The Meaning Of Major Themes In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” (Albert Einstein). Mary Shelley does a fantastic job leading readers down the rabbit hole of ambiguity. She leaves the meaning of her famous novel Frankenstein for her readers to discern. Critics have mixed reviews about the actual meaning of the novel and are eager to support their theories with ample evidence from the text itself. Regardless of the actual meaning of the book, several majors themes can be glimpsed in the text. Frankenstein delivers this plethora of themes that exemplify the human tendency to commit evil deeds. For example, Doctor Frankenstein cannot even see the evil that he creates until it stares him in the face. Once he realizes what he has done, he immediately tries to cover

Critics use all of the overwhelming evidence that they can find within Mary’s life and Frankenstein to back up their claims for the real meaning of the text. Mary even wrote in a later edition of Frankenstein that she would leave the meaning behind the book up to the ones who read it. Another aspect that critics look for while reading happens to be the technique in which the book was written. In the case of Frankenstein, the writing style can be likened to traditional gothic horror. Manuel Aguirre states, “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been studied as an instance of science-fiction horror; ….” (“Gothic Fiction….” 3). The science fiction aspect comes from the use of new technology to create the monster, or horror. Gothic horror best describes itself as a multiple step technique that always involves a twist between hero and villain. The best gothic writers never denote the real hero or villain, and Mary makes herself no exception (British Council 332). The real monster gets named by the reader, not the

Mary lets the reader know why Victor Frankenstein decides to create his monster through ambiguous soliloquy like ramblings and critics make sure to let others know their theories behind the motives for his heinous actions. Nevertheless, Victor wants to be famous and he intends to do so by creating a superhuman ‘monster.’ He discovers the hidden secret of creating life and starts right away into a delirious like state of work. The actual abuse of power that he commits can be seen through the lack of thought about the repercussions behind his actions (Shelley 48-51). Victor refuses to acknowledge that he usurps the power reserved to God only. A famous saying I have heard recently states ‘Play God, Pay the Price’; Victor tries to play God and he definitely pays the price by creating a monster who would destroy his whole family. The thought process does not match up with the outcome. Why did Victor think that he could create life, usurping God’s power, and not have room for error (Hunter, J. E.D. and Mary Shelley 302)? Mary Shelley tends to tell us no through her writing. Victor thought whole-heartedly that he could create human life and be a famous, ground breaking scientist. He shows his true colors by the cold way he treats the creation. Instead of the proud feeling of accomplishment, Victor feels the cold back hand of failure. What kind of scientist