Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a common told story that most people know to an extent. They have seen movies and TV shows that have alluded to Mary Shelley’s creation, but have not captured it in its entirety. While reading the novel I have come across several themes that are very important to the novel as a whole.

Victor Frankenstein, a student in chemistry and natural philosophy, becomes obsessed with the “supernatural” and decides to dedicate all of his time looking for the secret to creating life. After years of hard work, he is finally able to create life, but the monster he created is so hideous and wretched that he cannot bear to look at him and runs away from the monster. Because of the rejection the monster faces from other people, he seeks revenge on his creator by killing Frankenstein’s younger brother. Frankenstein, knowing from the beginning only his monster could do such a thing, only thinks vengeful thoughts. On his encounter with the monster, the monster tells Frankenstein to create him a partner that would live with the monster so he wouldn’t be alone. After denying this request the monster kills Frankenstein’s best friend and wife. Frankenstein pursues the monster to defeat him once and for all, and that is when Walton finds Frankenstein, before Frankenstein could seek revenge, and ends up dying on Walton’s ship.

The first theme I picked out was the role of the family. Victor, from an early age, recounts time and time again how blessed he was for such devoted parents. “No creature could have more tender parents than mine” (Shelley 19). The reason for his education and thirst for knowledge was due to his father, and the sacrifices his father made for him to succeed. “When my father became a husband and a parent, he found his t...

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...n to kill Victor’s youngest brother, and Victor in turn seeks revenge on the monster. The monster wished to have a companion created, a person where he could feel like he was apart of a family. Revenge consumes both of them in the end and leads to their deaths.

Revenge and family are two very different themes. With the importance of family comes the emotions of love, devotion, sacrifices, etc. With revenge stems hate, punishment, retribution, etc. Family led to Frankenstein’s beginning (his family raised him, cared for him, educated him, etc.), and to the monster’s beginning (he felt emotion for the first time, a need for a companion, learned from them, etc.). But in the end both of their destructions were out of revenge for one another.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. Ed. J. Paul Hunter. Second ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2012. Print.