I finally finished Frankenstein. It is a tragic story and though the monster is supposedly the villain, I found him very sympathetic (more so than Dr. Frankenstein). The plight of the outcast and how it drives them to do evil things made me think of those kids who are relentlessly teased until they shoot people in their schools. Not that the violent acts are justified, but that they are realistic consequences of human isolation and rejection. I wonder if this was part of Shelley's point, that crimes and the people who commit them should not be viewed in a black and white fashion.
I also found it interesting how Dr. Frankenstein and the monster came to depend on each other, even in enmity. After all, when the Dr. is hunting the monster down and becomes weary, the monster leaves food for him to keep him going. Perhaps it was a desperate need for any kind of interaction, especially with his creator, but it intrigued me.
Also, as if you have been waiting with baited breath (hee hee), my review of Blue Genes has been published in Estella's Revenge.
5 comments:
I've seen so many people reading this over the past couple of months. Everyone raises such good points about the novel's contents that I'm starting to think it's time for a reread.
Somehow, this is one of those books that I've missed out on. I thought I might be going to have to teach it this year, but then plans got changed an so I've missed again. I think it had better go on the list for Christmas when I'll have time to read books of my own choosing.
Love this book! It really turns all of the movie versions of Frankenstein on their heads. The monster was definitely the most sympathetic character, in my opinion.
I suspect you could also see the thing with the food more in terms of the monster wanting to preserve the Dr physically so he can continue his emotional destruction. That certainly seems consistent with what he does through the rest of the book.
Stu, I agree.. the Dr.'s emotional destruction seemed to give the monster's otherwise empty life meaning. The reason I see it as more, though, is because of the way the monster grieves at the end.
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