Critiquing the Classics: Frankenstein

Summary:

At only 18 years old, Mary Shelley began writing her first book: Frankenstein. The story explores the life and experiences of Victor Frankenstein, a scientist fascinated by the mysteries of life. This leads him to create the monster known in pop culture today and seen as a hallmark of Halloween. However, upon the creation, he finds the creature horrific—so much so that he abandons it—and wishes never to see it again. But the monster has other plans, and causes havoc. Victor learns of the death of his youngest brother, but Justine Moritz, an adopted member of his family, is wrongfully accused and executed for the crime. In an atmospheric piece, Shelley paints the story of guilt, remorse, and revenge that, in her words, “would make the reader dread to look round, to curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.”

Important Characters:

Victor Frankenstein: An ambitious scientist consumed with the secrets of life, and the inventor of his monster.

Elizabeth Lavenza: The wife of Victor (not much else to mention, as critiqued in the review)

Justine Moritz: A wrongfully punished victim of Victor’s silence, killed by his monster.

Review

With Halloween approaching, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein seems like an appropriate choice. First published in 1818, the novel has become so closely associated with horror that its actual contents may come as a surprise. Rather than focusing on the creation of the monster itself, Shelley centers on the relationship between Victor Frankenstein, the scientist who brings the creature to life, and the creature he subsequently abandons. The result is less a traditional horror story than a commentary on how easily the line between humanity and monstrosity can blur. 

What makes Shelley's novel so compelling is the difficulty of deciding where our sympathy should lie. Victor is responsible for creating the creature, yet he recoils from him almost immediately, after spending years trying to bring him to life. The creature, meanwhile, is capable of genuine tenderness, though his experiences with humanity gradually leave him embittered. Despite the reader’s initial assumptions about both characters, Shelley complicates our preconceived notions, creating a creature whose actions become increasingly difficult to define, but whose suffering makes him equally difficult to condemn. 

Victor himself is particularly frustrating to me. His ambition is not necessarily what makes him reprehensible, but his disinclination to consider consequences. He spends years pursuing an extraordinary scientific achievement only to abandon it as soon as it materializes. Even as the creature's actions become increasingly destructive, Victor is preoccupied by his own guilt. His failure to take responsibility for the creature he has brought into the world makes it difficult to view him as an innocent victim of the creature’s revenge. In my view, the tragedy of the story does not lie within the creation of the creature itself. 

As is typical of Shelley’s writing, her prose contributes considerably to the novel’s atmosphere. Her descriptions of the natural world, particularly the mountains, glaciers, and vast stretches of wilderness, provide moments of relief from the destructive events of the story. However, the prose can be quite elaborate, and lengthy passages of reflection often interrupt the momentum

of the narrative. Victor’s repeated expressions of anguish can also become tiresome, particularly when his remorse does not translate into any meaningful change. 

One of my other criticisms of the novel is its portrayal of women. Elizabeth Lavenza is largely idealized for her beauty and devotion but is given relatively little independence beyond her relationship with Victor. Justine Moritz suffers from a similar lack of agency, as her wrongful execution becomes yet another tragedy that Victor witnesses rather than works to prevent. As was customary for the time, women are frequently defined by their relationships with men, leaving them as two-dimensional characters with little agency of their own. Though it is a product of its time, this remains a noticeable limitation in a novel that is otherwise so interested in who deserves sympathy and whose suffering is taken seriously.

Frankenstein is an excellent Halloween read, especially for those willing to look beyond its reputation as a horror novel. Its greatest strength lies in the uncertainty surrounding which character deserves the reader’s sympathy. Although the novel’s pacing and prose can be challenging, its complex characterization makes it worth reading. Today, more than two centuries after its publication, Frankenstein remains an unsettling literary masterpiece.