I was surprised to learn that this story
was not so much about an evil monster, but more about a glorified child who was
left to fend for himself. Victor can be dumbed down to being a bad parent who
refuses to find responsibility in his child. I genuinely feel bad for
Frankenstein’s monster, all he wanted was to be loved and accepted by normal
people, but was never given the chance due to his appearance. Knowing some
backstory on Mary Shelly also helps decode the themes of parenthood and grief.
Mary Shelly was in her teens when she had the dream that inspired Frankenstein,
she was pregnant, and had previously had a miscarriage. I can completely
understand her concerns as a mother to not be able to properly parent her
child. Guilt is a heavy burden to bare. Victor’s response to not being able to
handle his creation felt incredibly relevant to real life. I know there’s so
many parents that unknowingly put their children through so much stuff they’re
not equipped to handle yet. There’s such a strong family theme behind this
story. Whether it’s loss, the connection between parent and child, or finding
the good in people and wanting to be a part of something, it’s there. When the
monster describes how he watched people through a hole in a wall and envied
their connection with each other, it really helped to unfold the true meaning
behind the story. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life if you are
unable to find happiness? Alienation is not something any living being can
handle easily.
There’s some big differences across media
for this piece, too. In the original film adaptation of Frankenstein, the
monster is shown more in the light of actually being a mistake to humanity
instead of a creature that was given an obsolete life out of its control. The
monster is shown throwing a girl named Mary into a lake after throwing daisies
into the water and watching them float. There seems to be a disconnect in the movie
overall, seemingly being more inspired by the book than being a movie version
of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed the read far more than
I would’ve originally thought. It was engaging, relevant, and full of deeply
packed emotion that you would have passed on surface level. The themes of
family and isolation were strong, and were what really drew me into thinking
about the deeper meaning.
