particularly interesting because it helped show how the monster became the way he was and how the solitude and rejection lead to him becoming resentful of humans. I felt it helped show a more human side to the monster and furthered the corruption of Frankenstein's actions. Truthfully, my favourite line from the novel was "I am malicious because I am miserable". It feels as if the monster isn't trying to justify his actions but explain them instead - he wants the suffering to stop.

One thing which surprised me in the novel was how much time passed, I'm not surely entirely how much time passed in the novel but I think it was near ten years. I don't whether Shelley was trying to show how long Frankenstein had to live in fear and misery over what he had done and his losses or whether she is trying to show the extent of the suffering which the monster had to receive. Additionally, I noticed that on every letter in the novel there was a day, e.g. 11th September however the year was left off, "17-", I'm not entirely sure as to why Shelley did this, part of me feels she might have done this to make the story have a more timeless feeling, suggesting that this sort of corruption could occur at any point in history, however, part of me doubts this because the century was still included. Oh well, I'll have to research it and find out.

Oh, one thing I thought about when reading the novel was the effect Frankenstein's mother's death had on him. I always, when we were watching the movie, assumed that Frankenstein created the monster because he wanted to be like God, he wanted to be able to make people immortal. However, I now also feel the loss of his mother would have had an effect on Frankenstein and therefore could have been a possible cause, as well as wanting to be known for achieving the impossible and such a medical feat, for creating the monster as the loss of his mother suddenly would have shaken and upset him and so maybe he feared death and feared the loss of his loved ones - I felt this was shown when Frankenstein thought about death, there was a quote about worms eating the flesh and how it disgusted him.

Anyway, yeah, it was a good novel and I much prefer the tale of Frankenstein now because I wasn't really a fan of the adaptations, I felt the story of the monster's past (sort of) helped create a back story to the monster and therefore helps create sympathy for him and show further how corrupt Frankenstein's actions were.