Publisher : Soundelux Audio Publishing
Publication Date : 1989 10
>> Prescient
Mary Shelley s Frankenstein is the most important novel of the twenty first century Written almost two hundred years ago by a young woman nineteen years old this parable captures with astounding clarity the problems that heartless science has visited upon the planet earth In brief the story makes clear the circumstances by which human inventions control their inventors This book is not to be confused with many of its movie versions some of which wholly invert Mary Shelley s themes
>> Required Reading
I purchased this book for a history class Of course I have seen the movie This book is nothing like the movie After I understood that it was written during the Romanticism period than it was actually a pleasure to read At nineteen how old Mary Shelley was when she wrote Frankenstein she wrote an amazing and deeply profound story of a being that is looking for what everyone of us look for the comfort of companionship and love of another Human beings are meant to be in relationships of one kind or another Mary Shelley also does an admirable job showing the anguish of Victor You see the love support and concern of his family It was thought provoking and poignant I found myself hoping the being would find what he so desperately craved i felt his frustration at such an injustice as he saw it If you have seen the movie I strongly recommend Frankenstein I promise you won t be disappointed
>> The Making of a Monster
The novel is as complex in its vocabulary its ability to elicit emotion from the reader and its horror
There are better places on the net and elsewhere to give you a summary of the plot See the Cliff Notes site for the best rendition
The book starts out on a ship that is exploring the extreme north where ice floes and freezing temperatures are the norm The captain sees a figure on a dogsled going across the landscape He thinks this is weird Then he later finds a man on an ice sheet near death
The captain Robert Walton pulls him aboard and is amazed at his articulate manner I guess hanging out with sailors all day for weeks does that to you His name is Henry Frankenstein Henry finds that Robert has some interest in bringing things to life etc and experimentations of that nature Henry freaks out and says no let me tell you my story
And so it goes
Though Shelly s language is at times a bit of a chore to get through I was impressed with the flow and style of the story her commentaries on family Nature the poor and Man daring to act the role of Creator
The details of Victor creating the creature are a bit weak but understandable After all I m sure Henry did not want to give all the details otherwise we d be setting up shop and doing it ourselves
There are not secret labs no big electric machines and no maniacal servants or criminal brains There is plenty of secret work as Victor through use of chemistry and alchemy texts creates the spark of life But he is so horrified at what he has done that he suffers a nervous breakdown and takes months to convalesce
The creature with no guidance and his master abandoning him wanders the countryside as he learns to survive He starts out noble and appreciative of nature but also finds that Man rejects him utterly
Unlike God s creation of Adam and Genesis exclamation that His creation was good Victor s creation is found to be evil
The creature holes up in a cottage where he can spy on the people therein There he learns the language and the behaviors of the three people within Here Shelly makes much about the unfairness of prison justice and the squalor being experienced by the common folk of the time Living during the time of the Industrial Revolution it is understandable she would make comments along the lines of destitution and that machines alone can degrade Man Quite interesting
As the story progresses the creature decides that he will avenge himself against Man and against his creator for making him ugly and wretched
And so the horror begins Victor tries to make a life for himself but the creature has other plans as the creature kills his little brother William
Victor finds the creature and they make a bargain create a female version for the creature s companionship and he will go off to South America and leave him forever And if he does not the creature will make his life a living Hell
What a choice huh
Anyway Victor tries to make a woman for the creature but then changes his mind and rips it to shreds He is afraid that they will reproduce and populate Man with these demons Why he didn t just make the female version incapable of giving birth I m not sure
And so the story goes through the wretched squalor of poor villages through the injustice and inhumane prisons and tribunals the death penalty for an innocent and further death of Victor s father the murder of his wife Elizabeth and Henry Clerval
The struggle and horror between the creature and Victor is ameliorated by Victor s view of Nature in the Swiss Alps and his travels along the Rhine and in England Scotland and Ireland Interesting how Shelly shows that Nature or God s creations will create a positive joy but Man s abominations will not
Shelly makes many comments not only on the society of her time but philosophical concepts of science gone made of horror and squalor and of the justice systems of the time
